The curricular content of primary education in developing countries

This paper examines the curriculum policies for primary schools in a wide range of developing countries in the 1980s and, to a lesser extent, the 1960s. The research covers what subjects are taught, what percentage of instructional time is allocated to each subject, and how much instructional time is available overall in primary education. The results indicate that there is little international debate about primary school curricula. The curricula of mass education systems are increasingly alike all over the world, with surprisingly little regional and national variation. Almost all national educational systems emphasize certain core subjects: language (35%), math (18%), science (8%), and social science (9%).Curriculum&Instruction,Teaching and Learning,Primary Education,Gender and Education,ICT Policy and Strategies

Curricular content, educational expansion, and economic growth

The author explains whether national variations in curricula content and subject area - as distinct from growth in enrollment or qualitative provisions - have a significant impact on economic development. The study focuses on primary education in 60 nations and assesses the economic impact of an emphasis on eight different primary level subject areas, with special attention to mathematics and science. The author found that the curricular content of mass education is directly related to national economic growth. This relationship, however, is not consistent across all subject areas and all types of countries. Countries requiring more hours of elementary science education generally experienced more rapid increases in their standards of living between 1960 and 1985. Whether science education at the primary level is the key casual factor and whether the explicit content of the subject area is the key mechanism remain unclear. The design, reform, and study of national school curricula are increasingly visible in political and scholarly agendas. The economic consequences of emphasizing different subject areas should not be the sole criterion for decision making in designing curricula. However, these consequences can provide one useful element for promoting more informed discussion among parents, school administrators, national and international planners, and educational researchers.Curriculum&Instruction,Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Primary Education

Can we meet the sustainability challenges? The role of education and lifelong learning

Education and lifelong learning are increasingly being mobilised to address the global environmental crisis and accompanying sustainability challenges. This article discusses the many roles of education about and for sustainable development, drawing on evidence and arguments put forward in the 2016 Global Education Monitoring Report, Education for People and Planet. It highlights specific viewpoints, values and ways of thinking that best characterize effective learning for sustainability. It also emphasises the importance of a 'whole school' or 'whole institutional' approach to education for sustainability.</p

The diversification of secondary education: School curricula in comparative perspective

La Educación Secundaria continúa extendiéndose rápidamente a nivel mundial. Tan importante como su expansión es su diversificación. Este trabajo mantiene que, aunque se reconoce la diversificación de la Educación Secundaria, esta no ha sido bien estudiada. A pesar de la gran expansión de la Educación Secundaria en diferentes regiones del mundo, la información disponible para los investigadores –y los que diseñan las políticas– sobre una comparación informada de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria, ha sido, y continúa siendo, superficial y limitada. Este trabajo compara los elementos principales y contenidos de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria. Intenta ir más allá de la caracterización ya existente de la Educación Secundaria, informando sobre los resultados iniciales patrocinados por la Oficina Internacional de Educación (IBE) sobre estudios transnacionales de programas de nivel secundario, especialidades y currículo. Este estudio, además de estar limitado principalmente a las especialidades de perfil académico, provee una base empírica para comparar la diversificación de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria.Secondary education continues to expand rapidly worldwide. Equally important is its diversification. The present paper contends that the diversification of secondary education, while acknowledged, is not well studied. Despite the widespread expansion of secondary education in different world regions, the information available to researchers—and policy makers—for informed comparisons of secondary education systems has been, and remains, rather superficial and limited. The present paper compares the programmatic foci and contents of secondary education systems. It seeks to move beyond existing characterizations of secondary education, by reporting initial results from an IBE-sponsored, cross-national study of secondary level programs, tracks and curricula. This study, while mainly limited to academic-oriented tracks, provides an empirical basis for comparing the diversification of secondary education systems.Grupo de Investigación FORCE (Formación Centrada en la Escuela). Universidad de Granad

La diversificación en la educación secundaria. Currículos escolares desde la perspectiva comparada

La Educación Secundaria continúa extendiéndose rápidamente a nivel mundial. Tan importante como su expansión es su diversificación. Este trabajo mantiene que, aunque se reconoce la diversificación de la Educación Secundaria, esta no ha sido bien estudiada. A pesar de la gran expansión de la Educación Secundaria en diferentes regiones del mundo, la información disponible para los investigadores –y los que diseñan las políticas– sobre una comparación informada de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria, ha sido, y continúa siendo, superficial y limitada. Este trabajo compara los elementos principales y contenidos de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria. Intenta ir más allá de la caracterización ya existente de la Educación Secundaria, informando sobre los resultados iniciales patrocinados por la Oficina Internacional de Educación (IBE) sobre estudios transnacionales de programas de nivel secundario, especialidades y currículo. Este estudio, además de estar limitado principalmente a las especialidades de perfil académico, provee una base empírica para comparar la diversificación de los sistemas de Educación Secundaria

