International Education Agenda Research Articles

SDG 4 baselines, midpoints and targets: Faraway, so close?

International education agendas are often viewed with scepticism due to the large gap between ambitions, efforts and accomplishments. While the 2030 education targets are unattainable, the agenda is nevertheless helping advance a shared understanding of the global education goal. From a quantitative perspective, the introduction of national SDG 4 benchmarks is critical for accountability but also for formative purposes. From a qualitative perspective, concepts such as equity and inclusion, learning, sustainable development, lifelong learning and cross-sectoral as well as cross-national collaboration are being mainstreamed into education policies. As the benchmarking process matures, through wider country participation, stronger communication of results, greater awareness of long-term trends, more conscious efforts to link progress with policies, and more opportunities for cross-national policy dialogue, the ambition is that education development will accelerate.

Medical Education Research Priorities for Master’s Students in Sudan: A Qualitative Study

Background: Believing research prioritization can increase the research value and augment advances in the scientific base of any profession, this study aimed to identify research priorities relevant for medical education in Sudan.
 Methods: The study was designed to capture a qualitative exploration of multiple stakeholders’ opinions. Data were collected from two stakeholder groups: experts and students of medical education in Sudan. Semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups from 10 experts and 41 learners were incorporated. The categories and subcategories, derived from experts’ data inductively through constant comparison, enhanced the development of a coding framework. This framework was used deductively to analyze the beliefs and opinions of the learners leading to a list that exemplifies priorities for medical education research.
 Results: A set of seven principal and three minor themes were identified, the principal themes were: Curriculum Content, Design, and Delivery; Faculty Development; Assessment Methods; Research; Accreditation, Evaluation, and Quality; Professionalism; and Student Selection and Support. Four themes were identified to justify participants’ selections: Quality education and patient care; Accreditation of schools; Curricula contextualization; and Documentation of success stories.
 Conclusion: This instrumental research fulfilled its aim to mount a set of medical education research priorities grounded in collected perceptions with optimal stakeholder engagement. Importantly, there were many more similarities than differences between these findings and those from other countries which suggests that some topics are relevant across the international arena and one may propose the commencements of an international medical education agenda.

The Adaptation of Early Childhood Care and Education to Cultural and Local Characteristics in West Africa: Challenges for Educational Psychology Research

This critical review aims to question whether or not the enthusiasm around early childhood care and education (ECCE) programmes is producing premature models, ill-adapted to West African socio-cultural contexts. Reviewing research that investigates the impact of ECCE on cognitive development and school readiness, we first focus on the universal valuing of formal ECCE, supported by both scientific research and international education agendas. Second, we present a classification that provides a framework to grasp the multiplicity of ECCE programmes and models across West African countries and their relevance to local contexts. Based on the literature reviewed, we conceptualise a multilevel model of ECCE within a holistic and ecologic approach. In the third part, we present research that underlines the challenges for educators and their central role in the design of culturally relevant ECCE. The fourth part will draw from research findings and stress the need to rethink appropriate methods and research tools to assess the quality and outcomes of ECCE programmes in West Africa. We conclude by proposing to move away from ECCE perspectives in which marginalised communities are perceived as deficient towards locally relevant and socially just models.

Mapping the Evaluation of Problem-Oriented Pedagogies in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Problem-oriented pedagogies have emerged as strategic way for universities to respond to an international higher education agenda that increasingly prioritises innovative, student-centred learning, and the cultivation of both civic and employability competences. Alongside this pedagogic shift is a policy-driven emphasis on monitoring teaching and learning for quality assurance purposes. This article aims to untangle the ways problem- and inquiry-based pedagogies are currently evaluated in universities, and thus consider how ‘quality’ implementation, and the effects of this suite of pedagogic approaches, might be better understood, practised, and measured. Taking a systematic approach to the review of the literature, the article maps evaluation methods that assess the effectiveness of problem-oriented and inquiry-based pedagogies implemented in university settings. The key findings include that evaluation methods in the field (i) prioritise qualification-related outcomes, (ii) are limited in scale and scope, and (iii) often function as demonstrations of performativity rather than as part of an ongoing improvement cycle. The article argues that evaluations that take a multi-method approach from the perspective of a range of stakeholders, with an exploration of civic and social competences in addition to employability outcomes, would significantly strengthen the field.

