Search results

This study aims to investigate the dispositions of early career teacher educators as young academics toward sustainability and accountability for sustainability issues. Through their interpretations, concerns, awareness and ownership of sustainability, the study portrays how a global phenomenon is articulated specifically within the local context of teachers colleges in Turkey.

The study was designed as a survey, and the data were collected through a cross-sectional online questionnaire. The sample (n = 72) was limited, through purposeful sampling, to early career teacher educators teaching and being trained in well-established Turkish teachers colleges to become prospective faculty members of newly founded teachers colleges across the country. The data were analyzed primarily through quantitative methods. For the analyses, STATA software was used to perform descriptive and inferential statistics.

The general results indicated that the participants were highly concerned about sustainability problems. However, their concerns were not reflected to the same degree on their perceived awareness and ownership of education for sustainable development (ESD). Hunger and poverty, loss of biodiversity, climate change and epidemic diseases were all perceived to be urgent more in the global context. On the other hand, unemployment, refugees and terrorism were perceived to be locally urgent problems. Different agencies within the community were addressed to be accountable for different types of sustainability problems. The accountability for economic, environmental and societal problems were mainly placed on governments. Additionally, individuals/families and educators were held more accountable for environmental issues, while corporations and super powers were held more accountable for economic issues. As for societal issues, educators, individuals/families and non-governmental organizations were addressed to be more responsible.

The significance of the study is mainly twofold. If sustainable development is conceptualized with a futuristic viewpoint that attaches a great importance to next generations' needs, focusing on the dispositions of early career teacher educators as young academics is a reasonable way of addressing the current gaps and eliminating the future inefficacies. Building on the assumption that ESD would remain imperfect without the commitment of teacher educators who have the potential to bring changes in educational systems and shape knowledge and skills of future teachers, in turn future generations; this study becomes even more valuable as it includes specifically the academicians in the field of teacher education.

This paper presents a moderated discussion on popular misconceptions, benefits and limitations of International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs, clarifying how ILSA results could be more appropriately interpreted and used in public policy contexts in the USA and elsewhere in the world.

To bring key issues, points-of-view and recommendations on the theme to light, the method used is a “moderated policy discussion”. Nine commentaries were invited to represent voices of leading ILSA scholars/researchers and measurement experts, juxtaposed against views of prominent leaders of education systems in the USA that participate in ILSA programs. The discussion is excerpted from a recent blog published by Education Week. It is moderated with introductory remarks from the guest editor and concluding recommendations from an ILSA researcher who did not participate in the original blog. References and author biographies are presented at the end of the article.

Together, the commentaries address historical, methodological, socio-political and policy issues surrounding ILSA programs vis-à-vis the major goals of education and larger societal concerns. Authors offer recommendations for improving the international studies themselves and for making reports more transparent for educators and the public to facilitate greater understanding of their purposes, meanings and policy implications.

When assessment policies are implemented from the top down, as is often the case with ILSA program participation, educators and leaders in school systems tend to be left out of the conversation. This article is intended to foster a productive two-way dialogue among key ILSA actors that can serve as a stepping-stone to more concerted policy actions within and across national education systems.

Over the past two decades, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has become an influential actor in the education sector. This has been accomplished, partly, by the administration of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) since 2000. Overall, PISA is intended to inform the public, parents, teachers, and those who run education systems of the status of education in their country. Research shows that policymakers draw on PISA results when they launch and design education reforms. To date, however, we know very little about whether PISA is successfully informing the general public, which is the main sponsor and benefactor of PISA. Using public opinion surveys from the United States and Israel, this chapter examines knowledge and perception of PISA. Recent reports suggest that both countries are in the middle ranks of all countries participating in PISA, with the United States being in the middle ranks of OECD countries and Israel being in the lower ranks of this group. Findings from public opinion surveys reveal three interesting patterns. First, in both countries, the public tend to underestimate how well 15-year olds perform on international standardized tests. Second, college graduates are more likely than those with less education to underestimate the performance of teens on international standardized tests. Third, although the public seems to be misinformed about PISA results, we find considerable public support for PISA and international standardized tests more generally. Implications of the findings for policy and future research in the field of international and comparative education are discussed.

Similar to community colleges in the United States, the Israeli tertiary system includes two-year technological colleges, which provide students with a labor-market relevant qualification. Nonetheless, unlike the community colleges, the technological colleges are not considered to be part of the higher education system and their transfer function is irregular and confined. In order to understand these differences, the chapter has two complementary objectives: (a) to describe the emergence and development of technological colleges and (b) to evaluate the implications for social inequality in access to higher education in Israel. We use a mixed-methods research design, including analyzing primary and secondary sources describing the official policy and public discourse around these colleges (qualitative/historical research) and comparing students attending academic institutions to students attending technological colleges and students across different fields of study offered by these colleges (quantitative research). Drawing on Phillip's (2004) model for policy attraction in education, we find that technological colleges in Israel were based on the Dutch HTS model, while the founding of these colleges was initiated by local impulse. The implementation of the technological colleges in the Israeli context was shaped by a cultural logic for higher education that emphasizes research and knowledge production, creating a binary tertiary system. Drawing on sociological literature on diversification and stratification in tertiary education, we find that technological colleges attract more students from disadvantaged groups and more students with relatively low academic ability than academic institutions. In addition, within technological colleges, students from advantaged background and higher academic ability are more likely to study in more prestigious fields of study. These findings suggest that if policy makers in Israel aspire to increase access to higher education, they should rethink policy instruments and cultivate the transfer function of technological colleges. This is among the first studies to examine technological colleges in Israel and we conclude with different directions for further research.

S. Xavier Alphonse is a PhD in English literature. He is the Founder Director of the Indian Centre for Research and Development of Community Education (ICRDCE), Chennai, India and former Principal of Loyola College, Chennai and former Vice Principal of St. Joseph's College, Trichy. He was a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi for two terms (2006-2012). Dr. Alphonse was also a member of the Distance Education Council (DEC), New Delhi. He is the chairman of National committee on Community Colleges appointed by the UGC to discuss the concept and methodology for establishment and functioning of the Community Colleges. Dr. Alphonse is a consultant to the state government of Tamilnadu for the Community College Project. He was also the consultant to the Honourable Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea for the creation of 13 community colleges in 2008. He is an authority on college autonomy in India, and pioneered the formation of community colleges as an alternative system of education for the poor and the downtrodden. He has written 73 articles and authored and edited 37 books on the Community College system and its implementation.