The Transformation of Technological and Vocational Education Under Taiwan’s 30 Years of Educational Reform

After years of educational reform, radio and television editing and directing majors in colleges and universities have trained a large number of outstanding talents, which have been transmitted to all walks of life. At the same time, the teaching quality of this major has also made significant progress in this process. However, with the emergence of new media, the training pattern of radio and television editing and directing major in colleges and universities has also undergone profound changes: in addition to the increasing number of talents trained, higher requirements are put forward for the overall comprehensive quality of the whole talent. Therefore, in the new media era, the cultivation of radio and television editing and directing majors in colleges and universities should firmly recognize the seriousness of the situation, cultivate talents needed by the times, and treat talent cultivation with the concept of development, in order to actively change the talent cultivation mode to cope with the continuous development of the industry.

This article examines the nature and effects of the radical reforms to English school governance since 2010, the year in which a Coalition Government, led by the Conservative Party, came to power in the UK, and Michael Gove was ­appointed Secretary of State for Education for England, a post he occupied for four formative years of Education reform. These governance reforms were part of a much wider programme of change, arguably fundamental in the sense that they have affected the classroom experiences of students directly. This programme encompassed changes to the curriculum, the assessment of children (and, by proxy, teachers and schools), the initial training and assessment of teachers and, eventually, school inspection, with the most recent revised Ofsted Inspection Framework governing inspections in use from September 2019 (Ofsted 2019).
 Nevertheless, governance changes provide the framework through which all educational change in the future can be conceived, considered, interpreted, implemented and realised with students. So although all the above changes are identified with Gove, the changes to governance, often still badged as ‘academisation’, may be argued to be the most fundamental and the basis for considering future change and, indeed, Gove’s heritage. No one policy maker controls the complete process of change and its development, of course, one of the features of ‘complexity’, and it is argued here that the methods of realising governance reform in England have severely constrained future choices of direction.

教育改革の25年 －政策、成果、展望－

The success of a principal often depends on the preparation quality. The United States attaches great importance to the cultivation of educational leadership, and has established various professional organizations to study and manage the cultivation of educational leadership, which has promoted the continuous improvement of the cultivation plan of American educational leadership. In the past 40 years of China’s reform and opening up, the preparation level of principals in primary and secondary schools has risen from undergraduate to postgraduate. However, at present, it still shows the importance of on-the-job training of principals in primary and secondary schools, while neglecting the research and reform of pre service education activities of educational leaders, which leads to the standardization and professionalism of preparation methods of educational leaders to be improved. Therefore, we can learn from the preparation experience of American, combine with the actual situation of China, attach great importance to the professional training of education leaders, carry out extensive relevant academic research, enhance the direction leading role of education value and social responsibility, systematically design the preparation program of education leaders, and truly build a diversified social support and promotion network, improve the preparation effect of educational leadership in an all-round way.

The past two decades have been a period of active education reform throughout much of the world, and East Asia is no exception. This paper synthesizes findings from a series of empirical studies of educational reform in Thailand where an ambitious educational reform law was adopted in 1999. The purpose is to identify lessons learned about educational leadership and change that may be applicable both in Thailand and other parts of East Asia. The studies reveal successful reorientation of the nation’s educational system around a new vision and education goals. However, the vision of change has been much slower to penetrate the daily practice of Thailand’s 35,000 principals and 400,000 teachers. The paper identifies factors that are impacting successful reform in Thailand and draws implications for leading educational reform and change in the East Asia region.

