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Shared understandings of curriculum reform within and between the levels of the educational system are suggested to be crucial for the reform to take root. The purpose of this paper is to explore variation in perceived curriculum coherence and school impact among state- and district-level stakeholders.

The participants (n=666) included state- and district-level stakeholders involved in a national curriculum reform in Finland. Latent profile analysis was employed to identify profiles based on participants’ perceptions of the core curriculum’s coherence and the reform’s impact on school development.

Two profiles were identified: high coherence and impact, and lower consistency of the intended direction and impact. State-level stakeholders had higher odds of belonging to the high coherence and impact profile than their district-level counterparts.

The results imply that more attention needs to be paid in developing a shared and coherent understanding particularly of the intended direction of the core curriculum as well as the reform’s effects on school-level development among state- and district-level stakeholders.

The study contributes to the literature on curriculum reform by shedding light on the variation in perceived curriculum coherence and school impact of those responsible for a large-scale national curriculum reform process at different levels of the educational system.

This paper aims to recommend dynamic capabilities as an integrative framework for the business school curriculum.

The paper discusses the history, sources, and consequences of the disciplinary fragmentation of most curricula. There is a determined effort to draw on all the relevant social science disciplines along with practice to create an intellectually coherent, interdisciplinary framework.

The dynamic capabilities framework can provide guidance for integrating the curriculum across disciplines and between theory and practice.

Implementation along the lines proposed will give students more of what they need and allow business schools to graduate individuals with a better chance of managing organizations in fast‐changing environments exposed to strong global competition.

The application of one of the dominant paradigms in management studies is proposed as a framework for integrating and enhancing the entire business school curriculum. There is no other framework that purports to do so in an intellectually coherent manner.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the changes in undergraduate library and information studies education in New Zealand over the past decade. It considers developments in the delivery of distance education, focusing on e‐learning (or flexible learning) modes, and changes to the curriculum due to the changing nature and requirements of the profession.

The paper is a case study of the Open Polytechnic, the main provider of undergraduate LIS programmes in New Zealand. It compares the current situation to that of 1999 when the programmes were established, and analyses developments in the delivery of distance education and the changing nature and requirements of the profession.

The changing nature of the LIS profession, and in particular developments in information and communications technologies, as well as the possibilities offered by e‐learning paradigms have led to significant changes in the curriculum, especially in the delivery of courses. There is a tension between delivering a sound academically coherent curriculum that meets all the changing needs of the profession: core theory, knowledge and skills remain, while new technologies, services, formats and tools are demanding equal time in the curriculum.

The paper is of interest to researchers involved in distance education or curriculum design in LIS.

The paper considers the evolution of distance learning courses for the library community and is of interest to the wider LIS sector.

The case study presents a picture of New Zealand LIS undergraduate education and shows how programmes are changing in response to educational developments and the profession's requirements.

This article examines the loosely coupled nature of the US educational system and explores recent systemic reform initiatives designed to improve education through more tightly coupled education policy and practice. The utility and limitations of loose coupling as an organizational construct are examined and critiqued. A number of significant forces are exerting ever‐greater pressure on policymakers to more tightly couple US education, including environmental pressures, the emergence of powerful new institutional actors, an emergent institutional capacity, and institutional isomorphism. After reviewing the effectiveness of systemic reform initiatives in several states, the article concludes that education in the USA is moving toward a system of fragmented centralization in which policymakers have greater opportunity to craft more coherent, systemic education policy amidst competing demands for limited resources.

To study the quality in higher education in Cambodia and explore the potential factors leading to quality in Cambodian higher education.

Five main factors that were deemed relevant in providing quality in Cambodian higher education were proposed: academic curriculum and extra‐curricular activities, teachers' qualification and methods, funding and tuition, school facilities, and interactive network. These five propositions were used to compare Shu‐Te University, Taiwan with the top five universities in Cambodia. The data came in the forms of questionnaire and desk research. Descriptive analytical approach is then carried out to describe these five factors.

Only 6 per cent of lecturers hold PhD degree and about 85 per cent never published any papers; some private universities charge as low as USD200 per academic year, there is almost no donation from international organizations, and annual government funding on higher education sector nationwide in 2005 was only about USD3.67 million; even though there is a library at each university, books, study materials etc. are not up‐to‐date and inadequate; 90 per cent of the lecturers never have technical discussion or meeting and about 60 per cent of students felt that their teachers did not have time for them to consult with.

A useful insight was gained into the perceived importance of quality in higher education that can stimulate debate and discussion on the role of government in building the standard quality in higher education. Also, the findings from this research can assist in the development of a framework of developing human resource.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and initial implementation of a lesson study network in the US intended to support implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Participant observation and artifact collection document the development of the teaching through problem solving (TTP) network over a 14-month period.

