Provides the most up-to-date and comprehensive review of contemporary research in education policy implementation. A companion to Allan R. Odden’s Education Policy Implementation, also published by SUNY Press, this book presents original work by a new generation of scholars contributing to education policy implementation research. The contributors define education policy implementation as the product of the interaction among particular policies, people, and places. Their analyses of previous generations of implementation research reveal that contemporary findings not only build directly on lessons learned from the past, but also seek to deepen past findings. These contemporary researchers also break from the past by seeking a more nuanced, contingent, and rigorous theory-based explication of how implementation unfolds. They argue that researchers and practitioners can help improve education policy implementation by not asking simply what works, but rather focusing their attention on what works, for whom, where, when, and why. Meredith I. Honig is Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Washington at Seattle.
A companion to Allan R. Odden’s Education Policy Implementation, also published by SUNY Press, this book presents original work by a new generation of scholars contributing to education policy implementation research.
What exactly is education policy, why is it important, and how is it implemented in the real world? Jerome Delaney, a professor of educational administration and former high school principal, answers the big questions about education policy in this powerful and practical primer for students. Informed by his experience in the public school system, Delaney takes a pragmatic and realistic approach that divides a complicated subject into manageable sub-topics. He grounds the debate at the classroom level: after all, that’s where the effects of high-level policy decisions ultimately play out. Starting from the basics and progressing through to the deeper aspects of education policy, this text provides an excellent introduction to a subject that lies at the foundation of every education system. This second edition includes a new chapter on issues relating to policy implementation, as well as new discussion questions at the end of each chapter. Topics include: A beginner’s overview of education policy studies. How values influence policy-making. How education policy is developed, implemented, and evaluated. The role of policy in education reform. The future of education policy as schools adapt to changing societies.
Starting from the basics and progressing through to the deeper aspects of education policy, this text provides an excellent introduction to a subject that lies at the foundation of every education system.
`This book does provide a useful, concise discussion of the legislative background to science in schools from the nineteenth century to the present day′ - Colette Murphy, British Journal of Educational Studies `This book makes a fascinating and compelling read, particularly for anyone who has a professional involvement or interest in the ′National Curriculum′.... For anyone with an interest in teaching science as a professional enterprise this book is a must′ - Joe McDowall, School Science Review `This book makes a fascinating and compelling read.... The insights provided are fascinating and reminded me of how, as a bust teacher, it is often difficult to see the wood for the trees!... For anyone with an interest in teaching science as a professional enterprise this book is a must′ - Joe McDowell, Science Education, Research and Practice Who wants to change school science education and why? What mechanisms exist to effect change? What implications do they have for teachers′ professionalism? These are the principal questions explored in this book. The authors focus on strategies for effecting change, including decentralized and statutory mechanisms, and the use of systems of assessment. The authors question the effectiveness of centralized programmes in improving the quality of students′ science education. They suggest that this arises from a failure to acknowledge the contribution that the science teaching profession must make to reform. They argue that sustained and effective change, embodying improvements in standards, depends upon promoting the initiative, authority and expertise of science teachers themselves, and upon finding a new balance between these professional characteristics and the political demand for accountability. Science Education will be of interest to teachers, policy-makers and researchers in any educational system which strives to raise the quality of science education in its schools.
For anyone with an interest in teaching science as a professional enterprise this book is a must′ - Joe McDowell, Science Education, Research and Practice Who wants to change school science education and why?