Localizing international education agendas: Boys (still) underachieving in Jamaica’s secondary education

The literature on basic education emphasizes the need to improve enrollment and access to girls’ education in poorer countries. In Jamaica, the problem is not merely access to basic education but rather the quality of education outcomes, particularly for boys. Setting my research findings within the context of globalization and basic education, this paper explores the underachievement of boys within the contexts of international education policies at the domestic/national scale in Jamaica. Using a combination of participants’ responses drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted with teachers across two rural high schools in Jamaica, an analysis of secondary sources and (to a lesser extent) participant observations, we put forward a few claims regarding the process of ‘localizing’ ‘international’ education. It appears that global discourses in education (education for all) place demands on the local context – privilege girls, and the problem of lack of access to education and the overall the quality of experience. And therefore, the Jamaican state can ‘evade’ or palliatively address the ongoing problem of boys’ underachievement. The paper also highlights the effects of neoliberal restructuring in education as well as the inconsistencies between domestic/national and international education policies.

Move over Nelly: lessons from 30 years of employment-based initial teacher education in England

ABSTRACT Recruiting, preparing and retaining high-quality teachers are recurrent themes of local, national and international education agendas. Traditional university-led forms of teacher education continue to be challenged, and defended, as nations strive to secure a teaching force equipped to achieve high-quality learning outcomes for all students. One commonly adopted policy solution has been the diversification of teacher preparation routes: the alternative certification agenda. In this article, we examine the entire history of one alternative route in place in England from 1997 to 2012, the Graduate Teacher Programme. Using one example of an employment-based programme, we argue that opportunities to engineer innovative and creative spaces in the face of the current teacher preparation reform agenda need to be seized. This case study, which is contextualised in both the international debates about alternative teacher certification routes and the current policy agenda in England, demonstrates the extent to which successive administrations have failed to learn from the lessons of the past in the rush to recycle policies and claim them as their own.

Chinese Curricula of Medical Science in the Context of Globalization

As China runs towards the forefront of global economic power, people begin to pay growing attention to the quality of life and medical education that play a significant role in sustaining the development by providing healthier labor force. It is evident that in the process of globalization new curricula in line with international standards top Chinese medical education agenda. Efforts have been made to plan the curricula of medical science with international dimensions that train physicians for the health of individuals. This paper analyzes the characteristics of medical curricula developed under new circumstances.

Desarrollo profesional docente: entre la proliferación conceptual y la escasa incidencia en la práctica de aula

El Desarrollo Profesional Docente es una de las principales preocupaciones de la agenda educativa internacional. Existe consenso en que los buenos docentes y su desarrollo profesional constituyen un insumo clave para lograr la calidad educativa, también existe acuerdo en que, alterar las políticas del sector es un proceso complejo y de largo plazo que requiere voluntad gubernamental, capacidad técnica, continuidad de las políticas y amplio apoyo social (Vaillant, 2016). El presente artículo revisa la mejor evidencia disponible sobre las intervenciones en materia de desarrollo profesional docente en el periodo 2000-2016. Los resultados de la revisión de la literatura, muestran que el DPD es entendido teóricamente de manera similar en los escritos en cuanto a su relevancia para mejorar las practicas docentes. Sin embargo, los estudios evidencian también enorme diversidad en lo que respecta a la duración, el contenido y las modalidades de DPD. Sabemos mucho sobre qué hacer o por qué hacer, pero bastante menos sobre cómo hacer.
 

Modelling inclusive special needs education: insights from Dutch secondary schools

Inclusive special needs education is prominent on the international education agenda. Research on the characteristics of inclusive education for students with special needs and schools providing this is scarce, however. Our aim in the present study was therefore to further theory-building with regard to inclusive special needs education. On the basis of the relevant literature, we identified three core aspects of inclusivity: the learning environment, the guidance provided by teachers and the general care structure. With the help of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses conducted on data obtained from school professionals in 79 secondary schools in the Netherlands, we were able to identify 12 underlying characteristics for a conceptual framework to further research on the inclusive nature of schools and education. Multilevel structural equation modelling of the judgments of school professionals at the level of the school also showed that the inclusive special needs education in at least secondary schools can be characterised by two main factors: (1) learning environment and (2) guidance and care. The analyses showed considerable agreement on the important aspects of inclusivity for schools and thus how differences between schools can be explained. The results further showed the work of the care coordinator – which includes cooperation with external partners and teachers with mentoring roles – to be the clearest indicator of the extent of the inclusive special needs education within schools. This finding is interpreted as suggesting that the recommended teaching practices and student care for adequate included special needs education have not yet been integrated into teachers’ thinking and acting. Follow-up research drawing upon the developed framework is therefore called for to not only more generally validate the framework but also determine if the situation in school has changed, now that the policy and practices for inclusive education have become more familiar.

