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Poland’s political and economic transformation after 1989 brought the logic of the neoliberal market into the educational system. These changes, however, were far from the real liberal free market and instead relied on bureaucratic and technocratic local-level apparatus as well as supranational supports (the EU). Moreover, instead of enhancing post-socialist education to bring them up to the level of the core territories, this process pushed education out to the (semi?)periphery. The purpose of this paper is to present selected examples of alternative non-mainstream models of education.

Elements analyzed include: non/academic discourses, with particular emphasis on academic texts, media material and public debates concerning the topic in question.

Two related fields and levels ought to be distinguished: the descriptive level, focused on presenting non-mainstream educational institutions and initiatives, within the socioeconomic context of Poland’s post-socialist transformation; the normative level, with recommendations for policymakers, NGOs and educational activists.

Appreciation of systems parallel and alternative to the neoliberal and technocratic mainstream education system in Poland, with a view to encouraging both policymakers to recognise and develop such initiatives, and members of Polish civil society to create and participate in such forms of education.

Most scholars focus on mainstream education, with a number of exceptions, largely those engaged in the parallel models. This neoliberal model of education is accepted or critically examined, but its technocratic base is not recognised. This text is therefore ground-breaking in that it describes the real mechanisms of the Polish educational system in transition and provides a normative account and recommendations.

The purpose of this paper is to explain, in the context of the massification and internationalisation of higher education, how Web 2.0 and its socially oriented knowledge system (episteme) has the potential to counter the current neo‐colonial disprivileging of non‐mainstream knowledge systems and discourses.

The paper, drawing on postcolonial, epistemological, and Web 2.0 learning literatures, first deconstructs the continued dominance of the traditional academic discourse in transcultural settings. It then illustrates how Web 2.0's non‐foundational approach to the nature of knowledge gives it the capacity to construct postcolonial transcultural learning zones that are inherently open to other knowledge systems and discourses.

The paper concludes that the socially oriented knowledge system or episteme of Web 2.0 enables educators to create postcolonial, meaning more epistemically inclusive, transcultural learning zones in which no one knowledge system or discourse is automatically privileged.

The paper highlights the role Web 2.0 can play in negating the colonialising impact of dominant educational practices that disprivilege non mainstream knowledge systems and discourses that have entered university learning environments through massification and internationalisation.

The paper addresses a significant gap in the literature by highlighting the pivotal but much neglected role of epistemology in Web 2.0 as well as in the internationalisation and massification of higher education. More specifically, it indicates how the respectful acceptance of different knowledge systems and discourses can create postcolonial architectures of learning and promote a more egalitarian form of cosmopolitanism.

There has been little research on the education of looked after children over the current school leaving age of 16, although the underperformance of this cohort at Key Stage 4 (age 14‐16) has been the subject of considerable academic commentary. This paper aims to contribute to understanding of the ways in which looked after young people nearing the end of compulsory education can be supported and encouraged to continue in education and training.

Interviews were undertaken with 12 designated teachers for looked after children and four virtual school heads, as part of the first stage of a three‐year longitudinal study following 20 looked after children in England from years 11‐13 (ages 15‐18).

Participants identified particular challenges in ensuring a successful educational transition for looked after young people in year 11 and expressed concern at the cumulative effect of multiple transitions at this stage on young people's lives. There appears, however, to be an increasing focus on and commitment to giving young people a “second chance” to acquire qualifications commensurate with their potential post‐16. The comparative advantages and disadvantages of school and further education colleges for this cohort at Key Stage 5 are considered.

The implications of the forthcoming extension of the school leaving age for professionals supporting looked after young people post‐16 are discussed.

The designated teacher for looked after children became a statutory role in 2009, and to date there has been little research on the role of these professionals, or the work of virtual schools.

This article is based on a study that was commissioned by the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. We report on the learning profiles and education needs of a cohort of young offenders who were recruited for the study. The research was a national cross‐sectional survey of 301 young offenders who were resident in custodial settings or attending youth offending teams in the community. The young people were assessed using the WASI and the WORD measures to obtain psychometric information (IQ scores and reading/reading comprehension ages). One in five (20%) young people met the ICD‐10 criteria for mental retardation (IQ<70), while problems with reading (52%) and reading comprehension (61%) were common. Verbal IQ scores were found to be significantly lower than performance IQ scores, particularly in male offenders. It is clear from these results that a large proportion of juvenile offenders have a learning disability, as characterised by an IQ<70 and significantly low reading and reading comprehension ages. The underlying aetiology of this association is less clear and may be a consequence of both an increased prevalence of neurocognitive deficits and the impact of poor schooling. There is some evidence that developmental pathways may be different for boys compared with girls.

The purpose of this paper is to provide to First and non-First Nation educators, scholars, and policy makers alternative perspectives that can reshape research on educational leadership in First Nation education with new imaginings that question fundamentally the cultural-political-economic-space defined by Euro-centred notion of modernity.

The paper addresses two questions in dealing with issues of conceptions of educational leadership in a First Nations setting: first, in what socio-cultural paradigm and epistemic framework, should the paper ground the view of relations among persons and between them and their environment, in a way that opens up spaces for prospects for action of those located outside a Euro-centric epistemic and ontological field; second, how could this paradigm assist us in formulating a conception of educational leadership that increases the leverage of First Nations education in constructing alternative sociocultural and educational worlds not grounded in the Eurocentric modernity?

