Decentralized Education System Research Articles

Studi Perbandingan Status Kenegaraan Umat Muslim dalam Pelayanan Pendidikan di Inggris dan Jerman

The increasing number of Muslim communities in Europe, especially in the UK and Germany, has highlighted the important role of education in the process of social integration. Inclusive and adaptive education policies can help create equality of opportunity for Muslims and support social cohesion. However, the approach to education policy in the UK and Germany shows significant differences that reflect the history, politics, and culture of each country. This study aims to conduct a comparative study between education policies in the two countries in the context of education services for Muslims. This study is a qualitative study using a literature study approach which will then describe and compare education policies in the two countries in the context of education services for Muslims. By collecting and analyzing data from various sources, including academic journal articles, books, official government reports, and publications from international organizations. The results of the study show that the UK has a more centralized and flexible education policy, allowing support for faith-based schools, including Islamic schools. On the other hand, the decentralized education system in Germany results in variations in policies between states, creating differences in access and implementation of Islamic religious education. Keywords: education, Muslims, education policy, England, Germany

An Investigation of Primary School-Based Governance in a Decentralised Education System

An Investigation of Primary School-Based Governance in a Decentralised Education System

Exploring the Mode of Inter-university General Education Consortium Based on Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology has found widespread adoption in all walks of life in China today due to its high security and tamper resistance. However, its application in the realm of education has seen limited notable successes. With the continuous advancement of undergraduate education reform in Chinese universities, general education has garnered increasing attention from colleges and universities, triggering a wave of exploring new general education models. In this paper, we introduce the consortium blockchain to analyze the existing general education models of colleges and universities in China and propose building a consortium blockchain-based general education course management platform. The present work aims to facilitate the collaboration of general education among colleges and universities, promoting the “self-organizing” operation of online learning communities and the exploration of a decentralized education system, ultimately driving the high-quality development of education.

Accountability for Curriculum Implementation in Ethiopian Primary Schools: Compact Relationship in Focus

The study aims to investigate the compact or bureaucratic accountability relationship for curriculum implementation in primary schools. To achieve this objective, an exploratory case study type and a multiple case study (holistic) research design were employed. A purposeful sampling technique was used to select sites and respondents. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources using face-to-face structured interviews and document analysis. Primary sources of data were three district or Worda Education Offices (WEOs) and three primary schools, from which three school principals, six teachers, and three WEOs’ curriculum and instructional experts were selected. The data were analyzed qualitatively using a thematic approach. The study reveals that the compact accountability relationship between the WEOs’ curriculum and instructional experts and the curriculum implementers was collapsed by key determinants such as weak capacity, poor monitoring progress, and politicization of the WEOs’ curriculum and instructional experts’ roles and responsibilities. This study also affirms that the accountability relationship was purposefully operational for easily achievable actions and politically attractive roles such as the improvement of students’ test scores by 10%, enhancing students’ enrollment, reducing students’ dropout rates, etc. that resulted in little implementation of curriculum components into classroom practices in a decentralized education system of primary schools.

A Autonomia Curricular nos Sistemas Educativos de Portugal e do Canadá

ABSTRACT Many authors argue that autonomy is nonexistent in a centralized education system, given that it is a characteristic of decentralization, whereas schools in a decentralized education system have more autonomy. The researchers compare the level of curriculum autonomy granted to schools in a centralized system (Portugal) and to those in a decentralized system (Canada), based on interviews and content analysis of those responsible for the administration and organization of schools. It appears that, in the Portuguese case, there is some school autonomy, essentially centered on the collective, although teachers do not recognize or take ownership thereof. In the Canadian case, autonomy is granted on an individual basis to each teacher.

‘Are we doing Cátedra de Paz?’ Teacher perspectives on enacting peace education in Bogotá, Colombia

ABSTRACT In 2015, the Colombian Ministry of Education introduced the Cátedra de Paz (CdP), a national policy that seeks to contribute to human rights, citizenship, violence prevention, and peaceful conflict resolution. In the context of a decentralized education system, schools have significant autonomy to adapt the policy to local contexts. Relatively little research to date has documented the enactment, evaluation, or impact of the CdP. This study aims to understand how educators have interpreted this national mandate, and the extent to which the policy has prompted and expanded teaching and learning opportunities about conflict, peace, and justice. We explore the perspectives of 46 teachers working in public schools across 19 of Bogotá’s 20 localities, several years into the creation of the CdP and in the midst of a contentious national peace process. The paper shows a range of enactment formats and uneven impact on teachers’ existing commitments to peace education. We conclude that the CdP has had a contradictory effect on school-based practices, legitimizing the importance of peace education as a national imperative, while marginalizing efforts within schools as individualized and bound to the social sciences subject.