The Failure of Education Reform & the Promise of Integration

Reviewed by: To Get a Better School System: One Hundred Years of Education Reform in Texas Eric L. Gruver To Get a Better School System: One Hundred Years of Education Reform in Texas. By Gene B. Preuss. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009. Pp. 148. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index, ISBN 978160344117, $34.95 cloth.) Most recent works on the history of education in Texas have focused on cultural and social issues, with authors' attentions divided between the day-to-day experiences of school children and the integration battles that occurred in rural and urban schools alike. Until now, no single volume had captured the modernization of Texas's public education system, but Professor Gene Preuss's account of the passage of the 1949 Gilmer-Aikin school finance and reorganization laws thereafter will be the lynchpin for every work on the history of Texas public education. Although the bulk of To Get a Better School System takes place during the twentieth century, Preuss presents evidence from the Mexican period that even early Texans understood the importance of an education system to the economic success of the region. The author examines a variety of explanations for the poor school system in Texas prior to 1949, including political ideologies, anthropological and sociological attitudes, as well as economic variables with which state and local officials coped at various times in the state's history. From the bills' sponsors, Representative Claud Gilmer and Senator A. M. Aikin, to state school superintendent L. A. Woods, to the sheer number of educators, researchers, and legislators who played a role in shaping and passing the legislation, Preuss demonstrates that the reforms belonged not to a single person or entity but to a collective spirit of progress and justice. At the heart of the work is a two-pronged argument regarding public education reform in Texas. First, a confluence of events in the late 1930s and early 1940s—the number of young male Texans rejected for military service due to their illiteracy, the shift of population from rural to urban locales, patriotism and the ideals [End Page 82] of equality and democracy following World War II, and low salaries in a variety of occupations—created the energy that spurred Texas legislators and education officials to implement reform laws. Second, the spirit of reform in Texas and other parts of the U.S. foreshadowed and assisted in the institution of wider political and social reforms that occurred during the 1950s. Preuss noted that World War II helped Texans and many Americans understand that education, heretofore a local issue, was now essential to preserve democracy and the American system. Solving the financial and educational inequalities within the state's schools was the first step toward social and political equality for all Texans. To Get a Better School System is well written; it reads like a primary source reader with an understated narrative that highlights the thoughts of those persons involved in the social, political, and economic debates. Preuss's talent lies not in recording and quoting from historical documents, but in using the information so fluidly that at times the characters seem to converse with each other. The author's reliance on primary material, however, does not keep him from assessing blame for the condition of Texas's pre-1949 public education system. Almost from the outset, Preuss credits the Radical Reconstruction legislature for its attempts to reform Texas schools—centralized state oversight, compulsory attendance, and local tax laws—while he castigates the Redeemers for destroying "a forward-looking school system" that left Texans with a "reactionary system" (16). It took decades of progressive lobbying, two world wars, an economic catastrophe, renewed public support, and the Cold War-fueled economic boom to reverse the course set by the post-Reconstruction legislatures. Eric L. Gruver Texas A&M University–Commerce Copyright © 2010 The Texas State Historical Association

Drawing on a four-year study of the last 40 years of education reform in Los Angeles, Learning from L.A. captures the sweeping change in American education. It puts forth a provocative argument: while school reformers and education historians have tended to focus on the success or failure of individual initiatives, they have overlooked the fact that, over the past several decades, the institution of public education itself has been transformed. Colorful characters, dramatic encounters, and political skirmishes enliven this rich account of the wrenching transformations that took place in the Los Angeles Unified School District from the 1960s onward. The book focuses particularly on four key ideas that emerged through a succession of reforms beginning in the 1990s decentralization, standards, school choice, and grassroots participation. Though the particular plans that gave rise to these ideas may have faded, the ideas themselves have taken root and developed in ways that those who inaugurated or participated in these reforms never anticipated. Winner of Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Districts in Research and Reform Publication Award, American Educational Research Association

This article explores the European-wide educational reform known as the Bologna Process in order to provide an understanding of the methodology that will be used by European countries to assess course credit hours as well as degree programs. The Bologna Process is culmination of years of educational reform within the European Union (EU) and more generally Europe aimed at harmonizing educational standards to promote student mobility and more recently quality assurance. The Bologna Process will eventually have an important impact on how international admissions offices and ultimately advisors assesses course and credit transfer. This article examines the development of the Bologna Process by first tracing the origins and logic of the European Credit Transder System (ECTS). While the Bologna Process entails sweeping curricula reform, ECTS started out with a narrow mandate to standardize the methodology for credits in order to facilitate student and credit transfer among European universities. The second part of the article explores the Bologna Process and its implication for credit transfer, study abroad and international admissions. While Bologna is still at a nascent stage, it has already engendered important state-level reforms in higher education. The article concludes by examining how this reform is currently being viewed in the US as well as providing some issues of concern for American administrators as sell as advisors.

