Canada

Posted on May 25, 2012 by | Leave a comment
Response: Factors Behind The Success Of Ontario’s Schools — Part One and Part Two
Ferlazzo, L.  Education Week (21 May 2012 & 22 May 2012) 

What’s going on in Ontario’s schools?  Part One contains responses to this question from a teacher, an administrator, and two parent leaders; Part Two includes contributions from Professor Michael Fullan, a professor emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto and current special advisor to the premier and minister of education in Ontario, and readers.  Professor Fullan writes, “Unfortunately some countries in a hurry to address the issues get the solutions wrong.  I call these mistake ‘wrong drivers for whole system reform’.  Drivers are policy and strategy instruments designed to ’cause’ improvement in the system.  A wrong driver is one that does not work; a right driver is one that does produce improvement.  In our work on system reform we have been sorting out what drivers work and which ones do not.  This is our conclusion: excessive accountability, individualistic strategies designed to increase human capital, technology and ad hoc policy solutions waste valuable time and resources and often make matters worse.”  Other respondents point to support for teachers and involving students in the creation of assessments as reasons for the success of Ontario schools.

The following video provides an overview of some of the items discussed in Part One and Part Two of “Factors Behind The Success of Ontario’s Schools”:

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Norway

Posted on May 23, 2012 by | Leave a comment
A new strategy for lower secondary school (in Norwegian)
Ministry of Education (15 May 2012)

For the first time in 40 years, the Ministry of Education has released a white paper on strategies for developing lower secondary education in Norway. The aim is to enhance motivation and learning outcomes for all students. The strategy plan runs from school year 2012/13 through 2016/17.

The curricula for the following eight new electives will be ready in June:
– stage and performance
– media and information
– production of goods and services
– physical activity and health
– design and redesign
– practical research
– practical technology
– international cooperation

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Posted in Government Reports

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New Zealand

Posted on May 23, 2012 by | Leave a comment
Editorial: Size matters, but excellence even more so
New Zealand Herald (17 May 2012)

While it acknowledges that class size matters, the New Zealand government has adopted the position that the quality of teaching is more important.  Leveraging on the research findings of the Grattan Institute report that raising teacher quality is more effective than reducing class size, New Zealand would allow class size to increase so as to save money to boost teacher quality.  All trainee teachers will be expected to possess a post-graduate qualification, and teachers will be assessed under a new performance management system.  Performance-based pay might be a possibility under the new measures to be adopted.  Despite the government’s stance, parents and unions remain worried about the proposal.

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India

Posted on May 20, 2012 by | Leave a comment
‘No detention’ policy works
Thomas, L.  The Hindu (18 May 2012)

The “no detention policy” in the Right to Education (RTE) Act “is one clause [of the act] that a majority of the teachers resent. It states that until class VIII, no child can be held back or expelled from school.”  Teachers believe the policy creates a “lackadaisical” mindset in their students, for the students have developed, in the teachers’ opinion, an attitude of “why study when there’s no fear of failing?”  RTE was enacted because of India’s extraordinarily high drop-out right, but “blindly following the ‘no detention policy’ will not help. Schools must offer bridge course for slow learners, but there is little focus on that. Classes with large student strength also make it difficult for teachers to offer extra care and attention to slow learners.”  Still, teachers find the “no detention” policy problematic, as some students are having difficulties passing examinations.

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Australia

Posted on May 20, 2012 by | Leave a comment
Principals warned off test boycott
Topsfield, J.  The Age (15 May 2012)

Principals have been warned not to encourage students to boycott NAPLAN, the standardized tests for Years 3, 5, 7, and 9 in reading, writing, language conventions, and numeracy.  Opposition to the test has been building, as groups like Say No to NAPLAN have expressed concerns about the examinations.  The move to boycott by principals takes advantage of provisions in the program that “the tests are not compulsory and parents have the right to withdraw their children on the grounds of philosophical objections or religious beliefs.”  The testing authority’s response to this tactic:  “Parents do have the right to withdraw their children from the tests, but we emphasise that principals are not to actively encourage students not to participate,” adding that ”we would consider that quite inappropriate for obvious reasons.”