Reconsidering Higher Education Organizations via ecosystem Thinking: Some Initial Thoughts

Providing optimal knowledge sharing has become increasingly important during the lockdown starting in early 2020. As a mechanism for sharing knowledge, education is also hugely impacted. Studying from home became feasible. On-campus learning had to change entirely to online within weeks. Besides preventing the spread of the virus, this shift allowed students to follow their courses anywhere. Physical distance to an institution is no longer a barrier to knowledge exchange. Online facilities offer students access to a broader field with an impact on the quality of education.
 The paper defines an ecosystem for higher education institutions (HEI) based on our own experiences with online learning, interviews, and literature reviews.
 The goal is to create a theorized environment where students can sign up for higher education (HE) classes, courses, programmes at different institutions across Europe. The ecosystem could create commonly shared quality standards from a decentralised perspective, potentially increasing learning quality and providing students with more freedom in their personal learning experiences. This paper does not serve as a full scientific proof but as a discussion.
 The proposed ecosystem foresees students to follow courses anywhere. It offers study-abroad programmes and inter-institutional collaborations with a centralised platform for knowledge management. Allowing students to choose classes institution-free would increase specialisation of those institutions and impact the quality of education.
 We will show that implementing a decentralised education system needs a bottom-up approach with a centrally formulated IT strategy to facilitate education exchange. Common quality standards, resilience, innovation, simplicity, inclusivity, maturity, and specificity are essential. For an adaptive system, governance, resistance, ownership, and communication ownership should adhere.
 Our proposed ecosystem of institution-free HE would benefit all parties involved. Students can tailor their learning experience and obtain the highest level of education possible. HEI benefit in improving the quality of their programmes due to added competition. They could also drop courses that students better take elsewhere, allowing for specialisation in specific fields.
 Such an ecosystem holds financial, administrative, and even legal limitations. However, institutions can implement step-by-step, giving affordance to the substantial bureaucracy that will inevitably ensue.

Analysis on Indian Education Towards Fully Automated Digitization and Decentralized Education System- A Machine Learning Approach

Analysis on Indian Education Towards Fully Automated Digitization and Decentralized Education System- A Machine Learning Approach

Is Decentralisation a Suitable Response to Improve South African Rural Education?

South Africa (SA) has a decentralised education system. It is generally assumed that decentralisation improves the effectiveness and efficiency of education by responding to the needs, values, and expectations of both local and rural communities. A large part of SA could be described as rural and a large number of learners attend rural schools. This makes rural education a significant part of the South African education context. With education being decentralised, and with decentralisation being heralded as the panacea to the problems faced by rural communities as well as rural education, the assumption is that rural education should be of a high quality. This desk-top paper assesses the potential of decentralisation to improve the quality and effectiveness of South African rural education. This it does by locating decentralisation within neoliberalism which this paper argues is the impetus behind the decentralisation of South African education, and the reason for the decline in the quality and effectiveness of rural education. The paper also highlights certain tensions between the various decentralised spheres of governance, namely the central and provincial Departments of Education and school-level governance structures. The paper further indicates how these tensions potentially hamper the effectiveness and efficiency of rural education. The paper concludes with some recommendations aimed at improving rural education.

Decentralization of Education in Nepal: A Rein in a Horse Nose

The main argument of this article is to shed light on the dubious nature of the decentralization policy of education and the 'intention' of the state to recentralize it, in one way or other, despite the widespread clatter of decentralization. By taking policy documents into account, I intend to justify my claim that what the Nepal government calls it, an educational decentralization, is nothing but policy rhetoric and a reign hold tactically at the centre. I claim what the state calls it as an autonomous power of ground-level functionaries to exercise their discretionary in decentralized education system instead is, 'a rein in a horse nose', where jockey (the centre) is 'always' in a commanding position. To expatiate educational decentralization, I employ Weiler's (1990) standpoint and juxtapose his arguments: redistributing power, enhancing efficiency, and improving learning to show that though these arguments are put in favour of decentralization, the same arguments are shown to conflict with powerful forces favouring centralization. I also focus on the context and motivation in which the educational decentralization was carried out to understand the egression of decentralization in education in Nepal. In the final section, I try to analyse the dubious tendency of the state and try to explore, 'why despite prioritizing decentralization in policies, there is a periodicity of higher bodies in the education system'.

