In the international debate surrounding transitions from school to employment, Japan and Germany are regularly cited as examples of success. This article draws on the Japanese concepts represented by two problematic groups--freeters and NEETs--to demonstrate that over recent years, young people in both countries have also been facing serious…

In this paper, we develop a multi-level comparative approach to analyse Trends in International Mathematics and Science Survey (TIMSS) and Programme of International Student Achievement (PISA) mathematics results for a country, Russia, where the two tests provide contradictory information about students' relative performance. Russian students…

This paper presents some initial ideas on how the theoretical concepts of the "insider" and the "outsider" might be re-examined in an era where advances in comparative, qualitative research methodologies seek to be more inclusive, collaborative, participatory, reflexive and nuanced. Earlier essentialist definitions of the…

This article inquires into discourses of globalisation as they are put to use to accelerate higher education's seemingly ready acquiescence to the demands of the market. We maintain that globalisation operates as a way to reason about space that produces images and narratives of universities, knowledge and students. We focus our analysis on…

This article contends that teacher unions' participation in policy making during South Africa's political transition was characterised by assertion of ideological identity (unionism and professionalism) and the cultivation of policy networks and alliances. It is argued that, historically, while teacher unions were divided along political…

This study compares learning approaches of local English-speaking students and students from Asian countries studying at an Australian metropolitan university. The sample consists of students across 13 different countries. Unlike previous studies, students from Asian countries are subdivided into two categories: students from Confucian Heritage…

The objective of this research study was to identify the factors affecting the professional characteristics of teacher educators by comparing two models of teacher education. The research findings revealed four major focal points that have an impact on professional characteristics: the operational model adopted by the institution where teacher…

In this article, the authors propose to take advantage of detailed data on Egyptian public schools (grades 6-8, the last 3 years of the 8-year compulsory schooling sequence) that were collected in conjunction with a national survey of Egyptian adolescents. The school data were collected in a subsample of the primary sampling units used for the…

The ways in which British Afro-Caribbean students used resistance or contestation to negotiate teacher-student power relations are illustrated, using data from an ethnographic study of school exclusions in five English secondary schools. Situated in their wider racial and gendered positions, students' resistance was a response to their experience…

Education of African Americans in the U.S. South and Black South Africans during the periods of segregation and apartheid, respectively, were similar in both the nature of school oppression and the ways that oppressed communities sought to use education to promote racial advancement. Survey, interview, and focus-group data reveal similarities in…

Afro-Brazilian residents of urban favelas (outlying, unincorporated slums) have established community schools in response to lack of public schools. A study of three such community schools in Salvador, Bahia, focused on social justice issues, school efforts to rescue a Black identity denied by Brazil's official "racial democracy" rhetoric,…

Case studies of Eurocentric versus culturally relevant educational practices with Indigenous students were carried out in four Australian and U.S. schools that were mainstream or community-controlled schools. Comparisons focus on colonial versus postcolonial perspectives on curriculum content, the dilemma of unsuitable high-stakes assessments…

Intensive open-ended interviews examined professional experiences of seven male and seven female African American teachers who were recruited into suburban schools to satisfy school desegregation mandates. Findings focus on respondents' heightened awareness of group boundaries in the work environment, racial differences in teachers' instructional…

Reviews three books that address the relations between technology, race, and education, and illuminate the realistic impact that the Internet has had on persons of African descent in the United States and Trinidad. Discusses the digital divide among U.S. racial/ethnic groups and across countries and the social and political implications of the…

Against a backdrop of educational decentralization and market transition, China demonstrates how local community resources condition educational inequality. Analysis of 1992 national survey data on 7,550 villages and nearly 78,000 rural children aged 12-14 revealed that household income, village income, and village provision of junior high schools…