Education & Pedagogy

Widened participation in post-compulsory and higher education is generally regarded as a result of the growing recognition of the internal and external benefits of higher education, which are categorised either as a private or public good. However, a question can be raised: once these incentives become less promising or less evident, will a strong demand for higher education still exist? In particular, higher education is the final stage of the educational systems of most countries. University graduates have to face the inevitable challenge of transferring from their universities to the society in general and to the labour market in particular. Once the supposed link between education and economic and social prosperity becomes tangible or broken, what might be the incentives for students to enter universities? Can higher education be seen as a government's endeavour to enhance public good, or is it basically an individual struggle for a private good? This article presents a case study on the massification of higher education in Taiwan. In particular, the effect of massification in terms of individuals' employment and earnings is reviewed critically. First, a broader context of the changing global economy is examined, and the debate on education as a public or private good is discussed. Second, the development of the massification of higher education in Taiwan is briefly outlined. Third, external factors affecting higher education, including unemployment and earnings, are investigated. Finally, implications for higher education in Taiwan and reflections on the value of higher education are reconsidered.

The task of ensuring the effectiveness of practice-oriented secondary and higher professional education based on social partnership and network interaction of subjects of education in an innovative educational environment is set based on the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard 3+ for the pedagogical and psychological specialties in higher education and modern (actualized) educational standards for the specialties "Construction and exploitation of buildings" (08.02.01) and "Primary school teaching" (44.02.02) in vocational professional education for the formation of general (general cultural) and professional competencies of students and graduates of institutions of secondary vocational and higher education. The aim of this study is to present the results of theoretical and experimental studies of activities and innovation platforms based on the institution of secondary vocational education, in conditions of the social-network educational partnership. The main methods used in this study were analyses, experiments, questioning and expert evaluation. The results of the experiments show the positive impact of partnerships on the levels of innovative activity of teachers and formation of general (general cultural) and professional competencies of students and graduates of secondary vocational education organizations. The study proves the role and importance of social-network educational partnerships in ensuring the effectiveness of practice-oriented education in modern professional schools, as it takes into account and reflects the characteristics, requirements and needs of the society and individual. It allows one to fulfill his role and take into account the interaction of organizations, institutions and individuals in ensuring the transfer and mastering of the content of professional education in organizations of secondary vocational and higher education.

Education opens numerous revenues to register economic expansion all around the world with specific reference to developing nations. Advancement of Pakistan in education indicators has been severely insufficient during the previous decades. Decreased financing along with inefficiency in budget expenditure plus weak management system have crippled the education sector ensuing poor educational outcomes. Outcome-based Education (OBE) has recently gained much attention in Pakistan. OBE is used in education because it clearly focuses and organizes everything in an educational system around what is necessary for all students to be able to do at the end of their learning. OBE proposes an influential and interesting option of transforming and organizing medical education. Therefore, the basic aim of this review is to highlight the tertiary education system of Pakistan and the need to shift from teacher centered to Outcome Based Education system. The review also addresses the major factors that impact student learning outcomes. Data bases were searched including Cochrane and Medline. Search strategy was designed by combining Boolean operators and key terms related to review objectives. Seven studies were included in the paper regarding the effectiveness of Outcome Based Education in different disciplines of education. The findings suggested five important factors from the literature that impact student learning outcomes including, assessment strategies, learning objectives based on level of complexity, student preferred learning styles, English language competency and Employer requirements. However, limitations were recognized in the methodology section and further recommendations were given for future researchers.

