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Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

This chapter makes the case that school-related material and informally used content need to be considered equally important as complete, higher education (HE)-level courses when exploring how open education (OE) is used in practice. It provides a brief overview of several key HE and school-related OE projects, what they offer, their approximate reach and the significance of established brands, with short case studies of TES Connect, Khan Academy and TESSA. It also examines the evidence of impact on students, and how some of the projects counter criticism that they promote ‘closed’ forms of traditional, instructor-led education through blended and flipped teaching approaches or peer-led learning.

The purpose of the chapter is to explore how OE sites are used in practice by examining some of the key projects that provide free materials to students and teachers.

This chapter provides an overview of some of the biggest OE providers online, drawing particular attention to those that provide school-level material instead of just HE-level resources. It examines the motives of open education resources (OER) users, and provides mini case studies of a selection of HE-level and school-level projects. It also explores the reach and impact of the schemes, the significance of brand and the criticism that they simply provide a new form of ‘closed’ education. This provides a handy overview of key OE projects and an introduction to the significance of school-related projects. It should be a source of material of special interest to those involved in teacher training or development, or in OE from either a school or a university.

This chapter makes an original case for school teachers to have greater recognition in the discussion about OE, and reveals a finding from an international poll of more than a quarter of million teachers who use OE resources with their students.

Findings of this chapter indicate that the significance of school-level OE has been underestimated, given the extent of user-generated teaching material available and teachers’ powers to multiply the reach of a single downloaded resource to several classes of students.

The overview however is not exhaustive, and the author stresses the problematic nature of attempting to compare projects that deliver different kinds of content for different contexts.

Compared to other neighbouring South Asian countries, Sri Lanka performs well in terms of education outcomes. Education is provided by the government for free from primary school level to the first-degree University level, yet households’ private education expenses are steadily increasing over time. Thus, this paper analyses trends and determinants of household private education expenditures using the country-wide micro-data from 1990 to 2013.

Using Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) 1990/91, 2002 and 2012/13 data along with annual school census data, this paper examines the relationship between private education expenditure patterns and the observed changes of reported both demand-side and supply-side factors. In particular, the present paper analyses determinants of household private education expenditures within the two-part model econometric framework by taking into account location and time fixed-effects.

The results show that trend of spending privately for education is increasing over time with rising household income. Rural, Tamil and Islamic households and those headed by less-educated members are less likely to spend privately for education. The results also confirm that improved-supply-side factors can significantly lower the household burden arising from out-of-pocket education expenditure.

Unavailability of panel data and missing data on several districts due to security concerns are limitations of the study.

The trend of increasing private education expenses has implications on equity concerns of education in Sri Lanka, and it can undermine the purpose of free public education policy.

To our knowledge, this is the first study for Sri Lanka that examines patterns and determinants of private education expenditures using nationwide data for last two decades. This paper applies novel econometric techniques to account for various issues in household survey data analysis.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2019-0445

The purpose of this paper is to understand the outcomes of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in the light of COVID-19 concerning the students of higher educational institutions (HEIs) in India. The COVID-19 has disrupted the normal teaching-learning role across the world and has put everyone in a nightmare. HEIs are now requesting students to take up MOOCs to explore and attain knowledge and the same is even followed by the corporate institutions. MOOCs are one of the crisis management solutions to ensure that education is continuous and not disrupted.

The data included in this research has been collected from students of HEIs across India using a convenient sampling method. The collected data was exposed to a factor analysis using a principal component analysis (PCA) technique to reduce multiple dimensions.

The various stakeholders such as the government, HEIs and the MOOC providers have to play a crucial role in developing intellectual human assets for the nation’s growth and progression by extending flexible and cost-effective learning facilities. Education should be free to boost up the learning motivation, and hence it is the responsibility of the stakeholders to provide few courses free of cost, which will increase the rate of enrolment and student participation.

From the research, it is well understood that MOOCs are useful to keep oneself updated with the market and industry trends especially when the world is focusing on business analytics, artificial intelligence and other technologically driven topics and concepts.