Our Global Reach: UNESCO and ICAE as Catalysts

Globalization has become a household word, permeating workplaces and communities, while internationalizing the curriculum has become common practice, not just in higher education, but also reaching into the primary grades and outward into program planning efforts in the non-formal sector. Few fields, however, can claim two international bodies dedicated to the global nature of a field of study and practice, illuminating common issues and coalescing professionals in a common identity, namely: the governmentally based UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), and (b) the civil society-oriented ICAE (International Council for Adult Education), an association of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) from around the globe. Professional identities may be varied. One may identify as an adult educator, continuing education professional, human resource development specialist, or by many other designations and titles in the adult lifelong learning movement. One may work with research, policy, or professional practice. Central, however, is the concept of development, not just of individuals, but of the contexts in which they find themselves--thus, organizational development, community development, national development and nation building, as well as societal and global development. UNESCO and ICAE play a complementary role in this vital endeavor. UNESCO and ICAE Approximately every 12 years, UNESCO (1) hosts an International Governmental Assembly on Adult Education, although the past two Assemblies (1997 and 2009) have focused on the term adult UNESCO has evidenced long-standing historical support of adult education as a field of study and practice. The first Assembly took place in Elsinore, Denmark during 1949, the second in Montreal, Canada during 1960, the third in Tokyo, Japan during 1972, the fourth in Paris, France during 1985, the fifth in Hamburg, Germany during 1997, and the sixth most recent during 2009 in Belem do Para, Brazil (and for the first time in the Southern Hemisphere). Originally scheduled for May, the Assembly was rescheduled for 1-4 December 2009 due to the then-impending HIN1 (Swine Flu) pandemic. The theme of the 2009 Assembly, CONFINTEA VI after a French acronym for International Conference on Adult Education (Conference Internationale de Educations des Adultes), was entitled Living and Learning for a Viable Future: The power of adult learning. The objectives of the Assembly were to (a) push forward the recognition of adult learning and education as an important element of and factor conducive to lifelong learning, of which literacy is the foundation, (b) highlight the crucial role of adult learning and education for the realization of current international education and development agendas (EFA, MDGs, UNLD, LIFE, and DESD) (2), and (c) renew political momentum and commitment and to develop the tools for implementation in order to move from rhetoric to action (UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, 2010, p. 5). The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) was officially entrusted with coordinating and guiding preparatory and post-assembly follow-up matters. Although the United States was integrally involved with the inception of UNESCO, the U.S. government withdrew from UNESCO in late 1984 just prior to the fourth Assembly held in Paris during 1985, and did not return to membership until 2002 (in actuality the announcement was made in 2002, but it took until 2003 to establish a U.S. UNESCO Office and Commission). Consequently, the United States was unable to send an official delegation to the fourth (Paris) and fifth (Hamburg) UNESCO Assemblies, although adult educators did manage a presence as observer teams, but with no voting privileges. CONFINTEA VI, accordingly, represents the first time the United States planned and organized its official involvement, including the appointment of a delegation, since the third Assembly in 1972--a 37-year hiatus from Assemblies and 18-year absence from UNESCO membership CONFINTEA VI is more a process than just one event suspended in time in that it includes preparatory events prior to the Assembly and monitoring mechanisms post-Assembly. …

Education for Rural People: What have we learned?

