International Education News

Australia

Posted on March 18, 2013 by internationalednews | 1 comment

Support for Teacher Standards

Josephine Tovey and Amy McNeilage, The Sydney Morning Herald (March 12, 2013)

photo: Peter Rae

In an effort to raise the standard of teacher training in Australia, the federal government has announced plans for higher standards for teachers entering the profession. As part of the government’s National Plan for School Improvement, the new screening process for admission to teaching courses will include an interview process, demonstration of values and aptitude, and a written statement, thereby making the entry process comparable with existing models in the field of medicine. In addition, all future teachers will need to pass a literacy and numeracy test, demonstrating that their skills are equivalent to the top 30% of the population, before obtaining a teaching degree.

Education Minister Peter Garrett said, “I think that they (teachers) do an excellent job, but the fact is universities need to be sure that the people who are putting up their hand to come in and do teaching have got not only the right qualifications but also the additional temperament, commitment, enthusiasm and directed strengths and real desire to do that job.”

Australia’s plan comes on the heels of a recent, controversial New South Wales proposal, which sets minimum academic entry standards for teacher education students, tougher accreditation tests, and requires mentoring by veteran teachers.

For more information:

Proposed reforms to ensure ‘right’ people enter teaching

The new Rs needed for teaching: reading, writing and a bucketload of rapport

Piccoli firm over teaching benchmark

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Posted in About K-12 International Education News

Austria

Posted on March 14, 2013 by internationalednews | Leave a comment

Poverty conference calls for a socio-economic index to support schools

Johann Bacher

derStandard.at (February 26, 2013)

Johann Bacher, sociologist at the University of Lintz, called for index-based resource funding for schools at this year’s Austrian Poverty Conference. According to Bacher, this method of funding would focus on socioeconomic disparities and compensate for social segregation in Austrian schools. Four variables (parent level of education, occupation, migration background and language spoken at home) would inform decisions about which schools receive additional government funding; however, schools would have the power to decide independently how best to use the money. The index would support weak students and strengthen the attractiveness of these schools for parents with higher income. The Federal Ministry for Education, Arts, and Culture (BMUKK) has expressed concern over the implementation of the index and feels that they are already dealing with the issue.

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Scan of Ed News: Quality and Access

Posted on February 18, 2013 by internationalednews | Leave a comment

(links to articles are embedded as hyperlinks)

Recent news reports reveal the ways in which countries all over the world are taking steps to make quality P-12 education more accessible for students.

In China, the government is closing privately operated schools and will allow the children of migrant workers to attend public schools. In addition to paying tuition fees for vocational students in southern rural areas, the Chinese government is also looking for ways to increase high school enrollment in areas such as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. In contrast, the government has announced that, in their effort to increase the quality of tertiary institutions, postgraduate education will no longer be free. As noted in The New York Times, the cost of education is felt sharply by those in rural areas, where families are suffering from “high education costs coincid[ing] with slower growth of the Chinese economy and surging unemployment among recent college graduates.” Meanwhile, state universities in Indonesia will receive government funding to eliminate initial fees for new students and lower tuition rates overall.

In addition to the issue of access to education, many countries are reporting on efforts to improve the quality of education, resulting in conflicts between government officials, union leadership, and teachers. In Denmark, teachers are pushing back against the government’s reform measures, which include increasing the number of hours teachers spend in the classroom. In France, schools have had to shut their doors due to a teacher strike in protest of President Hollande’s reform agenda, which aims to increase classroom time. Guatemalan teachers and students have also been protesting the country’s education reform goals, which include university-level training for all teachers, a measure many believe will have a negative impact on education in rural areas. South Africa has long provided rural teachers with incentive stipends; however, teachers are in the midst of planning a strike to protest the government’s recent decision to terminate the allowances.

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Posted in About K-12 International Education News, Newspaper Articles

Tagged China, Denmark, France, Guatemala, Indonesia, news scan, South Africa

Reforms in Mexico and India in the Journal of Educational Change

Posted on February 15, 2013 by internationalednews | 2 comments

(links to articles are embedded as hyperlinks)

In the most recent issue of the Journal of Educational Change, studies highlight teacher participation in reform efforts in Mexico and a participatory approach to wide-scale change in India.