The present study contributes to the growing body of evidence that MOOCs play an important role in providing flexibility in learning. In the future, if there are similar crisis, which will disrupt education, then the best alternative will be MOOC through which many stakeholders will benefit. Education should be free to boost up the learning motivation, and hence it is the responsibility of the stakeholders to provide few courses free of cost, which will increase the rate of enrolment and student participation.

Education is a service for the society which will have a long-term positive impact on improving the standard of living of the people. Hence, MOOCs can be one of the educational elements to provide learning opportunities to all age groups.

This study has explored the perception of MOOCs among the students of HEIs in India in the COVID-19 pandemic. The fresh data collected from the students is a reflection of their experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown. Indeed, it is quite surprising to know that majority of the respondents have arranged to learn during the pandemic, which shows the thirst and urge to learn. Digital technology and tools are welcomed and accepted by the student community.

Support for child rights is widespread, and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most widely ratified treaty ever. Surprisingly, however, we find that child rights discourse is not integrated as a core element of mobilization around either the eradication of female genital cutting practices or the provision of free primary education. Analyzing history and the content of child rights claims related to these issues, we unpack this puzzle. In the process, we illuminate the constraints on mobilizing strategies in general and some difficulties inherent in using child rights discourse in particular.

This chapter presents an analysis of the constitutional definitions of the right to education. Four countries of the Southern Common Market are selected: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay (member countries) and Chile (an associate State). A conceptual definition of the right to education -from the human rights-based perspective- is provided in order to analyze, from a comparative standpoint, the constitutional norms of each country. In recent decades, these countries have experienced recurrent school reforms which, as they are framed within legal definitions, have regulated the right to education as a premise for overcoming social inequalities. First, a definition of this concept is provided. Second, the national constitutions of each country are analyzed so as to identify the definitions they have in this field. Subsequently, a comparative discussion of the underlying regulatory definitions of the right to education is carried out. Finally, the scope and limitations that the constitutional texts of these countries have on the right to education are discussed, which allow for a better understanding of school reform processes that were carried out during the last decades and that had the right to education as an object of regulation and reconfiguration.

By reviewing the related literature on the Jiaoshi Pinren Zhi (JPZ) system, this paper seeks to indicate that the implementation of JPZ not only has led to domestic brain drain and the imbalance of teachers' qualities between different areas and schools, but also has violated children's equal rights to education guaranteed by the Constitution and educational laws in PR China.

By analysing national policies and laws and some cases, the paper points out that the reforms on teachers' employment causes the imbalance of teachers' qualities between different areas and schools and it is against the principle of children's equal rights to education guaranteed by the Constitution and some educational laws in China.

Since the late 1980s, many reform initiatives have been launched in the context of the transition from planned economy to market economy in China.

The reforms on the teachers' employment system from “Tongyi Fenpei” (TF, a system of unified placement for all graduates) and the life‐time employment system to JPZ (a free contract employment system) is one of the important reform initiatives.

Few issues in recent times have so provoked debate and dissention within the library field as has the concept of fees for user services. The issue has aroused the passions of our profession precisely because its roots and implications extend far beyond the confines of just one service discipline. Its reflection is mirrored in national debates about the proper spheres of the public and private sectors—in matters of information generation and distribution, certainly, but in a host of other social ramifications as well, amounting virtually to a debate about the most basic values which we have long assumed to constitute the very framework of our democratic and humanistic society.

The development of human society and of culture shows that changes in society and social relations have not always been followed by changes of the same intensity in education. If education lags behind the social changes in a greater measure, then the “crises” in education are deeper and social intervention is more necessary. However much we may try to regard changes in education individually, they are in the final instance a reflection of the state and changes in society, because instruction and education are a part of social labour. They are a function of society and appear as one of the moving forces of its development, or, on the contrary, as a factor of maintaining outgrown relations. Therefore, the character of instruction and education is determined by the goals which society puts before them. The conclusion derived from this is that changes in education, in its system and organisation cannot be successfully carried out independently from changes which occur in society.