Major Changes In Education Research Articles

Dynamics of change: decentralised centralism of education in Singapore

Many countries are introducing major educational changes to prepare their students to meet the challenges in a knowledge economy and enhance the country’s competitive edge. This paper discusses recent educational changes in Singapore using the framework of decentralised centralism proposed by Karlsen (2000). The paper explores the dynamics of change in the initiation, content, levels and simultaneity of the decentralisation process in Singapore since 1997. The paper further analyses the ideological roots of the decentralisation policy through a discussion of the tension between the functionalist and liberal forms of education in the Singapore context. The discussion adds to existing literature on the tensions and challenges faced by countries in their attempts to introduce educational changes in their countries.

Periodontology as a recognized dental speciality in Europe

The impetus of the Bologna Process under the auspices of European Union governments has raised enormous expectations. It is the major educational change in Europe within the last 50 years and all the focus from university institutions, learned societies and thematic networks has shifted to this process, with the aim of developing consensus schemes in order to arrive at the expected European Convergence in Higher Education (to be completed by 2010). Dentistry as one of the health professions with clear Educational Standards, as defined by the European Dental Directives, is also reviewing its educational processes within this Bachelor-Master-Doctorate scheme and evaluating how the current and future dental specialities should be accommodated within this framework. Among these specialities, Periodontology is currently considered a formal dental speciality in 11 countries belonging to the EU however it lacks this legal status in the rest of the 14 EU countries. The purpose of this position paper is to provide evidence for the need for a recognized specialty in Periodontology at European level focusing on both the educational and professional perspective, with the hope of providing discussions that may contribute to facilitate its legal establishment as a new dental speciality in Europe.

MPA Programs in Australia

Australian universities have established specific Masters programs for public servants over the past twenty years. However, until recently, despite being established, they have not thrived by comparison with MBA and other masters courses in business. It was not easy to attract students and good staff. MPA programs have generally not captured the public sector community's attention in the same way as is the case in a number of US schools of public administration or management. This situation changed in 2003 with the creation of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). This is a consortium of five governments - the Commonwealth government, the New Zealand government, and the three largest state governments - and nine universities set up to provide an Executive Masters in Public Administration. The ANZSOG cohort is composed of future leaders in the opinion of their governments. All students are fully funded by their governments and at a level that is more costly per student than other training. Funding of this scale reflects a major change for governments in Australia. The establishment of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government represents a major change in education of public managers in Australia. There are lessons for other countries in its establishment.

Editorial

At times of major educational change we are reminded of those things of lasting value which are of formative significance for learning and teaching - those things which empower students to gain riches in the form of knowledge, understanding and skill. At the threshold of the twenty-first century it is good to acknowledge, again, that our main job as educators, learning technologists and researchers is at all times to encourage and foster such richness in all of our students. Learning technology has an exceptionally productive potential role to play in this empowerment: the role of the Association of Learning Technology in promoting good practice in the use of learning technologies is therefore particularly highlighted at the start of a new century.DOI:10.1080/0968776000080301

Education for sustainability: Are we flunking the future?

AbstractWhen New Jersey's Office of Sustainability was originally established in 1997, it was at first quizzically referred to as the “Office of What?” Now, good people, high purpose, and new name (Sustainable Business Division of the Commerce Commission) have steadily gained respect as skeptics reflected on what the term sustainability can mean to life on earth as we know it in New Jersey and elsewhere. Current rates of growth in population, industrial production, consumerism, and environmental degradation cannot be supported indefinitely by Earth's finite carrying capacity. New ways of thinking, working, and living will be required to change our course of unsustainable human activity both locally and globally. Such a transformation is achievable only through major changes in education. This article contends that the rate, content, and scope of learning required to take a sustainable path in America are not happening. Some ideas for what needs to be done are suggested.© 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Discontinuation, leaving reasons and course evaluation comments of students on the common foundation programme

There is considerable financial incentive, at all levels, to reduce student nurse wastage and maintain recruitment to a workforce of professional nurses. This strategy is being pursued in a period following major educational change, when the attrition levels and leaving reasons of students need to be reassessed. Previous reports have identified a high voluntary loss of students on the common foundation programme (CFP) of the pre-registration nursing course. In order to achieve a better understanding of the basic problems faced by student nurses who consider leaving the CFP, questionnaires were distributed to three groups of students: current CFP students; students who had completed the CFP; and students who had discontinued training. The questionnaire responses show that course-based problems, identified as prime leaving reasons by the current and completed student groups, differ from the actual leaving reasons of discontinued students obtained by exit questionnaire. The attitudes of participating and discontinued students to theory, clinical and pastoral components of the CFP are not dissimilar. Some trends in attrition rate relate significantly to student category. Our results have implications for the management of student nurse attrition.

Computer-based management of content in planning a problem-based medical curriculum.

The Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney has undertaken a major educational change from a traditional didactic 6-year, undergraduate entry programme to a 4-year problem-based programme to which only graduates are admitted. We have used two computer-based tools which proved invaluable in developing and managing the content of the new curriculum. The first, developed using a commercial database and made available on the Faculty's Intranet, provided a means for eliciting appropriate problems, organizing content fields and searching the information. The second, based on a spreadsheet, provided a means of displaying agreed content on implementation grids, both for self-directed learning and conventional teaching sessions. Both provided ready access for scrutiny, interactions, review and planning by staff and they greatly enhanced the process of understanding the nature of the new curriculum, and thus in reassuring staff about the change. By merging the two tools, a definitive curriculum database is emerging.

Even if it Isn't Broken: A Proposal for Wholesale Change

10 Few events cause more wholesale change in a school district than the move from junior high or a K-8 organization to middle schools. Not only are middle level teachers, administrators, and students affected, but the change has implications for elementary and secondary levels as well. When one tier of schooling significantly alters both its curriculum and delivery system, no one is exempt from the waves of change. At the school level, certain kinds of change are inevitable. They generally are responses to changing local or school-site conditions, and they may be changes for the better or the worse (Tye, 1991, p. 44). The need to make changes on the one hand and the desire for maintaining the status quo on the other, calls up some interesting questions. For example, is the educational climate more alive and healthier in a stable period? Is it made less so when there is change? Is everyone more productive or just more comfortable maintaining the status quo? Is it a golden opportunity or merely the cross to bear for the building administrator who must enact change? We propose answers to these questions based on a few assumptions about middle schools and change. First, the new organizational patterns (i.e., grades 6-8, cooperative team planning, teacher-based advisory) are often proposed and enacted with little initial input from teachers or even building administrators. That is, the change is mandated from above in most cases. It is crucial to recognize (however), that major educational change cannot be legislated or mandated if it is not in tune with a concurrent