Getting to the decision-making table in educational governance: The emergence of Cambodian civil society within the ‘new global geometry of power

This chapter focuses on the emergence of civil society as a central pillar in Cambodian educational governance. By re-tracing how the NGO Education Partnership (NEP), a federation of education NGOs, became a recognized actor in national education policy making, this chapter documents the re-scaling of educational governance through the internal politics and transformations of one organization and its connections to the Global Campaign for Education (GEC), a transnational network of civil society organizations. Through an in-depth case study, this chapter details how NEP not only navigated the globalization of educational governance in Cambodia but also impacted the structures of national educational governance by becoming an active member in policymaking. This chapter shows how NEP made it to the proverbial “decision making table” in Cambodian educational governance by strategically using its global connections while tactically navigating the historical and political context

Understanding informal networks in higher education institutions : theoretical concepts from a Russian and Norwegian perspective

This article discusses theoretical concepts with regard to informal networks in the Russian and Norwegian society and higher education institutions (HEI) in particular. Informal networks are operative in both public and private organizations criss-crossing social and job-related networks within these organizations. Formal and informal contacts between representatives of HEIs in the Barents region are often the result of years of close cooperation on student exchange, research projects and joint academic programmes. The aim of this study is to explain theoretical perspectives in relation to informal networks from a Norwegian and a Russian perspective. Understanding both perspectives is essential before describing informal networks across different HEIs in the Barents region and valuable if we seek to study the impact of informal networks on the formal decision-making process. Informal networks are perceived differently because the formal structure in which they operate is different. Analysing the formal structure is therefore suggested in order to better understand the different perspectives surrounding formal/informal networks.acceptedVersio

The features of educational development of the Polish population in the South of Ukraine in 1920s.

In the article on the basis of the archived and other sources the process of development of school education of the Polish national minority in the South of Ukraine in 1920s is examined. The historical places of Polish population’s location are outlined in the South region; specially well-educated public authorities,which are the task of organization of educational work  among national minorities are described. Reasons and terms of input of new national politics are defined; normatively-legal acts are analysed on the basis of that the new system of education is created. The process of activity organization of educational establishments  for the Polish population is shown. The positive and negative aspects of their activity are determined. As a result of the conducted analysis, we concluded, that the Polish population in two ways and ambiguously behaved to the accrued educational establishments. From one side, networking of national schools with Polish studies had an important value for maintenance of their originality and identity, and from other, wide anti-religious propaganda and planting of communist ideology pushed away the Polish population from the Soviet national schools. Moreover, the badly developed network of Polish schools of the high level, weak material and technical base of studies and absence of skilled Polish teachers, influenced negatively on the quality of studies at the national Polish schools.Key words: the Polish national minority, the South of Ukraine, national school, reorganization, indigenization

Desperately Seeking Selznick: Cooptation and the Dark Side of Public Management in Networks

Most literature on public-sector networks focuses on how to build and manage systems and ignores the political problems that networks can create for organizations. This article argues that individual network nodes can work to bias the organization's actions in ways that benefit the organization's more advantaged clientele. The argument is supported by an analysis of performance data from 500 organizations over a five-year period. A classic theoretical point is supported in a systematic empirical investigation. While networks can greatly benefit the organization, they have a dark side that managers and scholars need to consider more seriously

STS in management education: connecting theory and practice

This paper explores the value of science and technology studies (STS) to management education. The work draws on an ethnographic study of second year management undergraduates studying decision making. The nature and delivery of the decision making module is outlined and the value of STS is demonstrated in terms of both teaching method and module content. Three particular STS contributions are identified and described: the social construction of technological systems; actor network theory; and ontological politics. Affordances and sensibilities are identified for each contribution and a discussion is developed that illustrates how these versions of STS are put to use in management education. It is concluded that STS has a pivotal role to play in critical management (education) and in the process offers opportunities for new forms of managin

Spatial Theorizing in Comparative and International Education Research

The authors argue for a critical spatial perspective in comparative and international education. We briefly summarize how time and space have been conceptualized within our field. We then review mainstream social science literature that reflects a metanarrative, which we critique for contributing to false dichotomies between space and place and oversimplified views of the relationship between the global and the local. We present some of the key ideas associated with the “spatial turn,” including a relational understanding and productive capacity of space. In the final part of this article, we analyze the significance of new spatial theorizing for comparative and international education by reviewing examples of both comparative and educational researchers who are engaging with critical spatial theorizing. We argue that a possible way to confront binary thinking about space and place is by shifting attention to the relational conceptions of space, through analyses of networks, connections, and flows.Fil: Larsen, Marianne A.. No especifica;Fil: Beech, Jason. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Locating Local Education Funds: A Conceptual Framework for Describing LEFs' Contribution to Public Education

With support and leadership from the Public Education Network (PEN), local education funds (LEFs) have worked for two decades to 1) educate and mobilize their communities so that citizen voices are influential in education policy discussions; and 2) support effective partnerships between school district insiders and outsiders to improve the quality of children's education. However, as Useem's study of local education funds points out, it has been difficult to identify the many roles that LEFs play in their communities, the work that they undertake, the obstacles that they encounter, and the contributions that they make. Useem also suggests why the work of LEFs defies simple description. As brokers, LEFs work behind the scenes and in partnership with others, which contributes to their invisibility as catalysts and supporters of educational improvement. LEFs also are highly adaptive organizations that typically customize their change strategies to particular communities. Such attention to local context results in tremendous variation in the organization, work, and accomplishments of LEFs. At the same time, the highly individual nature of each LEF often obscures the overarching values, purposes, and goals that these organizations share, thus obscuring a collective identity.As they mark 20 years of work in public education, LEF and PEN leaders are prescient in their insistence on further research into the role and accomplishments of local education funds in shaping the landscape of public schooling. In August 2003, at the request of PEN, Research for Action (RFA) began work on developing a conceptual framework for: 1) understanding the role and work of LEFs and the many factors that influence what they do and how they do it; and 2) assessing their contributions to public education.This framework will be used to guide future empirical research on LEFs and to develop tools that LEFs themselves can use in a process of self-assessment. Continued research and assessment will provide public education stakeholders with credible evidence and a deeper understanding about how LEFs carry out their missions and demonstrate successes. At the same time, it will provide firm ground for LEF and PEN leaders to chart the next generation of work. This report was prepared for Public Education Network by Research for Action

Tangled Web of Associational Life: Urban Governance and the Politics of Popular Livelihoods in Nigeria

Drawing on case studies of informal enterprise associations in Christian and Muslim parts of Nigeria, this paper explores the differing ways in which networks of ethnicity, class and religion are used to forge links between dynamic informal organizational systems and formal institutions of government

Toward a Vision of Sexual and Economic Justice

This report is based on the Virginia C. Gildersleeve Lecture and colloquium at Barnard College, with keynote speakers Josephine Ho and Naomi Klein. The participants in the colloquium have all made significant contributions to our understandings of global justice as activists, artists, and scholars who have explored the meanings of economic justice and sexual justice and have worked to build links between these spheres. The aim of the workshop was to articulate connections between struggles for sexual justice and economic justice and to develop new visions of how different people and movements might come together in their efforts to create justice. This report provides a synthesis of the short thought papers the participants developed in preparation for the colloquium and their conversations during the worksho