Education Reform and Teacher Participation in Mexico

In their study of Mexico’s 2006 Reforma de la Educacion Secundaria (RS) (Reform of Secondary Educatión), Levinson, Blackwood and Cross conclude that despite interest in professionalizing teaching at the secondary level, “for the most part secondary teachers in Mexico neither felt like agents nor partners in the RS…. As in previous reform efforts, teachers mostly felt that they were recipients of plans formulated by government officials, and as a result many have evidenced neither complete compliance nor full commitment to the reform.” They go on to explore the problematic role of the union in the reform and the concerns that many teachers have about the union. Recent reports from Mexico show that concerns about the union and teacher participation continue. President Enrique Peña Nieto’s recent education reform initiative is widely seen as an effort to diminish the power of Mexico’s teacher union, which has been led by Elba Esther Gordillo; however, it is not clear if President Nieto will provide the essential structure and support that would allow for authentic teacher participation. At this time, the teachers and union leadership have been presented in the press as allies in the effort to protest Nieto’s reform.

Wide-scale change in India

While recent attention often focuses on the regulations of the Right to Education Act in India (including recent reports and debates about the progress of this initiative), Tricia Niesz and Ramchandar Krishnamurthy suggested that the wide-scale adoption of Activity-Based Learning (ABL) in Tamil Nadu India was accomplished through a more participatory, grass-roots approach. They argue that state-level administrators “engaged strategies for change that combined both movement-building tactics and the conventional tools of administrative power.” These administrators themselves became experts in the ABL method in a way that built good will and moral authority even when administrators used top-down mandates to institutionalize the reform.

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Posted in About K-12 International Education News, Journal Articles, Newspaper Articles

Tagged India, Journal of Educational Change, mexico, Research

China

Posted on February 5, 2013 by internationalednews | 1 comment

High school admissions a priority in Xinjiang

By Cui Jia in Urumqi, China Daily (February 1, 2013)

Nur Bekri

Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has stated that in the next five years they hope to increase senior high school admission rates, and make vocational education available for all junior and senior graduates. While there have been significant increases in student enrollment since 2006, and regional governments began paying the tuition fees for vocational students from southern rural areas, the government is searching for ways to encourage more students to continue their studies.

For more information:

Uyghur Pupils Face Beatings

1,600 vagrant Xinjiang children resume normal life

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Posted in Newspaper Articles

Austria

Posted on February 1, 2013 by internationalednews | Leave a comment

Häupl wants referendum on Comprehensive School

derStandard.at (January 18, 2013)

Michael Haüpl APA/Schlager

The implementation of a comprehensive school system has been the subject of controversial debate for a long time. Now, Michael Häupl, Mayor of Vienna (Socialist Party, SPÖ), has suggested a national referendum asking Austria’s citizens whether they want to keep the current, partly stratified school system or implement a comprehensive school system with whole-day care for all children aged 6 to 14 years. If policymakers are unable to decide on this overdue question, then the Austrian people should, he argues. Johann Gudenus, head of the Austrian Freedom Party and Manfred Juraczka, head of the People’s Party in Vienna, both state that Mr. Häupl is ignoring the bad education conditions in the city of Vienna and therefore recommend that he first take care of those problems before demanding national solutions.

For more information on education news from Austria:

Education report recommends expanding entangled day schools (link in German)

A-levels: Students Union accuses the Ministry of Education of inactivity (link in German)

“Pre-school year for children with problems is German-discrimination” (link in German)

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Denmark: School Reform

Posted on January 26, 2013 by internationalednews | 2 comments

Anders Bondo Christensen
Photo: Klaus Holsting

The latest school reform proposal in Denmark calls for a 25-hour workweek for teachers, inclusion education, measurable goals, and a collaborative discussion about teacher training. Despite the fact that the reform has controversial implications for wages, work hours, and professional development, Anders Bondo Christensen (chairman of the Danish Union of Teachers) has garnered the support of the majority of teachers. Christensen is now hoping that Education Minister Christine Antorini will see that the plan is close to the government’s objectives.

Education Minister Christine Antorini

However, in a controversial move, Minister Antorini has just introduced a large-scale study in which more than 3,500 students in a total of 200 schools will be taught in their native languages, including Arabic and Turkish. In a press release, Antorini said, “We want to know more about what helps develop the language skills and knowledge of bilingual students. The trials will use and strengthen the tools that some schools and councils already have available today.”

