Since 2000, the OECD has been evaluating the knowledge and skills of the world’s 15-year-olds through its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test. According to the OECD, PISA results reveal what is possible in education by showing what students in the highest-performing and most rapidly improving education systems can do. More than 510,000 students in 65 economies took part…
Tag Archives Education
Those of us interested in the performance of education systems broadly [at a professional or policy level] or perhaps those of us interested in the specifics of educational results [perhaps as a business-owner, looking for a skilled pool of workers or as a parent, concerned for the future of those most-dear] should equally be interested in two [somewhat juxtaposed] reports…
The "teachers dispute" is still not settled. Telecommunications, Climate Policy, Labour Market renewal and work such as the Gonski review appear distant references on some future policy horizon. The treatment of education and skills as a simple cost in a budget, or some "sector" to "manage" fundamentally misunderstands the needs of a modern economy [which wishes to remain one] in this…
Food for thought.. http://youtu.be/g8mynrRd7Ak Links: Frans de Waal - Dutch primatologist and ethologist Google Scholar - Teachers and Performance Pay Google Scholar - Does performance pay for teachers work? Debating the merits of merit pay - Andrew Leigh
At a time when Gender equity is so prominent in much media coverage, both within Australia and across the Globe, it is also sobering to consider the structural challenges faced by girls entering the workforce and adult-hood for the first time here in Victoria. This graph shows Vet is Schools [VETiS] enrolments for Girls as a ratio of the Boys…
The disturbing scenes in London over the last few days bring in to a stark contrast the competing challenges of the immediate, short-term need for social order and the extended, long-term need for social inclusion. There are many thousands of pictures and words that will be written about this London summer. Jonathon Freedland, writing in the Guardian says: The soul…
My research [Masters] in comparative education and equity is leading me to many interesting and challenging topics. One of hundreds... "What are the long-term effects of class sizes on the achievement gap? In essence, this paper suggests that findings on the social distribution of the immediate and lasting benefits of small classes have been mixed. Link: JSTOR - American Journal…
A collection of vocational education and training (VET) related research and policy documents from various regions of the world are now available online on VOCED, including many of the older print-based copies. VOCED is the international research database with over 35,000 documents available. Link: New international documents available on VOCED.
On social work training. 'Degrees in social work are viewed as being "difficult to fail" - a reputation that is unacceptable, a select committee of MPs has said.' From James A: As I wrote several years ago; When I taught on social work courses, on which the majority of other tutors were former social workers, they were often exemplary tutors.…