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...