Robotic education is a popular topic in recent years. There are robotic education courses from pre-K to K-12 and these courses claim that they support STEM education. However, the teacher's perception of these activities and needs for this education is the missing part of the chain. The aim of this study to find out the perceptions and suggestions of early childhood teachers about robotic education in kindergartens. This is a qualitative phenomenological study. Ten early childhood education (ECE) teachers were the participants of this study. A semi-structured interview form was developed and in-depth interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data. After that codes and themes were defined through the content analysis process. The results of this study showed that ECE teachers have a positive attitude towards robotic education in kindergarten. The current status of kindergarten, perceived advantages/disadvantages of robotic education, and ideal robotic education were the emerged themes during data analysis. According to results, ECE teachers thought that there are many needs like teacher training, materials, curriculum, infrastructure, technical support, and parent education for implementing robotic education properly in kindergartens. Also, teachers underlined that robotics education could be beneficial for motivation, knowledge, thinking skills, development, and psychomotor skills of children. Results also revealed ECE teachers' suggestions about ideal robotic education in kindergartens. Suggestions for future studies and practitioners were also included.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the features of higher education management in the context of global economic transformations. Design/methodology/approach: A correlation-regression analysis of the functionality of the modern education system was carried out in the "personality-society-economy" triad by analyzing the impact of global indices such as Economic Quality Index, Personal Freedom Index and Social Capital Index on the resultant indicator, or the Education Index. Findings: It was determined that the impact of economic factors on the level of education is rather low, and at the same time, this indicator largely depends on the indicator of the social capital. In this regard, the following social trends have been identified that need to be implemented for the successful education management: expanding the population education program, as well as providing lifelong education, ensuring equal access to quality education, strengthening the role of the state in ensuring equity in education, efficient and effective use of education costs, humanization and democratization of education, updating the content, forms, methods and means of training, enhancing the professional competence of teachers, transparency of education systems, the formation of state-public forms of education management. Originality/value: In the framework of the proposed research, it was established the hypothesis that the modern education system is dependent on the relation between individual, society and the national economy.

This document contains transcripts of U.S. Senate hearings leading to the reauthorization of the Vocational Education Act. During the hearings, testimony and/or prepared statements were given by the U.S. Secretary of Education, representatives of business and industry (especially the training sector), educators (especially vocational education directors, superintendents of various school systems, and state education superintendents), and representatives acting on behalf of women, minority groups, and handicapped persons. Some of the issues discussed by the witnesses were the following: (1) the decreased amount of federal spending for vocational education while the federal government is demanding more roles for vocational education; (2) the federal role in vocational education: what it is; what it should be; and what part should be played by state governments; (3) the quality of work skills possessed by persons in the work force; (4) the need for greater public/private sector cooperation in vocational education; (5) how the current government structure in vocational education affects the delivery of services; and (6) vocational education and minority groups. Recommendations on these topics and others were made in the hope of affecting the provisions of the reauthorized Vocational Education Act. (KC)

A collection of papers on bilingual education covers these topics: (1) second-language acquisition theories relevant to bilingual education; (2) the age factor in native language maintenance and in the development of English proficiency of overseas Japanese children; (3) applying the Cummins language proficiency model to students who acquire language bimodally; (4) acquisition of Spanish sounds in two-year-old Chicanos; (5) bilingual education's role in Puerto Rican students' cultural adjustment; (6) qualitative analysis of teacher disapproval behavior; (7) assessing a community's ethnolinguistic complexity; (8) a bilingual education program effective with both Spanish and Asian language students; (9) Spanish mathematics instruction in some Texas schools; (10) oral history in bilingual social studies; and (11) a ten-year-old language learner's journal. Other topics include (1) improving vocational education for bilingual students; (2) the microcounseling approach for limited-English-proficient adults; (3) linguistic interferences among Korean students learning English; (4) scoring a Spanish informal reading inventory for bilingual students; (5) classroom observation for Spanish-speaking parents; (6) bilingual education on television; (7) the impact of state evaluation systems on limited-English-speakers; (8) issues in bilingual education policy formation; (9) language rights versus racial nondiscrimination; (10) bilingual education in higher education; (11) bilingual bicultural education; and (12) Hispanic women in higher education. (MSE)