Values and Professional Knowledge in Teacher Education provides distinctive insights into potential strengths to develop trainee teachers’ values within school-based training. Looking at the personal moral and political values of trainees as fundamental to strategic and critical professional knowledge, the book considers a key question about training contexts: to what extent is teacher education embedded in the purpose and rationale of the school so that trainees’ values, and consequently their autonomy and identity, can flourish? The book is research focused and offers case studies that offer vicarious experiences which resonate with the professional needs and concerns of teacher educators. The book opens with a reflective narrative on the experience of a teacher educator in England. Further chapters explore international perspectives on values and professional knowledge in teacher education, applied theoretical principles for developing the relationship between trainee teachers’ values and their professional knowledge, the impact of university and school-based training contexts on the development of values-based professional knowledge, and the challenge of a values-based professional knowledge to current teacher education practice. Values and Professional Knowledge in Teacher Education will be of great interest to academics and post-graduate students in the field of education, university and school-based teacher educators, trainee teachers, researchers, policymakers and school leaders.
The book is research focused and offers case studies that offer vicarious experiences which resonate with the professional needs and concerns of teacher educators.
"The essence of this book is to capture the nature of current educational practices from a variety of theoretical perspectives. Both teachers and teacher educators provide a lens on better understanding teacher training and learning processes. The mutual interrelations and provision of knowledge between the academia and schools are essential to combine discourses and align positions. Therefore, bringing practice into theory and theory to practice in nowadays teaching is key to offer adapted responses to multiple problems and increasingly diverse contexts. On the other hand, the array of studies from around the world compiled in this volume allow the readership to find commonplaces, draw shared concerns, and define goals. Studying teaching and teacher education across-contexts allow to gauge the pulse of the discipline and identify those issues that enable educators to understand the complexities of teaching and learning. The chapters examine the development of knowledge and understanding of teaching practices, analyze engaging learning environments, the sustainability of learning and teaching practices, and show new practices based on the use of Information and Communication Technologies. The diverse teaching contexts from this compilation of international research are organized according to the following themes: - Teaching professional learning and knowledge; - Teacher beliefs and reflective thinking; - Innovative teacher procedures"--
This volume intends to promote scholarly discussions and contribute to find commonplaces in the teaching profession.
The term ‘wasta stems from the Arabic root for ‘middle’ or ‘medium’ and describes the phenomenon of using ‘connections’ to find job, government services or other favors to circumvent bureaucracy or bypass the system as a whole. The effects of ‘wasta’ may be both positive or negative, and is not a phenomenon that is particular to the Arab or Muslim world, but also to many other cultures and regions of the world, with similar concepts popularly known as ubuntu, guanxi, harambee, naoberschop, or “old boy network” used in African, Chinese and European societies. By its very nature ‘wasta’ is an area of grey or even black information, and, like corruption to which it is most often associated, is hard to assess although country corruption perception indexes attempt to provide a quantifiable basis. In the final analysis such ratings are based on perceptions of corruption, and this perception may vary strongly depending on different societal structures and cultural modes, whether these are extended family systems, tribal, clans or more atomized societies where relationships are essentially transactional and rule based. In a western perspective where ‘wasta’ may be considered as a form of corruption, in other societies it may be perceived as something ‘natural’ and not criminal, and using one's ‘wasta’ in tribal societies to help clan members is seen as a duty. The difference stems from the 'innocent ' use of ‘wasta’ to make introductions, as opposed to its abuse in placing unqualified persons in positions .The volume brings together academics and professional experts to examine a range of multi-faceted social, economic and political issues raised by the use and abuse of social networking, covering various topics like: ‘wasta’ interpersonal connections in family and business ties, The relationship between inequality-adjusted human development and corruption perception indexes in the Gulf region, ‘wasta’ and business networking, assessing the economic cost of ‘wasta’, ‘wasta’ and its impact on quality oriented education reform and the perceptions of young people, The use of ‘wasta’ to overcome socio-cultural barriers for women and men The volume also offers insights into social relations and ethics, and how the use of ‘wasta’ contradicts with common held religious principles, along with some country studies on Islamic principles and the use of ‘wasta’. Mohamed Ramady is a Visiting Associate Professor, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia.
In the final analysis such ratings are based on perceptions of corruption, and this perception may vary strongly depending on different societal structures and cultural modes, whether these are extended family systems, tribal, clans or more ...