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The Netherlands

Posted on May 15, 2012 by | Leave a comment
Pilot to prevent segregation of schools (in Dutch)
Besturenraad: Center for Christian Education (April 2012)

Segregation of students with different ethnic backgrounds in schools (leading to what is called “white” and “black” schools) is a problem in a number of Dutch cities; segregation is hard to tackle as parents are free to choose a school for their children. The Dutch Department of Education has implemented a number of pilot projects to increase cooperation between these schools and to have students with different backgrounds work together.

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Japan

Posted on May 15, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Expanding Science Elites: Super Science High School (in Japanese)
Watanabe, A. Benesse.jp (14 May 2012)

The Ministry of Education established the Super Science High School (SSH) system to combat a decreasing interest in math, science, and technology in Japanese schools in 2002.  With 73 newly appointed schools in 2012 (an increase of 33 schools from 2011), there is a total of 178 SSHs across Japan. Of those 73 new SSHs selected from the pool of 97 applications, 3 are national, 57 are public, and 13 are private schools. SSH students have the opportunities to experience university-level and world-class research while participating in international science fairs and interacting with top researchers from various universities, institutes, and corporations.

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A Quick Scan of Ed News Over the Past Few Weeks

Posted on May 14, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Students’ roles in education policy and the costs of higher education are the subject of debates and protest in Austria, Canada, and South America  (“Student group demands direct ballot for student representation”; “Protesters clash with police as Quebec students’ grievances grow”; “60,000 Chileans protest in the year’s first authorized student march”).

Control of education, the autonomy of schools and public and private education have been in the news in Germany, Japan, India, and New Zealand (“Cost explosion in education administration: Court of Auditors urges centralization under Federal Government of all education matters”; “Governor and Prefectural Board of Education in Shimane Agreed on Joint Determination of Educational Goals”; “Who picks up the tab?; Charter school trials to take place across the country”).

A host of issues related to teachers and teaching quality including teacher evaluation and merit pay, student-teacher relations, and stress and burnout have also been subjects of discussion in England, Australia, Austria, South Korea, and Germany (“Great teachers: Attracting, training and retaining the best”; “Annual appraisal plan includes observing teachers in classroom”; “Demand for reduction in teachers‘ holidays”; “More teachers insulted by students, parents”; “Pupils overstrain their teachers”).

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Posted in About K-12 International Education News

Austria

Posted on May 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment
Integrative vocational education has positive impact (in German)
Dornmayr, H.  Institut für Bildungsforschung der Wirtschaft (Institute for Research on Qualifications and Training of the Austrian Economy) (April 2012)

In 2003, the Austrian Government introduced a measure called “integrative vocational education” to allow students with disabilities or any other kind of disadvantage to choose adapted forms of apprenticeships. A recent study shows that the measure is having a positive impact for the students concerned and is promoting their integration into the job market. According to the report, 52% of students remained in their jobs following their integrative vocational education, and a further 10% changed to another apprenticeship. Although 22% of students are unemployed and 8% are engaged in job center skills development, 23% of the drop-outs found a new integrative apprenticeship opportunity shortly after dropping out. The study also reveals that business apprenticeships have been more effective than inter-company vocational training.

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England

Posted on May 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment
Great Teachers: attracting, training and retaining the best
United Kingdom Parliament (1 May 2012)

The Education Select Committee has released its ninth report with a set of recommendations on teacher training and retention. The committee recommends that Performance Related Pay be introduced in England as a way of increasing the attainment of students by rewarding and retaining the most ‘effective’ teachers in the profession.  Other studies, including this one conducted by the RAND Corporation in New York City, have called into question the effectiveness of teacher merit pay for improving student academic achievement.

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