Otonomi Pendidikan Dan Kurikulum Berbasis Kompetensi Sebagai Jawaban Atas Realitas Kekinian


 ABSTRACT
 The reform movement that wants a democratic social order in Indonesia has given birth to a national education system that is no longer centralistic. In a democratic education system, people are given the freedom to develop according to their abilities and potential. Recognition of the community to develop autonomously will spur the dynamics of society so that it becomes a developed society and science-powered. Thus, education autonomy will empower schools as the spearhead of the decentralization of education and encourage schools to improve quality in accordance with the potential of schools. Therefore, the government issued a school-based management policy and community-based education. along with the decentralized education system, it is necessary to apply a non-single curriculum that can be applied to all schools. A curriculum is needed that can be applied to schools according to the needs and abilities of the school. A single curriculum will encourage schools to increase creativity and high competitiveness so that superior and quality schools are born. In addition to the demands for decentralization, the national education system needs to be supported by a curriculum that can answer the current order, such as the demands of democratization, the challenges of the era of universalism, and the low quality of education in Indonesia. curriculum that can accommodate the demands of democratization will give birth to a new Indonesian society. namely civil society, fierce competition in the era of globalization requires a curriculum design that can lead the Indonesian people to achieve excellence in mastering science and technology. The low quality of education in Indonesia, one of which is due to curriculum patterns that are not able to equip students with life skills that shape creative, critical, independent and productive attitudes. Today's demands have given birth to a Competency Based Curriculum..

Test-based accountability in the Norwegian context: exploring drivers, expectations and strategies

ABSTRACT This paper investigates how and why test-based accountability (TBA), a global model for education reform, began to dominate educational debates in Norway in the early 2000s, and how this policy has been operationalised and institutionalised over time. In examining the adoption and retention of TBA in Norway, we build on the cultural political economy framework, in combination with a political sociology-driven approach to policy instruments. The analysis draws on two data sources: four White Papers and 37 in-depth interviews with top-level politicians, policy-makers and stakeholders, conducted between September 2017 and February 2018. The findings indicate that ‘scandalisation’ of Norway’s below-expected PISA results and promotion of standardised testing as a neutral device contributed to the relatively abrupt adoption of national testing in the early 2000s. The increasingly dominant policy discourse equalising education quality and learning outcomes led to the institutionalisation of TBA, developed to ensure equity and quality standards in a decentralised education system. Increased visibility, benchmarking and administrative control are identified as key mechanisms in putting pressure on local actors to re-orient their behaviour. The study provides original insights into the drivers, expectations and strategies underlying TBA in a social democratic institutional regime.

Teaching About Sexualized Violence in Educational and Clinical Institutions: Evaluation of an Interdisciplinary University Curriculum

IntroductionSexualized violence is still a rather avoided topic in teaching at German universities, even though a remarkable proportion of the German population experienced child sexual abuse, including many in institutional settings (e.g., schools, clubs of leisure activities). This study examines the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary university curriculum about sexualized violence in educational and clinical institutions.MethodsStudents participated in seminars about sexualized violence, sexual socialization and education, and professionalism and ethics. In 2017/2018, n = 156 students assessed the curriculum before, immediately after and/or 6 months after participating. The assessment covers knowledge about and confidence in handling issues of sexualized violence and attitudes toward sex-related myths. The same questionnaires were used in a control group (n = 54).ResultsIn the curriculum group, self-assessed and declarative knowledge improved, the students were more confident in their abilities to handle issues of sexualized violence in a professional way, and sex-related myths were rejected even more strongly after the curriculum.ConclusionThe findings suggest that awareness and knowledge about sexualized violence in institutions can be increased and sustained through the use of the curriculum “Sexualized Violence in Institutions.” These encouraging results suggest that the curriculum should be taught in pedagogical and clinical disciplines at more universities.Policy ImplicationsIn view of the decentralized education system in Germany and the freedom of research and teaching at German universities, the curriculum can only be implemented on a voluntary basis. However, in terms of education policy, such an implementation could be supported by state-funded programs that provide lecturers both with necessary qualifications and necessary resources.

States as Sites of Educational (In)Equality: State Contexts and the Socioeconomic Achievement Gradient.

Socioeconomic achievement gaps have long been a central focus of educational research. However, not much is known about how (and why) between-district gaps vary among states, even though states are a primary organizational level in the decentralized education system in the United States. Using data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA), this study describes state-level socioeconomic achievement gradients and the growth of these gradients from Grades 3 to 8. We also examine state-level correlates of the gradients and their growth, including school system funding equity, preschool enrollment patterns, the distribution of teachers, income inequality, and segregation. We find that socioeconomic gradients and their growth rates vary considerably among states, and that between-district income segregation is positively associated with the socioeconomic achievement gradient.

