Cross-national Attraction Research Articles

Understanding educational policy transfer: an analysis of the Japanese influence on China’s vocational education

ABSTRACT This article examines the process of China’s borrowing of the Japanese vocational education model from 1895 to 1922 from the perspective of educational policy transfer. This study serves as a unique example in educational policy transfer research where historical sources offer the possibility of testing the applicability of the Contextual Map of Cross-national Attraction model. It elucidates some of the analytical limitations discovered by this study while applying the model to this study. It implies that more theory, particularly on the issue of the complex interaction between structure and agency, about the nature of educational policy transfer is needed to comprehensively and sophisticatedly analyse the complex process of educational transfer.

The study of higher education policy in remote rural areas of Australia——what can China learn

“National Regional, Rural and Remote Tertiary Education Strategy Final Report” is a national strategic policy aimed at promoting higher education development and personal education welfare of Australians in regional, remote and rural areas (RRR areas). The strategy clarifies the disadvantages of higher education in RRR areas, including fewer educational opportunities, less students' aspirations and slow regional development. It proposes specific measures in 7 areas like support for learning opportunities, financial subsidies and emotional support. This paper uses literature review and adopts “Four Stages of Policy Borrowing in Education” theory as theoretical framework to discuss policy transfer possibility. This paper focuses on the theoretical inspiration level. In stage 1, it discusses the policy background and similar education context in two countries, to clarify the “cross-national attraction” and provides comparative value for higher education of ethnic minorities and rural areas in China. In stage 2, the paper discusses the “decision” and “implementation” of the policy. In stage 3, it focuses on “internalization”, it provides new ideas for development and puts forward four suggestions for improving the higher education of ethnic minorities in remote areas in China, including policy position, policy system innovation, course design and integration.

Navigating the policy borrowing process of general education among the eight publicly funded universities in Hong Kong

Since the introduction of the learning-to-learn reform in 2000, Hong Kong policy-makers indicated that they would engage extensively and continuously in policy borrowing based on other high-performing jurisdictions worldwide. An illustrative example is the introduction of the 3 + 3 + 4 New Academic Structure since 2009. However, one of the areas that remain unexplored is the introduction of a broadening General Education among all eight publicly funded universities in the additional year of the four-year undergraduate education. Through narrative review on the basis of Ochs and Phillips’s theoretical model of policy borrowing in education, this article aims to offer an overview of the introduction of General Education among these universities and how it has been undergoing the four respective stages of (1) cross-national attraction; (2) decision; (3) implementation; and (4) internalisation or indigenisation. This will touch upon evaluating the key features being borrowed, adapted, and implemented, reviewing the relevant processes and outcomes, as well as highlighting the issues and challenges that have been and will be experienced. All these evidence-based perspectives can allow practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to better understand the complex policy borrowing process of General Education as a global educational initiative.

Dual Vocational Education and Training Systems’ Governance Model and Policy Transfer: The Role of the European Union in Its Diffusion

Some southern member states have undertaken the reform of their vocational education and training (VET) systems so as to promote dual apprenticeship, such as that which is promoted in Germany. During this process, the European Union (EU) has exercised an extensive influence. This paper advances the analysis of the role exercised by the EU in this stage of cross-national attraction by analysing the model of VET governance promoted by European institutions. The methodology consists of a reflexive thematic analysis of the EU VET texts. A total of 35 texts from the EU institutions was analysed by using NVivo. This produced three themes under the overarching theme of fostering a more pluralistic governance system: promoting cooperation among stakeholders in the design, management and financing of the system, enhancing social dialogue and strengthening responsiveness to change in the world of work. This analysis concludes that the EU, as an agent of the policy transfer process, encourages the implementation of a cooperative governance model of VET systems, such as that present in the dual VET systems of certain member states with collective skill formation governance regimens such as Germany, Austria and Denmark.