This article presents a synthesis of lessons learned since the launch of Education for Rural People (ERP) in 2002 under the leadership of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations as part of the implementation process for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The ERP program originated from the global consensus on the importance of education in reducing poverty and concern over the development challenges presented by approximately 880 million illiterate youth and adults and approximately 130 million out-of-school children, many of whom are rural and female. The most important products of ERP to date have been the knowledge generated and disseminated, innovations identified, and lessons learned by ERP partners related to policy and practice in areas such as education quality and access, gender responsive learning environments, parent and community engagement, and accommodation of non-traditional learners, to name just a few. Tools to strengthen national capacities to advance ERP have been developed. A global repository of the knowledge base on ERP has been established at FAO and is accessible worldwide via the Internet. Partnerships have been forged to expedite and facilitate implementation. ERP is now widely acknowledged as a top priority in the international education agenda. But educating all rural people is a huge challenge, and much is still to be done considering the number of out–ofschool children living in rural areas. During this next phase, new investments will be needed at the national level. Preparing rural citizens to engage successfully in knowledge-based economies is central to the achievement of the MDGs.

The International Education Agenda: International and New Zealand Women Students

The International Education Agenda constructs internationalised education as central to New Zealand's economic transformation and strengthened sense of national identity. Its key outcomes for New Zealand students include their increased understanding and respect for 'other cultures'. The Agenda promises international students enrichment, support and integration in New Zealand educational institutions and communities. In this paper I consider doctoral research interviews with international and New Zealand women students, to show how, while laudable, the Agenda's social aims may also be contradictory. Specifically, I discuss how national identity, if predicated on assumptions of New Zealander's homogeneity, may preclude relations that are understanding and respectful, and how international student's enrichment and integration may be jeopardised by their concurrent positioning as a source of revenue. After highlighting how some women constructed New Zealand-ness and international-ness differently, I suggest some implications for international education policy and practice.

Balancing basic and post-basic education in Kenya: National versus international policy agendas

The article traces the policy history of Kenya over more than 40 years (1963–2006) in order to tease out the tensions between the key themes of its own national agenda and the priorities of its principal development partners. The national concerns with the education-and-employment connection and with the orientation of schooling towards skills for work in the formal and informal economies can be contrasted with the aid agency priorities on quality and on education-for-poverty reduction. Equally, national preoccupations have been with the whole of the education and training system—from early childhood, to technical, to university. By contrast, external donors have frequently prioritised a particular sub-sector such as primary schooling. In the most recent period, 2002–2006, the paper identifies the emergence of common ground between the national and external agendas. Thus the international education agenda, as marked out by the UN Millennium Project, the Commission for Africa, and the World Bank's most recent education policy paper, is not dissimilar in its priorities to the latest Kenyan education agenda, as expressed in the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme. There is also an agreement that the education sector, on its own, cannot deliver the many benefits so often associated with schooling; rather, there needs to be an enabling environment in other sectors of the economy, if the investment in education is to be most productive. The one area where there is serious divergence, between the Government of Kenya, and, at least, its principal Western donors is on the treatment of corruption. At the point of writing, the extent of corruption remains a major threat to the external funding so necessary to Kenya's large educational ambitions. Though the article is primarily concerned to analyse the tension between the national and the international policy agendas in terms of Kenya, arguably a similar case could be developed for many other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, and not least those which are most donor-dependent.

Whose knowledge, whose values? the contribution of local knowledge to education policy processes: a case study of research development initiatives in the small state of Saint Lucia

This paper draws upon a case study of education in the small Caribbean state of Saint Lucia (population 154,000) to examine how local knowledge and values can influence the education policy process. It is argued that recent research development initiatives have strengthened the ability of Saint Lucia to mediate international education agendas to suit its distinctive ‘social ecology’ and circumstances as a small state. Saint Lucians, it is argued, are reconceptualizing educational research in ways that better reflect the society's Kwéyòl‐majority culture, oral traditions and postcolonial context. The boundaries of educational research are therefore being stretched to incorporate local knowledge and values and multiple modes of meaning‐making. The paper argues that increased recognition of the epistemological issues and cultural values that are at the heart of efforts to strengthen research capacity can play a crucial role in democratizing the education policy process and educational research itself.

From the Washington to the Post-Washington Consensus: The influence of international agendas on education policy and practice in Malawi

Education is receiving ever-increasing priority in the post-Washington consensus era, which views education as both a means to and end of development. However, justification for the attention given to education continues to be centrally focused on the notion of human capital. By consequence, marketisation and privatisation of education are becoming increasingly significant. With the World Bank and WTO joining forces to create a vision for a 'global education industry', emphasis is placed on free trade in educational goods and services. The paper examines critically the implications of this international education agenda for developing countries, focusing on the experience of Malawi.