The National Commission on Secondary Vocational Education was formed in January 1984 to examine the role and function of secondary vocational education. During its deliberations, the commission addressed the following areas of concern: perceptions of vocational education, access, equity, curriculum, vocational education teacher recruitment and preparation, standards and accountability, articulation, leadership in vocational education, partnerships among vocational education, business, labor, and the community, and field-based learning. After more than seven months of site visits and hearings across the country, the commission concluded that all secondary students need a balance of both academic and vocational experiences to prepare themselves for life in a changing world. It was further recommended that all students--including special population youth and potential dropouts--should be able to choose from a comprehensive set of course offerings across academic and vocational areas and that States should not mandate curricular requirements that restrict students' opportunities to participate in vocational education experiences. A five-part plan for teacher recruitment, preservice education, certification, and inservice education was proposed. It was suggested that the effectiveness of vocational education be judged primarily by before-and-after changes in student knowledge and that policymakers provide for vertical articulation across schools and grade levels and also for lateral articulation among school and nonschool providers of employment-related education and training. (MN)

Florida's 1983 Legislature directed the Postsecondary Education Planning Commission to conduct a study of colleges of education in Florida. The Commission examined principally those areas relatively untouched by recent or impending changes. Legislation, board of education rules, department of education initiatives and independent actions by various colleges of education have recently resulted in significant changes in Florida's teacher education programs. Many decisions have not yet been fully implemented and few changes have been operational long enough to permit evaluation of the effectiveness of program modifications, new directions, and revised standards. The Commission's recommendations, therefore, are intended to be complementary to actions of the past few years. This document discusses teacher education in Florida; research activities of colleges of education study committee; and seven issues and committee recommendations involving: (1) alternate route for certification in secondary education; (2) preparation programs for elementary school teachers; (3) addition of subject matter experts to state advisory board; (4) other improvements in teacher certification; (5) strengthening Florida's teacher certification examination; (6) service and outreach in public schools; (7) teacher education within universities; and (8) research activities of college of education faculty. Also included is an 86-item bibliography and eight appendices which include survey instruments, tables, interview forms, and a report on colleges of education research activity (JMK)

To provide those involved with education with a clear sense of public attitudes on some major educational issues, 1,013 telephone interviews were conducted in Manitoba in January 1984. This report provides results of the survey together with an analysis of their significance. The questions asked were divided into five major categories: (1) quality of education, (2) funding of education, (3) special programs, (4) public involvement, and (5) postsecondary accessibility and continuing education. Responses were analyzed by age, gender, place of residence (Winnipeg/other), level of education, and presence of students in the household. Where present, significant differences in responses for these subgroups are noted in the report. Findings of the survey showed that: (1) Public perceptions of the quality of education are neither so positive as to be comfortable nor so negative as to be alarming; with the exception of high school, where concern is stronger, there is qualified support for educational equality; (2) Education is seen as reasonably well funded with no public support for increased spending; (3) Strong public support for new initiatives in the areas of Heritage Language and sex education and support for programs for special needs students; (4) Strong support for increased public involvement in education; and (5) Most Manitobans believe that accessibility to postsecondary education is good; there is a large demand for adult education especially from the most affluent and educated. (A brief summary in both French and English is included.) (MLF)

Contrary to expectations a decade ago, the United States has not buried the dichotomy between vocational education and academic education. Instead, as shown by the publication of the report, "A Nation at Risk," the academic community is again declaring war on the vocational education establishment. This report, which stresses the need for excellence in education, is in fact a cry for elitism in education. For example, the statistics that show that the great increase in student enrollment in vocational education is viewed by the academic community, at least by those who serve on the national commissions who publish reports, as a "dire warning signal" of the "rising tide of vocationalism," which they codify as "mediocrity." However, the great "need" to "protect" students from vocational education may actually be a need to protect the jobs of the academicians, who suffer from declining enrollments in their courses. The reason for this dichotomy is rooted in the history of American education, for the system originally developed as college education for the few and manual training for others. As the middle class increased, however, the dichotomy between vocational and academic pursuits increased, to the detriment of vocational education. And in many cases, vocational educators have accepted and internalized the designation of inferiority. If American education is to improve, the war between the factions must stop, and all educators must move toward an integrated system that will better serve all students. (KC)

