This study examines the effect of training in think alouds on literal and higher-order reading comprehension. Thirty-two (n = 32) eighth grade students of English as a foreign language (EFL) participated in the study. The participants were randomly assigned to control and experimental conditions. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficients,…

This study evaluates the effects of Holocaust education on American students' level of anti-semitism. A survey consisting of questions regarding the respondent's knowledge of the Holocaust, their demographic characteristics, and a series of political and social indicators was conducted. Results suggest that knowing more about the Holocaust did not…

The purpose of this article is to analyse the meaning of different cultural paradigms in the development of educational technology. The article analyses technology critically from the perspective of the philosophy of technology, examines the manifestations of instrumentalism in the curriculum theory and analyses its effects on the different levels…

In recent decades the proportion of people entering tertiary education has grown considerably in all western European countries. Common factors (economic, political and social) have contributed towards this expansion. There is considerable debate about whether these common pressures have led to similar changes across countries in the structure,…

Education is working with language. As teacher educators, this is the authors' main theory. They present one way of working with language through language-games. The article is constructed in three sections. The first part presents the method, stating what concepts are essential in order to understand both this way of working with student teachers…

The availability of user-friendly tools for designing learning environments resulted in an innovative shift of design focus. This shift has been noticed from a user-centred, although passive and reactive, design approach to a participatory, at responsibility and self-directedness directed, design approach. This latter innovative and promising…

This paper provides some conceptualisation on educational quality, which could be the basis for comparison with available indicator sets. In a second section standards and benchmarks and methods to define these are discussed. A third section covers the theme of the use and usefulness of education indicators and results from educational monitoring…

This paper examines the presentation of three sets of indicators on education published by the OECD ("Education at a Glance"), the European Union ("Key Data on Education") and the French Ministry of Education ("The State of Education") in recent years. In the first part, the author describes the way "Education at a Glance" and "Key Data on…

This paper examines the use of educational standards and benchmarks in international indicator and other relevant policy publications, particularly those originating in the UK. The authors first examine what is meant by educational standards and benchmarks and how these concepts are defined. Then, they address the use of standards and benchmarks…

International indicators have reached a great success in the field of education in the last decade. Work done by international organisations like OECD, EU, UNESCO, IEA and others has contributed to the quick expansion and growing use of educational indicators worldwide. European countries have been among the most active producers and users of…

The last decade the development of (international) educational indicators has been extending in many ways: the number of countries involved, the aspects covered, the impact on educational policy, their attention in the media. More recent is the attention that is given to the feedback of indicators to individual schools. More and more stakeholders…

With the release of each edition of Education at a Glance, the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) prepares a press briefing to be used for the international press release and which individual countries in preparing their national press releases can also use. Similarly, the European Union prepares a summary, not for use at the…

This article presents seven reports on the interviews about reception and use of international indicators among respondents from Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom. The first report is based on interviews with 5 respondents occupied with different aspects of the macro level of the Flemish educational system.…

This article presents two reports on the interviews with school principals in Belgium and France. The first report presents the results of interviews with 5 Flemish secondary school leaders. The purpose of the investigation was to gain an explorative insight of their use of and their remarks on the recent initiated systems to provide schools with…

This article presents the conclusion of a study that examines the discrepancies and correspondence between theory and practice in seven European countries. This article presents answers to the following research issues: (1) Discrepancies between existing quality concepts implied in the current international indicator publications and actual…