The TTP network draws heavily on Japanese practices (e.g. lesson study) and Japanese materials (e.g. coherent, focussed mathematics curriculum) to support changes envisioned in the US CCSS related to students’ mathematical practices and dispositions. The reasons for choice of these key Japanese features are explicated, and teachers’ initial reactions described.

The design shows promise for combining teacher “ownership” with implementation of high-quality approaches designed by others; and allowing instructional innovations developed in Japan to flow into US practice. TTP in mathematics has persistently resisted implementation in the US, so the network is designed to target a central problem in implementing the CCSS.

A method for instructional innovations to spread from classrooms in one country to another is suggested.

Four conferences, held in Britain in 1991/2, on particular specialisms in Sociology considered their place within the curriculum and how distinctions can be drawn between what is essential to a first degree in Sociology and what are optional elements. The research aim was to develop a qualitative understanding of the way particular specialisms within Sociology are constituted through teaching and fined into the overall curriculum. The conferences were of practical benefit to the participants in clarifying assumptions embedded in alternative course designs, facilitating the flow of good ideas about teaching methods and learning materials and establishing personal contacts with teachers from other institutions in the same field of study. The topics of the four conferences were Sociology of Culture, Sociology of Work and Employment, Methods of Social Research and Sociological Theory.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to assess the effectiveness of the school building and school district leadership programs within the School of Education at a large private university and to find areas for improvement in these programs.

This study utilized a qualitative grounded theory research strategy using a case study approach of two campuses of the university. Each case study utilized the same data collection methods and data analysis procedures in order to increase validity.

The key findings revealed that the graduates emphasized the importance of professional support via a cohort structure, a sound program philosophy, and a comprehensive and coherent curriculum. Recruitment and administrative internships were two effectiveness criteria not emphasized by the participants. Thus, the findings suggest the program could be enhanced by the creation of leadership portfolios and quality administrative internships. These findings are also consistent with the transfer of learning theory.

Educational leadership preparation programs continue to be highly relevant fields of study as society places greater expectations on school leaders for meeting learning outcomes and educational standards. Increased calls for accountability have initiated more research on conditions and other factors that lead to enhanced student learning in these programs. To the extent that other universities have similar programs in place, the findings may benefit them in developing or improving their own program(s).

The paper includes implications for the development of innovative programs in administrative and instructional leadership. The findings of this study suggest the program could be enhanced by the creation of leadership portfolios (digital and non-digital) as a culminating experience to summarize accomplishments, demonstrate competencies, and to serve as an authentic form of assessment, as well as the creation of quality administrative internships to provide students with real-life opportunities while they go through the program.

This paper fulfils an identified need to study those program characteristics that have been shown to have the strongest relationship to school improvement.

This research aims to present a conceptual model for construction management programme curriculum development from the perspective of higher education institutes (HEIs) and aims to engender wider polemic debate and stimulate new insight into current higher education practice.

The overarching epistemology adopts both interpretivist and pragmatist philosophical stances, couched within grounded theory, to critically analyse extant literature on construction management curriculum development. Inductive reasoning forms the basis of new emergent theory that maps curriculum development and highlights the external and internal factors impacting upon such.

Research findings illustrate that the prevailing body of knowledge lacks a cohesive nucleus of research on construction management curriculum development. Rather, bespoke curriculum development research predominates in uncommunicative silos. Premised upon these findings, the conceptual curriculum model developed defines and delineates the universal internal factors (e.g. student marketplace, course leadership and academic precedents) and external factors (e.g. accreditation, construction industry and professional bodies) that impact upon curriculum development. Identification of these factors provides a sound basis upon which further research can be propagated to enhance curriculum development and unify the current disparate approaches adopted.

This novel research highlights the lack of a cohesive agenda for curriculum development within mainstream construction management literature and based upon this, a conceptual model for future empirical analysis and testing is presented.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors affecting the students’ learning of the concepts of the accounting information systems (AIS) in Iran.

The statistical population of the study is the accounting and auditing students (Master’s degree) who have the lesson of AIS at state and private universities, as well as the institutes of higher education in 2017. The Likert scale has been used to design questionnaires. Further, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling with the partial least squares technique.

Overall, after analyzing and comparing the results of the hypotheses, it was found that, respectively, “assistance to students,” “the power of critical thinking,” “academic professors skills,” “kind of transition to university,” “AIS course structure,” “proper timing of AIS presentation,“ “presentation of a prerequisite course” and finally, “appreciation of AIS” have the greatest impact on the level of student learning in AIS lesson. The results of this paper showed that “teaching style” and “having the previous background of the information system concepts” do not have a statistically significant effect on students’ general learning.

Without any overstatement, this paper will warn educational authorities in emerging countries that lack of attention to factors affecting university students’ learning can have serious consequences for the market of a country. Other than that, this paper will make university professors aware of the effects of effective methods for better student learning in the field of information technology, so that they can make a better assessment of the importance of AIS course.