Decentralised Education Policy in Indonesia


 This review aims to discover and investigate using available literature, the advantages and the challenges of changing the educational policy from a centralisation to a decentralisation, particularly to look at more closely on teachers’ readiness toward the new educational transformation in Indonesia. Since 2003, with the introduction of decentralisation in Indonesian educational system, teachers and principals have been given more influence and authorities to manage their educational practices. However, there are some problems and challenges faced by teachers and the government in implementing the system. Therefore, this review evaluates benefits and obstacles of the implementation of decentralisation in Indonesian contexts. Findings of this study were gained through a synthesis research where the current empirical studies surrounding the notion of decentralised education were descriptively analysed, integrated and synthesised. It reveals that while the decentralisation has offered several promises that might contribute to the better movement of educational practices, the decentralised education system in Indonesia is still distrait by uneven teachers’ quality, low commitments of teachers and principals, and the poor participation of parents and local societies in succeeding the school committee program. Therefore, in order to succeed the transformation, this review concludes that promoting continual teachers’ education and training, creating teachers’ professional career pathway, and encouraging local monitoring for teachers are fundamental aspects to be developed.

Governance decentralisation in education: Finnish innovation in education

This paper introduces a Finnish education innovation known as decentralisation in education. The innovation is described based on education policy documents, research papers and two short interviews with national and municipality experts in curriculum design. In a decentralised education system local providers of education (municipalities) and teachers play important roles in the preparation of local curriculum and learning environments, including the use of digital learning tools and environments. Education providers localise the national aims and content and describe how education is organised. Classroom-based assessment is another characteristic of decentralisation. Three pre-conditions are required for a decentralised education system to be effective: 1) common, national level, long-term strategic aims and must be established and local level plans, such as curriculum and an equity plan, must be developed and the implemented, 2) quality work, student assessment, continuous improvement of learning environments and practices implemented at the local level and 3) professional teachers must collaborate and engage in broad planning and assess their teaching abilities and their students’ learning outcomes.

The Cost of Decentralization: Linguistic Polarization and the Provision of Education

In this paper we argue that different preferences in a decentralized system lead to under provision of public goods. We analyze the provision of public primary education in nineteenth-century Prussia which was characterized by a linguistically polarized society and a decentralized education system. Using unique county-level data on education spending we show that linguistic polarization has a negative impact on local spending. Instrumental variable estimates using distance to the eastern border suggest that the relationship can be causally interpreted. Exploiting a reform of education spending, we show that centralization increases the provision of primary education relatively more in linguistically polarized counties.

What Is a Canadian Mathematics Education? A National Discourse Community

Abstract Over the past four decades, there has been a gradual emergence of a national mathematics education community, despite a decentralized education system in Canada. This community is marked by regional collaboration for curriculum development, national cooperation for teacher certification and mobility, research networks, and a national mathematics education group composed of mathematics teachers and teacher educators and mathematicians and mathematics education researchers united by their concern for the teaching and learning of mathematics. Reflecting back on the last 40 years of mathematics education in Canada, I explore multiple facets of this national mathematics education discourse community as a commentary on what is distinct about Canadian mathematics education.

Tracing the sub-national effect of the OECD PISA: Integration into Canada’s decentralized education system

Although education scholars have examined the globalization effect of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and its impact in several countries, few have explored its effect at the sub-national level. Taking the Canadian federation as its case study, I argue that the PISA, as a universalizing project for education, is being uncritically replicated through the implementation of student assessments at the national level. By drawing on the policy studies and policy sociology literature, I find evidence of policy discursive practices and techniques, which led to the creation and replication of a PISA-modeled assessment sub-nationally in the form of the Pan-Canadian Assessment Program. Three key themes emerge that facilitate the modeling of universalizing educational projects such as the PISA by sub-national entities: (1) a preoccupation with the international benchmarking of student performance, (2) a shift away from a curriculum-based assessment to a competency-based one, and (3) the adoption of organizational systems and processes of assessment aligned with supranational assessment practices. I suggest that domestic conditions in the Canadian federation were conducive to the rapid integration of the PISA sub-nationally despite the decentralized structure of the Canadian elementary and secondary education system.

Domestic migration, benefit spillovers, and local education spending: evidence from China 1993–2009

The idea that educational externalities affect local governments' incentive to provide such service was proposed over a century ago. Several studies have tested the relationship in the US, with mixed results. However, the theory has rarely been tested systematically outside of the US context. Paradoxically the unique household registration system in China makes the study of educational benefit spillover simpler to grasp theoretically and easier to handle empirically. A dynamic panel-data analysis that spans 17 years across 31 provinces of China suggests that a one-percentage-point increase in intra-provincial migration rate would decrease non-personnel spending in the following year by 23, 30, and 45 yuan per student for elementary schools, junior middle schools, and senior middle schools respectively. Narrowing the focus only on rural education funding, this study also shows that intra-provincial migration negatively affects rural spending per student by a similar magnitude. While migration and urbanization often bring about prosperity and efficiency gains, the substantial negative consequences of benefit spillovers under a decentralized education system should not be overlooked, especially for non-personnel expense and for rural schools.