This edited book explores different international practices in reforming science teacher education programs for STEM education. Incorporating case studies in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America and South America, the contributors emphasise the large variety in STEM teacher preparation. Including science-centric versions of STEM…

This handbook provides a global overview of the design, implementation and assessment of academic development centers within higher education institutions. The current nature of our complex, rapidly changing world makes it imperative that colleges and universities worldwide find ways to educate their students in new and better ways: this is…

This book draws together various theoretical and research-based perspectives to examine the institutionalization of mentoring processes for beginning teachers. Teacher induction, defined as the guidance provided to new teachers, is increasingly gaining traction as a key stage in promoting quality education. Major efforts have been put into…

This chapter examines the life, learning, and research experiences of an American scholar who immigrated to the United States from China where she received her primary and secondary school education, and taught ESL at the prestigious Chinese university from which she graduated. The scholar reflects on her stories in China and in the United States…

This book analyses selected critical concepts of policy and practice in educational leadership in five European countries. The editors and contributors cover Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Denmark and Norway, spanning a wide geographical region as well as diverse historical and political contexts. The analyses primarily consider the issues of…

This chapter will provide an overview of how the Norwegian school institution has evolved from the early 1980s and up to the current situation. During nearly four decades, partly as a result of economic globalization and free markets, economic norms and values have gained greater influence over school philosophy and public sector governance. Since…

Danish society, governance, education, school leadership, teaching and purposes of education are analysed and discussed as an interplay of two discourses: the Welfare State Discourse and the Competitive State Discourse. The Welfare State Discourse emerged shortly after World War II and the Competitive State Discourse in the 1980s. However, that is…

This chapter analyzes dominant discourses of European school leadership over the timespan of the last three decades and across the school systems participating in this research project. A large body of literature has portrayed a transition of ideas about school principalship toward the image of the school principal as a relatively autonomous and…

This discussion builds on the analyses in the chapters in this volume. As the OECD has been and remains a powerful agent in the development of public governance, and thus in education governance, the discussion is also structured on the basis of OECD governance and leadership reports. Some of the results from those reports are used but that does…

Slovenia, like many other countries when it comes to questions of quality in education, follows the trends set up by transnational agencies and professional associations. These trends rather emphasise important issues not to be missed or forgotten when specific national approaches or models are being developed. In this context, this chapter will…

European education systems are facing a variety of challenges, which drive the creation of innovative education models and the establishment of supporting and competitive infrastructure. Tremendous changes in economic, social, and technological spheres pose challenges for education. A significant impact factor can be found in digital technologies…

Due to the rapid development of information and communication technology, society has had to change the way it lives, works, communicates, collaborates, educates and learns. Academic research has begun to focus on this phenomenon, which is widely known as digital transformation (DT). This chapter explores how e-learning and information culture…

In this chapter, the authors analyse and discuss conceptual and methodological issues related to international benchmarking and its effect on educational policy and practice in selected European countries. Benchmarking is viewed as a process of comparing educational outcomes in schooling systems, identifying strengths and weaknesses and serving as…

The primary goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the Croatian education system and examine its evolution from the 1990s, focusing on (a) changes of institutions and education policies within 'Europeanisation' and globalisation contexts; (b) the limits and challenges to institutional and leaders' autonomy, as described both by…

Each state needs to fathom its context in order to shape the future of its education. Education does not exist by itself and is inevitably affected by the political, cultural, and socioeconomic conditions of the country. Therefore, the patchwork of experienced cultural heritage is deeply embedded in the human subconscious and can paint some, or…