Men dominated the teaching positions in five of nine vocational program areas during 1979-80: industrial-arts (96.6 percent of full time positions), agriculture (93.5 percent), technical (92.8 percent), trade and industrial (91.4 percent), and distribution (69.5 percent) according to a survey of 282,292 full time instructional staff analyzed through the Vocational Education Data System (VEDS). Women staff comprised majorities in consumer and homemaking (96.1 percent), occupational home economics (88.8 percent), health (82.7 percent), and office occupations (64 percent). For three of the four types of institutions studied (secondary, postsecondary, vocational technical institutes, and other postsecondary programs) staffs were overwhelmingly male in traditionally male fields and overwhelmingly female in fields traditionally considered to be for females. Only in higher education were these patterns broken, showing more balanced distribution. Estimates of data on racial/ethnic characteristics indicate that about 11 percent of the full time instructors in vocational education programs were minorities with 8.8 percent black, 1.5 percent Hispanic, 0.8 percent Asian or Pacific Islanders, and 0.3 percent American Indians/Alaskan Natives. Minority instructors were concentrated in occupational home economics, office occupations, industrial arts, and consumer and homemaking programs; few taught in technical and distributive education. Minority groups, however, varied according to program areas and types of institutions. (KC)

A brief overview is presented by a blue ribbon commission on the organization of elementary/secondary education and higher education in California, funding provided to community colleges, and recommendations of the California Postsecondary Education Commission regarding postsecondary education. In addition, an outline of issues facing postsecondary education in California is included. According to the commission, the master plan for higher education provides for differential functions among the three public segments of higher education: the community colleges, the state university and college system, and the University of California. The commission recommends that statewide institutional policies for the 1980's emphasize greater differentiation of functions with the three sectors (including more specialized campus missions) and greater cooperation among institutions and sectors. The commission recommends that the California Postsecondary Education Commission and the State Scholarship Commission study the relationship between current federal funding for higher education and the fee structure and financing of public higher education in California, with a view toward increasing California's share of federal education funds without placing an added burden upon lower and middle income students. The commission finds that the present concept of a state-local partnership for funding for community colleges is basically sound and recommends a mixed basis of funding for community colleges in which the state provides the major portion of funding as opposed to full state assumption of financing. Proposition 13 and the following postsecondary education issues are outlined: the problems of community college finance, adult education, student charges, and equity dilemmas in funding among the segments of postsecondary education. (SW)

Corporate-based education programs, the response of higher education, and the cooperation between business and higher education are considered. It is suggested that the fact that private industry has moved into the degree-granting arena, even to a small extent, may indicate that higher education needs to be more responsive to the business sector. Corporate education differs from higher education in that it tends to serve primarily institutional needs rather than personal needs, is characterized by unusually high motivation of participants, the workplace is the setting for learning and doing, and it has a pragmatic orientation. However, despite some fundamental differences in purpose and orientation, corporate education centers sometimes bear a striking resemblance to traditional colleges and universities. A corporation may be better able to accommodate rapidly changing knowledge requirements by conducting its own education program rather than attempting to work through a college or university. Corporations and institutions of higher education are involved in numerous partnership activities ranging from national projects to individual collegiate/corporate efforts. However, higher education may have to institute significant changes in its structure and develop additional nontraditional delivery systems if it is to serve the educational needs of the business sector. Colleges and universities must become more sensitive to the manpower needs of industry and must carefully evaluate their ability to respond to these needs in a way that is consistent with their institutional mission. Higher education needs more flexibility and adaptability in course and program approval, missions procedures, residency requirements, and course and program duration. (SW)

In this report, the author reviews the actual and potential use of competence and performance based teacher education (C/PBTE) in regard to further education in England. He describes the concept of further education, reviews existing practices, and makes a number of suggestions for future action. The author first outlines the development and use of this individualized modular system in the United States and then analyzes the arguments for and against such a behaviorist approach to teacher skills. He claims that while much work is needed in adapting this system to the English system, experience elsewhere indicates the C/PBTE removes "some of the mystique and institutional restrictions which surround teacher education." The author notes that the development of these modules in the United States required an investment of $2 million and says that not all of the 100 modules available are relevant to the United Kingdom. He suggests, however, that various bodies, including the further education establishment, could valuably support developmental work based on the modular approach. (Two appendixes to the report describe the tentative approaches that have been made in the United Kingdom in this field, while other appendixes describe modules that are available and how they are used.) (KC)