Comparative Education Policy

Maria Stefanecz The digital revolution is rapidly changing the world we live in; how will it affect the classroom? Image: Pearson, All Rights Reserved Digital technologies are fundamentally changing the way people live, work, learn and socialise today. [1]  Increasingly sophisticated interactions between technologies and students and teachers, as well as the growing hype around their application in education, is delivering a promise of more “personalised” or “adaptive” learning (eg. ALEKS, Knewton, DreamBox).  This addresses one of the main critiques of the current education model; namely, the lack of a personalised approach to students’ needs. [4,5] Technology can be, and is increasingly, used for student and teacher assessment and monitoring (ex.:No More Marking, Geekie), virtual mentoring and teaching of particular skills.  (ex.:Mindspark, Siyavula Practice, Teach to One, Byju), It also helps to connect formal and informal learnin...

Mame Mbacké The quick changes on the labor market, which lead workers to master new skills, especially regarding ICTs, implies necessary shifts in the field of education. Vocational Education and Training (VET) is a potential solution to the problem of training and curriculum adaptation to the labor market Apprenticeship: an ancient approach of teaching Universities such as Oxford or Paris University dating from the Middle Ages illustrate the long heritage of tertiary education. Nevertheless, VET also has a long history. As a matter of fact, apprenticeships, or comparable trainings have been used as a way of transmitting skills for a long time. Such programs have been identified from the Babylon era during the second and the first century BC up to London 400 years ago. Thus, they have demonstrated efficiency across centuries. Vocational education and training: what is it about? VET extends much wider than we may think as it includes all the trainings prepa...

Jingjie “Alva” Dai In bad times, people blame immigrants: in this case, it is over the declining education outcomes in Sweden. While the accusation does not stand, migrant children do face certain difficulties in most OECD countries. So how should governments and schools tackle this issue? A multi-cultural classroom in USA “The large influx of immigrants to Swedish schools has been cited as a significant part of the reason why Sweden has dropped more than any other European country in the international PISA rankings.” goes the English Wikipedia page of Education in Sweden with four references from online media sources. In fact, you can find a number of similar articles on the Internet that claim a major correlation - even causality - between the increase in immigrant population and the rapid fall of Sweden’s education performance. Such a myth not only impedes Sweden from identifying the real problems in its school system, but also adds fuel to already rising anti-immigran...

Christa Rawkins International and transnational organisations have a growing influence on national education policies.  The EU needs to strengthen its position to avoid being left behind. Across the world, national education systems face the same key challenge: how to prepare students for an unpredictable, globalised future. The global governance of education therefore plays an increasingly significant role in international discourse. As such, international organisations have more and more influence; indeed, Jakobi (2009) refers to them as “the main drivers of educational change”.  In this increasingly populated and active educational landscape, what is the role of regional organisations? This post considers the European Union’s direct activity and influence upon the national education policies of community members and offers approaches to consolidating this position. While education has always been a national responsibility, some European-wide initi...