This qualitative inquiry examines the tensions that general education colleges face while initiating reform in China, how students characterize these tensions, and what conditions account for the tensions. The views of 18 college students were documented through individual semi-structured interviews to uncover the themes related to the tensions,…

National curriculum reform is a complex negotiation point of how basic education should be practiced and what role it should take in society. The question of participation in this process is central to creating a coherent, responsible, and implementable curriculum--but still left for little investigation in the national level reforms. Our goal was…

In 2017, a new core curriculum was implemented in Norwegian primary and secondary education, replacing the core curriculum from 1997. While the concept of "danning" is present in both curricula, its meaning and use seem to change. The concept of "danning" has a played a significant role in Norwegian society and educational…

Despite legislation being consistently passed to support post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities, year after year since the completion of "The National Longitudinal Transition Studies," national employment statistics continually demonstrate that implementation of intentions is wanting. A large percentage --50-60%-- of…

In Finland, curriculum design is allegedly carried out through a deliberative process that involves various stakeholders, interest groups, experts and ordinary citizens. To facilitate participation in curriculum design, online crowdsourcing has been applied. The objective of this study is to explore to what extent the design process of the latest…

As a result of international neoliberal and neoconservative trends, the status of the arts has been devalued in secondary school curricula. This paper examines why the arts are not considered core educational knowledge in pedagogic discourse arising from the New Right policy agenda. In a case study analysis of Swedish educational policy debates,…

The new National Core Curriculum came into force in September 2020 in Hungarian schools. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on the final stages of its development. In this paper we have selected two areas for analysis: the fundamental principles of mathematics curriculum and the matriculation exam in mathematics. We propose improvements…

This paper presents a novel process perspective on educational equality policies by examining the relationship between gender equality discourses and gender binary inequalities in the deliberative design process of the Finnish Basic Education Core Curriculum 2014. The analysis applies Nancy Fraser's theory of three-dimensional justice to feedback…

Instructors have inherited a model for conscientious instruction that suggests they must cover all the material outlined in their syllabus, and yet this model frequently diverts time away from allowing students to engage meaningfully with the content during class. We outline the historical forces that may have conditioned this teacher-centered…

This paper presents field-tested improvements over an 11-year period of a large-scale "Introduction to Information Systems" core business school course and provides a framework for implementation. Engagement and learning in large-scale courses can prove challenging, especially when the class is a requirement within a business school's…

State Basic Education in Uruguay has always been characterised by universal, homogeneous curricular designs, articulated according to subject matter and academic content. Currently, following international trends, a curricular design based on competencies has been encouraged. This article aims to analyse the main features of the new curricular…

Critical literature on liberal education since the 1990s discerns two main trends which pose a serious threat to liberal education in the contemporary world. These are, firstly, the trend of liberal arts colleges offering a more professional curriculum and, secondly, the trend among universities and colleges in general to promote values which used…

For years, ACTA warned of a looming crisis in higher education, and with it, a crisis for our nation. It is writ large in runaway college costs, civic ignorance, a skills deficit that frustrates employers, and the breakdown in the discourse that is the lifeblood of a free society. But from its inception, ACTA has been more than a warning bell in…

Aija Riniken, senior ministerial advisor, Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, shares her perspective on the future of basic education. She writes that her perspective is mainly from Finland's point of view because she has worked on many different levels of education in Finland and has witnessed many changes throughout the years. Here…

In France, the notion of competence began to be discussed in the early 1990s and was finally enforced in the Education Act of 23 April 2005. Since its emergence, this notion has been strongly opposed by a certain number of teachers, unions and researchers. To understand how competence-based education finally prevailed, I take into account the…