The rise of educational action research amongst schools in Singapore can be attributed to the government's belief that educational research and reform can improve school performance and help Singapore keep pace with the impact of globalization. However, against a backdrop of neo-liberal educational reform where efficiency, accountability and…

Madaris (plural of madrasa) face a multitude of challenges in preparing students for life in rapidly modernising societies and emerging globalised knowledge economies. The complexity of the role and tasks of madaris, which are caught in the interface of modernity and tradition, the challenges they face, and the strategies they develop to address…

This article is based on research undertaken as part of a study of sustainable school design in Thailand. Since school design solutions are inevitably affected by educational theory and practice, in the search for appropriate building solutions, it has been necessary to review Thai educational theories and practices that relate to the…

In the contemporary period, the persistence of the dual system of state and "madrasa" education in many Muslim countries has raised for policymakers the dilemma of what form Islam ought to assume as a pedagogic category in these contexts. At one extreme, in the syllabi of traditionalist "madrasas", we find Islam being deployed as an overarching…

This paper critiques specific forms of classroom teacher effectiveness research. In doing so, the paper suggests that education policy-making deems and employs teacher effectiveness research as a promising and capable contrivance for the identification of ineffective classroom teaching practice. The paper engages with this policy debate by using a…

The nature and value of "professionalism" has long been contested by both producers and consumers of policy. Most recently, governments have rewritten and redefined professionalism as compliance with externally imposed "standards." This has been achieved by silencing the voices of those who inhabit the professional field of…

Federal, State and school-based professional development has become a multi-million dollar educational enterprise in Australia. Yet there are no published models for the making of systems-level professional development policy. Reviewing the literature on the characteristics of effective professional development programs, this paper proposes a…

The Victorian Age was a period of great confusion, of great hope and great despair, of a bourgeois assault upon the aristocracy, of an evangelical assault upon the establishment, of the raised voices of the Wesleyans in the Welsh valleys. In Australia, of course it was the threat of the Yellow Peril and of Russian invasion as well as the emerging…

Worldwide there has been a range of initiatives in the area of standards for teachers as part of a discourse of professionalism. In Australia there are a plethora of standards: state and territory frameworks, generic and subject-specific, systemic and cross-systemic, for pre-service, beginning and experienced teachers. Little has been written as…

While there has been widespread take-up of the concept 'flexible learning' within various educational environments--and equally frequent references to the flexible 'natures' of the computer and communication technologies that often underpin flexible learning initiatives--the relationship between technologies and flexibility is not a simple one. In…

Cooperative education could play a role in education for sustainability, which has evolved from environmental education. Three modes for integrating them are learning about education for sustainability in the workplace, teaching the workplace about education for sustainability, and integrating education for sustainability and cooperative…

Examination of methods of assessing teaching practica resulted in the following recommendations for other work-based learning programs: (1) identify whether the purpose is technical competence, professional artistry, or both; (2) determine the objectives for work placements; (3) identify the roles of academic and industry staff; and (4) determine…