Another slice of PISA: an interrogation of educational cross-national attraction in Australia, Finland, Japan and South Korea

ABSTRACTCross-national attraction is the first stage in international policy borrowing and analysis of its indicators provides insight into shifts in educational policies. We analyse cross-national attraction within the media discourse on the OECD’s PISA in four countries: Australia, Finland, Japan and South Korea. Using the largest circulation English language newspapers in each of these countries (2001–2015), we analyse references to the other three countries, then expand the focus to tally all international references and map emerging patterns. Finland is the predominantly referenced country, with media attention that eclipses all other countries. The attraction to Finnish educational culture is focused on aspects beyond what is measured in PISA; and flourishes despite Finnish performance in PISA, which although strong is deteriorating. Although limited to English language media, this study finds complex, sometimes inconsistent and paradoxical, patterns of cross-national attraction that deserve further research.

Neither a borrower nor a lender be: exploring ‘teaching for mastery’ policy borrowing

Mathematics education is a high-stakes indicator of success in ‘über’ performative systems. The search to address England’s mathematics underperformance resulted in cross-national attraction toward, and policy borrowing of, ‘teaching for mastery’ from the high-performing education systems of Shanghai and Singapore. We argue that the cultural baggage implicit in mastery was in direct conflict with fundamental structures underpinning the English education system—structures which resulted in significant barriers toward implementing and internalising mastery. Theoretically grounded in the work of Lyotard, Foucault, and Ball, our paper maps how teachers working in the East Midlands region of England borrowed, implemented, and internalised mastery. Our micro, classroom-scale, examination reveals macro-scale performative drivers, as well as the pitfalls of policy borrowing without due care and attention. We highlight that policy borrowing is far more complex than simply copying and checking for fidelity between the original and the borrowed. We conclude by suggesting that underestimating the consequences of policy borrowing has highly significant and even detrimental outcomes at both the micro and macro scales.

Lesson study model: The challenge of transforming a global idea into local practice

The lesson study (LS) model, which originated in Japan, has become popular all over the world. This article will highlight some of the challenges encountered when the LS model was picked up and introduced in a local school context in a Norwegian municipality. The article views this process in the light of research on LS-model transfer into local contexts in various countries, and considers the impact modes of collaboration have on the implementation of a borrowed idea. The aim has been to reflect upon the challenges encountered in transforming a global idea into local practice. A four-stage composite-process model has provided the framework for this personal reflection: stage 1: cross-national attraction; stage 2: decision-making; stage 3: implementation; and stage 4: internalisation. The article argues that the LS model may undergo a transformation from an idea that is global, into a practice that is glocal.

‘South-South’ Borrowing: Lessons from the Caribbean and implications for post 2015 agenda

This article aims to draw attention to complexities of ‘education borrowing’ and outline considerations for setting education goals beyond 2015, the projected expiry date for Education for All goals. While policies from multilateral agencies advocate sharing best practices between developing nations to support improvements to quality education, qualitative research in Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago indicates that best practices are not shared nor implemented. At best, foreign ideas from industrialized countries are used to legitimize local policies. It appears that directives aimed at fostering ‘South-South’ cooperation do not account for cultural differences. Findings also suggest a lack of cross-national attraction as developing nations are more concerned about ‘international standards’. Policy development considerations for 2015 include a stronger emphasis on identifying locally driven approaches and goals in place of ‘South-South’ borrowing rhetoric. Abandonment of a common realm of values is not necessary; however the reduction of interventions by multilateral agencies may be a worthwhile goal for post 2015.

Crossing borders in educational innovation: Framing foreign examples in discussing comprehensive education in the Netherlands, 1969–1979