For non-First Nation educators, power brokers, and policy makers who want to create alliances with First Nation people, this paper outlines the necessity to consider cross-cultural dialogue about conceptions of educational leadership as an “opportunity to challenge conventional assumptions about knowledge, power, and a sense of place” (Marker, 2006, p. 21).

The originality of this paper resides in its presentation of alternative conceptual horizons for educational leadership, horizons that acknowledge power inequities between mainstream societies and institutions on the one hand and First Nations peoples and their institutions on the other.

This paper aims to explore issues that must be addressed in post‐secondary educational planning and delivery such that social cultural factors within the learning environment are recognized in ways that affirm the learner's cultural traditions.

The adoption of a multiple cultures model of instructional design with an emphasis on implementing flexible learning using instructional technology is proposed.

The paper finds that as student mobility continues to increase across educational programs and geographic borders, the need to accommodate cultural differences in an increasingly heterogeneous study will have to increase dramatically and, for this to occur, institutions and faculty will have to improve their insight into cultural and learning differences that affect teaching and learning.

Distance education courses are commonly offered in professional upgrading or “bridging” programs as one solution to addressing the apparent knowledge and experience gaps of newly immigrated internationally‐educated practitioners. Useful strategies for accommodating individual styles and preferences in a multiple cultures professional online learning context have been described.

Learning preferences and styles are inextricably related to cultural background as well as curricular and course design. This paper provides a much‐needed professional distance education framework that integrates the skills and values of the student with those of the local professional community to create a unified and authentic learning environment.

This paper aims to discuss how public school administrators with a social justice perspective have an obligation to permeate society beyond their schools and how they might address the perilous politics associated with advocating social change. Using George Counts' landmark 1932 speech, Dare the School Build a New Social Order? as the conceptual lenses, it examines the relevancy of Counts' words for contemporary school leaders and professors of educational administration.

While this article is historical in tone, the paper proposes pursuing a critical hermeneutic rather than a strictly historical approach.

The paper finds that there are similarities between the present‐day call for social justice and the earlier Social Reconstructionist movement that Counts' manifesto sparked. Both movements have invited educators, and particularly the professoriate, to think more expansively when it comes to US public education, society at large, and the influence of educators in shaping a more democratic and just country. But Counts goes much further than most adherents of the current‐day social justice movement. He stressed that educators must see themselves as political actors, who can shape their political environments through their teaching, as well as by participating in other venues.

For contemporary educational leaders, they may be working in far less hospitable settings than their twentieth‐century predecessors. Administrators are under fierce accountability and fiscal pressures, while coping with a larger political environment that is polarized and fearful. And the internal environment of school administration favors a “managerial” approach. Consequently, embracing a social justice ethic invites a degree of risk‐taking.

This paper examines the relevancy of Counts' words for contemporary school leaders and professors of educational administration and highlights implications for school leaders.

The purpose of this paper is to compare two UNESCO reports on educational development in Cambodia, one from 1955 and the other from 2010, in order to understand how the global education development agenda has impacted shadow education.

The study is conducted through a textual comparison of two UNESCO reports written 50 years apart.

Although the educational problems facing Cambodia were similar in both reports, the recommendations differed in important ways. The 1955 report advised the country to expand slowly access to education in order to maintain quality, while the 2010 recommended quickly expanding access. A major difference found in the reports regarded the issue of fees in schooling, which did not appear in 1955. School fees in Cambodia are typically extracted through the system of private tutoring, known in the academic literature as shadow education. Such an insight, this paper argues, suggests that the difference in development approach between the two reports is one of the reasons shadow education has flourished in the country.

Through a historical comparison of development efforts in one country, it becomes clear that the education development agenda is partly to blame for the rise of shadow education.

Describes the total quality science laboratory at Bandini Street School in San Pedro, California, USA. At the school, students are identified as workers as well as educational customers, and teachers understand that their effectiveness is measured by having students do quality work. Explains how this is exemplified in the school’s student‐centred science laboratory where quality work is defined as having students work “up to their capacity”.

The main focus of this paper is to discuss appropriate forms of higher education for building up students' competence for working on complex real‐world problems.

Within this paper the Harvard approach is accurately compared with the ETH approach by discussing theoretical and practical implications as well.

It is argued that the Harvard case study approach is a sensible approach to bridging the gap between the academic and the practical world, but it has important limits in preparing students to cope with complex real‐world problems. In some important respects, the ETH case study approach goes further by exposing students directly to the multi‐faceted and complex character of real‐world problems.

The ETH approach puts additional demands on students and teachers to bridge the gap between university and society with a high degree of responsibility. Consequently, a combination of both the Harvard and the ETH approach might be interesting.

The comparison of the Harvard case study approach with the ETH case study approach is novel. The discussion of educational together with practical implications provides insight to the peculiarities of each single approach together with an orientation for their implementation within higher education. Guidance is given to universities who are deciding what educational means have to be implemented in order to prepare their students for the task of solving complex real‐world problems in an inter but also transdisciplinary manner.