This paper examines the effects of a Child-to-Child (CtC) health education programme designed to assist children in Pakistan to greater participation and voice in both their own education and their families' health by empowering them as change agents. The study compares parental involvement in their children's participation in health promotion…

This paper explores understandings of gender equality and education and the nature of global goal and target setting, drawing on empirical data collected in central and local government departments in Kenya and South Africa reflecting on their implementation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 1, concerned with poverty, MDG 2, concerned with…

In this paper I discuss some of the approaches that I take in challenging student teachers to understand education in global context, rather than in a decontextualized or instrumental way. These approaches draw on my experience of being an educator from the "global South" (the Caribbean) now working in the "global North" (Australia). As the first…

A familiar discourse about higher education and social change today relates to higher education's socio-economic role within knowledge societies in a globalizing world. This paper addresses how issues of social justice feature in such discourses; whether social justice in higher education has been appropriated into a neo-liberal strategy for…

Examines market and bureaucratic control of education in terms of "institutions" typically analyzed by economists. Focuses on hybrid educational institutions combining bureaucratic and market control (called "quasi-markets") in Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and New Zealand. Finds little evidence of improved efficiency of quasi-markets…

Analyzes differences in the availability of school choice in the Netherlands, England, and Scotland, focusing on trends in 10 choice-related variables. Concludes that all three countries are moving toward an increased market mechanism but exhibit extensive differences, with the Netherlands approaching the market mechanism most closely. Contains 61…

Traces the development of Dutch educational policy since the compromise of 1917, by which private and public schools were given equal financial support. Examines the extent to which neoliberal reforms of the 1980s brought about radical changes in the Dutch education system, focusing on increased autonomy, freedom of school choice, privatization,…

Examines views of the role of knowledge in educational policies of countries of the Mercosul (the common market of South America's southern cone) and the influence of two international aid organizations with conflicting views (productivity-oriented goals versus cultural diversity and equity concerns). Discusses Brazilian national curricular…

A school census of three rural regions of Ghana examined enrollments, student age and gender, age at first enrollment, gender disparities among classes, dropouts, and the proportion of never-enrolled children. Focus group discussions with parents, teachers, and children highlighted major obstacles confronting education: child labor, health…

Summarizes similarities and differences in the education systems of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, focusing on history, governance, institutional organization, curriculum, qualifications, and social context. Discusses the potential theoretical and policy contributions of internal comparative research within the United Kingdom.…

The relationship of fiscal effort to eighth-grade achievement on international assessments was compared among U.S. states, for U.S. states versus foreign countries, and for the United States versus foreign countries. U.S. performance was as expected, given its relative fiscal effort, and several states were as efficient as top-performing foreign…

Misjudging the ease of educational-policy implementation is a common planning mistake. A "backward mapping" model, in which policy is informed by specific needs at the lowest level of implementation, was applied to primary school change in India and generated insights about social context, teacher attitudes, training needs, and implementation…

Like most countries that have implemented some form of decentralization policy, Mexico followed a strategy of legislation first and actual reform second. Nicaragua, on the other hand, moved toward school-based management and significant changes in governance and finance with little legal framework. Benefits and pitfalls of the two national…

During the late 1980s, registered-nurse education moved from hospital-based training to higher education in both Australia and the United Kingdom. Differences in funding arrangements in the two countries can be explained by two separate movements impacting health care policy: the professionalization of nursing and economic rationalization.…

Traces the evolution of the concept of lifelong learning through various historical, social, and technological contexts. Lifelong learning was once an optional extra for older adults seeking self-improvement, but in the present worldwide context of continuous change, formal educational systems must recognize lifelong learning and "education for…