A participação dos países em desenvolvimento nas avaliações de aprendizagem, 1960-2009

This paper examines annual changes in the participation of developing countries in different kinds of learning assessments over the past three decades. It specifically highlights, and provides initial explanations for, the worldwide spread of national and regional assessments since the mid-1990s. The paper argues that national learning assessments —namely, non-standardized, context-sensitive and non-comparable learning assessments— have become a preferred tool of educational policy makers in many developing countries. The increasing demand for accountability and the relative advantages of national regional assessments, should amplify this trend in coming years, although much depends on the policies of international agencies, NGOs and regional associations that advise and financially support country participation in learning assessments.Este trabajo analiza los cambios anuales en la participación de países en vías de desarrollo en diferentes tipos de evaluaciones de aprendizaje durante las últimas tres décadas. Asimismo, este estudio pone especial énfasis y provee explicaciones iniciales sobre la expansión global de evaluaciones regionales y nacionales desde mediados de los años noventa. El trabajo sostiene que las evaluaciones nacionales de aprendizaje -tales como las evaluaciones no-estandarizadas, sensibles al contexto y no-comparables- se han convertido en la herramienta preferida de los diseñadores de políticas educativas en muchos países en vías de desarrollo. La creciente demanda de agentes educativos por mecanismos de rendición de cuentas y las ventajas relativas de las evaluaciones regionales nacionales probablemente agudizaran esta tendencia en los próximos años, aunque mucho dependerá de las políticas adoptadas por organismos internacionales, ONGs y asociaciones regionales que asesoran y financian la participación de los países en evaluaciones de aprendizaje. Este artigo analisa as mudanças anuais na participação dos países em desenvolvimento em diferentes tipos de avaliação da aprendizagem ao longo das últimas três décadas. Ele destaca especificamente, e fornece explicações iniciais para a disseminação mundial de avaliações nacionais e regionais a partir de meados da década de 1990. O artigo argumenta que as avaliações nacionais de tornaram-se uma ferramenta preferida dos formuladores de políticas educacionais em muitos países em desenvolvimento. A crescente demanda por prestação de contas e as vantagens relativas de avaliações regionais e nacionais, devem ampliar essa tendência nos próximos anos, embora muito depende das políticas dos organismos internacionais, ONGs e associações regionais que orientam e suportam financeiramente a participação dos países nas avaliações de aprendizagem

Los Rankings Académicos

El uso de factores de impacto y rankings para evaluar publicaciones, instituciones e investigadores se relaciona con cuatro movimientos: la racionalización del conocimiento experto, asumido como una característica inherente a la autoridad burocrática; la política en la  regulación y control de la educación superior, que se manifiesta en el nuevo “gerencialismo” y sus intentos de evaluar la investigación; las políticas de precios y finanzas de las editoriales académicas comerciales; y la actuación cada vez más dramática que se espera de los editores y sus revistas, aún cuando éstos se vean a sí mismos más como anfitriones de la convivencia y del pensamiento, que como empleados de línea en una fábrica de currículos

Linking learning contexts: the relationship between students’ civic and political experiences and their self-regulation in school

This paper considers the relationship between self-regulation strategies and youth civic and political experiences, assuming that out-of-school learning can foster metacognition. The study is based on a sample of 732 Portuguese students from grades 8 and 11. Results show that the quality of civic and political participation experiences, together with academic self-efficacy, are significant predictors of young people's self-regulation, particularly regarding cognitive and metacognitive strategies (elaboration and critical thinking). Such effects surpass even the weight of family cultural and school variables, such as the sense of school belonging. Therefore, we argue that the pedagogical value of non-formal civic and political experiences is related to learning in formal pedagogical contexts. This is because civic and political participation with high developmental quality can stimulate higher-order cognitive engagement and, thus, contribute to the development of learning strategies that promote academic success.CM is supported with a PhD grant by the Portuguese Foundation of Science and Technology (FCT) (SFRH/BD/92113/2012).This work was funded (in part) by National Funds through the FCT “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within the strategic project of CIIE, withtheref.“PEst-OE/CED/UI0167/2014.”info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What is evidence required for and who generates that evidence in the Finnish Educational System?

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