Danish People’s Party Education Spokesperson, Alex Ahrendsten

Alex Ahrendtsen, Danish People’s Party education spokesman, expressed the his disapproval. “I’m shocked,” he said. “In the midst of school talks, she allows such a bomb blast.It destroys a really suitable climate for negotiations.” Instead, Ahrendtsen would prefer to see greater efforts to include bilingual students in Danish culture.

Other Nordic countries are debating similar issues and are watching closely.

For more information:

Please consult links embedded in the scan above, as well as those listed below.

Primary School Gets Back Hours in Mother Tongue (link in Danish)

Broad Support for Bondo’s Teacher Initiative (link in Danish)

Liberal Alliance: High school test should not determine access to secondary education (in Danish)

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Posted in About K-12 International Education News, Newspaper Articles

Tagged bilingual education, Denmark, educational testing, School reform, teacher unions

France

Posted on January 24, 2013 by internationalednews | Leave a comment

Paris teachers rebel against Socialists’ school reform

Joseph Bamat, France 24 (January 22, 2013)

President Francois Hollande

Paris-region teachers are striking against President Francois Hollande’s first major school reform, which calls for a reduction in class time during the school day and the addition of a half-day on Wednesdays. Teachers claim that the reform, set to begin in September of 2013, will require longer work hours with no compensation, and that it will have no impact on the overall quality of education. French teachers strongly supported Hollande in last year’s presidential election, when he promised a reform of the school system and a heavy investment in education.

For more information:

Teachers Strike Over 5-day Work Week

French Teachers Strike for Education Reforms

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Guatemala

Posted on January 22, 2013 by internationalednews | Leave a comment

Program to Promote Educational Reading Levels

Prensa Libre (January 11, 2013)

As Guatemalan schools begin the 2013 academic school year this month, teachers across the country are expected to implement a new reading program, entitled “Leamos Juntos” (the literal translation of which is “We Read Together”), aimed to promote reading and to involve students, teachers, families, and communities in the development of reading. The program has in common characteristics of earlier reading reforms from 2006 and 2011 – which, among their goals, served to promote healthy reading habits within families as well as to maintain Guatemalan oral traditions – and is a response to an “Ibero-American Educational Cooperation” conference) held last October 2012 . Within that conference, Spanish-speaking countries vowed to prepare a reading plan for the furthering of literacy in their schools.

With 90M Quetzales (a little over $11M) invested in the reform, one primary component of the program involves a normalized half-hour of reading per day within classrooms as a way to foment a love of reading among students. The money, borrowed from the International Development Bank, will be used for four purposes: 1) the purchase of 4.5M books, 2) materials to safeguard and deliver books to schools, 3) infrastructure for the storage of books, and 4) the eventual printing of e-books donated by UNESCO.

The Guatemalan Ministry of Education has created a national commission on reading as well as departmental commissions that are in charge of their respective educational centers and schools (both public and private). These commissions are expected to devise the human resources necessary to follow through with the promotion as well as effective methods – including a systemization of “good reading practices” – for teachers to help children with acquiring and developing their reading skills. Those departmental commissions are also in charge of their own resources and materials, presumably divided from the investments mentioned previously.

Additionally the reform calls for a commission of integrated school reading that includes the director of the institution, two teachers, two parent representatives, and two students whose responsibilities include ensuring the appropriate use of materials (ensuring that they’re organized by theme, type, language, etc.). Teachers in all institutions have the major responsibility of carrying out lessons that involve student participation and activities related to the reading. Finally, periodic evaluations of reading departments, institutions, and areas are a part of the reform.

– Contributed by Tran Templeton

For more information:

Guatemala: National Reading Program “We Read Together”

90M Quetzales Invested in Reading Program

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Posted in Newspaper Articles

Tagged education, Guatemala, literacy, policy

Mexico

Posted on January 20, 2013 by internationalednews | 5 comments

Mexico Approves Massive Education Reform

Associated Press (January 16, 2013)

President Enrique Pena Nieto

President Enrique Pena Nieto will enact a new public education law that calls for the creation of a formal system for hiring, evaluating and promoting teachers, in an effort to put an end to the buying and selling of teaching positions.”The goal of the reform is a quality education and for this there are two big things (needed): evaluating professional teachers and the body that will evaluate the system,” said Sen. Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, president of the Senate’s Education Commission. With this move, the federal government will take control over the public education system, which has been dominated by the 1.5 million-member National Union of Education Workers.