In the Netherlands, crossing borders to study comprehensive schools was an important strategy in the 1970s, a decisive period for the start and the end of the innovation. According to policy-borrowing theory, actors that engage in debating educational issues are framing foreign examples of comprehensive schooling to convince their audiences. Framing therefore became the leading concept behind our study of the intellectual debate, examined through the leading Dutch scientific journal Pedagogische Studiën (Educational Studies), and the public debate, examined through recordings of television programmes. Assuming that those debates were influential in the political middle school process, our analyses show that foreign examples indeed functioned as a framing device in the form of legitimisation, glorification, sensationalisation and caution. However, the impact of framing differed. In the phase of cross-national attraction, the reform-minded perspective in the scholarly debate had a stimulating effect on the development of the plans, but little influence on the governmental decision-making process. This contrasts with the frames that were brought forward by television programmes. Although the negative frames, such as “a factory-made sausage”, were rejected by the programmes, such frames could linger in people’s minds as a means to interpret ideas about middle schools. At the end of the 1970s, the middle school was reduced to a minor feature of educational policy and, eventually, the middle school experiments were brought to a close. As a result, the foreign solution of introducing comprehensive education was never transferred to the Netherlands.

Frontiers Of Education: Japan As “Global Model” Or “Nation At Risk”?

The Japanese educational system is undergoing extensive change, affecting all stages from pre-school programmes to higher education. As Japan has moved from a nation at the top to “A Nation at Risk,” certain dichotomies have been highlighted. Viewing Japan as either educational super-power or educational tragedy, depending on the era of research or background of the researchers, has been especially provocative for educators and policy-makers. At the same time, the controversies in America surrounding the report A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Excellence in Education) are well known, a major impetus for the report of course being Japan. Central to the question of whether Japan is best understood as a Global Model or A Nation at Risk are themes of cross-national attraction and educational transfer. What can the world learn from Japan? What does Japan need to learn from the world? The answers to these questions have particular significance for Japanese higher education, which we take up as a case study here, with its urgent task to innovate in the face of a steep demographic downward trend. For those in Japan who feel that Japanese education is in a dismal state, what are the origins of this serious decline? For observers in other national contexts who envisage Japan as a model, how do the calls to ‹learn from Japan’ reflect genuine attempts to improve practice at home? Or are they simply rhetorical tools in support of domestic political projects?

Theorizing Educational Transfer: Toward a Conceptual Map of the Context of Cross-National Attraction

This article highlights some of the current methodological issues surrounding how to analyze and understand educational transfer with particular reference to cross-national attraction. It reviews the resurgent interest in the themes of attraction and transfer and evaluates new models and typologies that describe those complex processes. It argues that gaps in the current research and new challenges posed by ‘globalization’ necessitate a new interpretive framework. To that end, a contextual map of cross-national attraction is presented and its component parts are described in considerable detail. Examples from the author's previous work on Chinese and American attraction to Japanese education are used to illustrate the uses of this new analytical framework. The article concludes by suggesting the various ways the device may assist in analyzing attraction and transfer and in opening up new areas of research.

Researching policy borrowing: Some methodological challenges in comparative education

This article considers some of the methodological challenges involved in investigating, within the traditions of comparative research in education, the complex issue of educational ‘policy borrowing’. It discusses notions of ‘borrowing’ and ‘influence’ and refers to a model previously proposed by the authors for the analysis of what are seen as four stages in the policy borrowing process which can be tested empirically. These are identified as cross‐national attraction, decision, implementation, and internalization/indigenization. The problems involved in researching each stage of this process are considered, in particular in relation to the authors’ previous work on the attractiveness to British observers of educational policy in Germany over a long historical period.

Processes of Policy Borrowing in Education: some explanatory and analytical devices

This paper addresses questions of policy ‘borrowing’ in education. Building on the authors' previous work, it proposes some explanatory and analytical devices to assist in the exploration of the processes involved in ‘cross-national attraction’ in educational policy and its consequences in terms of decision making, implementation, and ‘internalisation’.

Comparative Studies and 'Cross-National Attraction' in Education: A typology for the analysis of English interest in educational policy and provision in Germany

This paper describes a 'structural typology' to assist in the analysis of ways in which policy-makers in one country explore educational provision in another and seek to 'borrow' from it. In this analysis we look specifically at England's 'cross-national attraction' to education in Germany over the past 200 years. The paper aims to provide an analytical programme to use in comparative education and to facilitate exploration of the importance of context in shaping educational phenomena.

The Use and Abuse of Comparative Education

The Use and Abuse of Comparative Education