ABSTRACT. This study investigates how mathematics secondary schools' teachers in \hbox{Jordan} perceive critical thinking and compares teachers' perceptions before and after educational reform. Data were collected from 12 schools twice: in 1988 and in 2004 by interviewing 47 Mathematics teachers. The interview included questions related to teachers' understanding of critical thinking, its role and importance in learning Mathematics, and instructional strategies that could help improve students' critical thinking skills. Results found no improvement in secondary Mathematics teachers' perceptions of critical thinking despite 15 years of educational reform. The majority of Mathematics teachers seemed not to have a clear and adequate understanding of critical thinking. Though most of the teachers claimed they have to teach critical thinking, more than half of them could not suggest any learning situation that could help in fostering critical thinking in Mathematics classes. Also most of the teachers claimed that critical thinking would help students in learning Mathematics; yet less than half were able to give a convincing justification for that. A small percentage of the secondary Mathematics teachers believed they can help all students to foster their critical thinking. It is thus recommended that the concept of critical thinking be transferred from the realm of rhetoric to the field of practice. The paper ends with some recommendations related to the Mathematics teachers training programs in view of the results of this study.

To examine how inclusive our schools are after 25 years of educational reform, students with disabilities and their parents were asked to identify current barriers and provide suggestions for removing those barriers. Based on a series of focus group meetings, 15 students with mobility limitations (9–15 years) and 12 parents identified four categories of barriers at their schools: (a) the physical environment (e.g., narrow doorways, ramps); (b) intentional attitudinal barriers (e.g., isolation, bullying); (c) unintentional attitudinal barriers (e.g., lack of knowledge, understanding, or awareness); and (d) physical limitations (e.g., difficulty with manual dexterity). Recommendations for promoting accessibility and full participation are provided and discussed in relation to inclusive education efforts.

In one fell swoop, the revolution may accomplish what 10 years of education reform could not, the authors predict. The preparation that we have traditionally provided for teachers no longer allows them to maintain the status of with any credibility, because they cannot know as much as the Internet can make available to their students. HERE ARE THREE scenes that might well strike a fa-miliar note with Kappan readers. After you've read them, ask yourselves, What's wrong with these pictures? Scene 1. Private individuals and businesses, eager to keep their technological edge, frequently upgrade their technological equipment. They often donate used or broken computer equipment to schools and receive tax deductions. A few male teachers at a local school, who for idiosyncratic reasons are semiskilled computer users, are drafted into the role of school computer technicians. A district committee forms whose members are largely confused nonexperts who are assigned the task of creating yet another boring document: the district's plan. The world is changing fast, and, once again, these educators know they are playing catch-up. While talk among education policy makers moves from how computers can influence subject-matter instruction to establishing principles for distance learning, the teachers are spending fruitless hours trying to get odd bits of equipment to network, using old modems to access the Internet, and coaxing decrepit printers to print. In the end, skeptical veteran teachers at the school have even reason to believe that integrating technology into their lessons is going to be a waste of their time. Scene 2. One Saturday morning in the spring, a group of middle-grade teachers from the region gather on a campus of the University of California for a series of workshops on ways to teach sixth-graders about the ancient world. The first presenter has planned to demonstrate how her students do research on ancient Rome via Internet sites, but frustrated university staff members can't figure out how to get the room's network to access the Internet. A campuswide default setting that searches all modems for an open net connection is not yet in place in all classrooms. In the end, the harried presenter keeps her audience waiting while she photocopies the home pages of various sites and settles for describing the process to the group. Teachers leave the campus with an uncomfortable realization: not even the University of California can make this stuff work for teachers. Scene 3. About the same time in the spring, a major conference is held at Stanford University that is specifically designed for teacher leaders in technology. During a plenary session, computer guru Alan November describes the future: economically advantaged students and their parents will have access to up-to-date and exciting information on almost any subject via the Internet than most teachers or schools will be able to provide. A bewildered coordinator from a leading high school sees the implications and raises her hand to ask, Why will kids come to school? * * * At least since the Carnegie Commission's 1986 report, A Nation Prepared, education reformers and policy makers have been campaigning for a changing role for teachers - but for reasons other than the impact of and computer use. Teachers have been encouraged to become a guide on the side rather than the traditional sage on the stage. Shortly thereafter, in 1988, Kathleen Devaney and Gary Sykes described a new conception of teaching that emphasizes the continual and changing interplay between thought and action, based on close observation and reflection about the encounter or 'match' between students and subject matter, so that teaching would be more than skilled transmission but would become principled action.1 In one fell swoop, the revolution may accomplish what 10 years of education reform could not. …

This overview and analysis of ten years of educational reform in the Federal Republic of Germany was read as a radio lecture over the Hessian Broadcasting System on June 9, 1974, as part of the series "Contemporary Educational Questions," moderated by Dr. G. Kadelbach. Dr. Führ is actively engaged in educational research at the Deutsches Institut für Internationale Pädagogische Forschung, Frankfurt am Main.