An Asia-Pacific Model of Development Cooperation

Part One of the Osaka Action Agenda has clarified the implications of the basic political commitment to free and open trade and investment in the Bogor Declaration and has set out operational guiding principles and a well-developed strategy of implementation. This paper seeks to build on the broad concepts set in Part Two of Osaka Agenda to clarify the implications of the shared commitment of APEC leaders to development cooperation. From the concepts put forward by the APEC Eminent Person Group and the proposal of Partners for Progress, precise objective, guiding principles and priorities can be set out for the implementation of a realistic and balanced strategy for development cooperation.trade sector, investment, APEC

An Asia-Pacific Model of Development Cooperation

Part One of the Osaka Action Agenda has clarified the implications of the basic political commitment to free and open trade and investment in the Bogor Declaration and has set out operational guiding principles and a well-developed strategy of implementation. This paper seeks to build on the broad concepts set in Part Two of Osaka Agenda to clarify the implications of the shared commitment of APEC leaders to development cooperation. From the concepts put forward by the APEC Eminent Person Group and the proposal of Partners for Progress, precise objective, guiding principles and priorities can be set out for the implementation of a realistic and balanced strategy for development cooperation.trade sector, investment, APEC

The medicalization of current educational research and its effects on education policy and school reforms

Este artículo parte del supuesto de la aparición de una cultura pedagogizada durante los últimos 200 años, según la cual los problemas sociales percibidos se traducen en desafíos educativos. En consecuencia, tanto la investigación como las instituciones educativas crecieron, y una política educativa surgió como resultado de las negociaciones entre los profesionales, los investigadores y los responsables políticos. El documento mantiene que algunas experiencias específicas ocurridas durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, provocaron un cambio fundamental en el papel social y cultural de los círculos académicos, que condujo a una cultura tecnocrática caracterizada por una mayor confianza mostrada hacia los expertos en lugar de a la práctica profesional (es decir, los maestros y administradores). Bajo este cambio tecnocrático, en primer lugar surgió un sistema tecnológico de razonamiento, que luego fue sustituido por un “paradigma” médico. El nuevo paradigma condujo a una medicalización de la investigación social, en el cual se da por sentado un particular entendimiento organicista de la realidad social, y su investigación se realiza bajo las más discutibles premisas. El resultado es que pese a la creciente importancia de la investigación en general, este cambio expertocrático y médico de la investigación social dio lugar a una reducción drástica de las oportunidades reformistas al privar a las partes interesadas de una amplia gama de investigación educativa, experiencia profesional, sentido común, y debate político.This paper starts from the assumption of the emergence of an educationalized culture over the last 200 years according to which perceived social problems are translated into educational challenges. As a result, both educational institutions and educational research grew, and educational policy resulted from negotiations between professionals, researchers, and policy makers. The paper argues that specific experiences in the Second World War triggered a fundamental shift in the social and cultural role of academia, leading up to a technocratic culture characterized by confidence in experts rather than in practicing professionals (i.e., teachers and administrators). In this technocratic shift, first a technological system of reasoning emerged, and it was then replaced by a medical “paradigm.” The new paradigm led to a medicalization of social research, in which a particular organistic understanding of the social reality is taken for granted and research is conducted under the mostly undiscussed premises of this particular understanding. The result is that despite the increased importance of research in general, this expertocratic and medical shift of social research led to a massive reduction in reform opportunities by depriving the reform stakeholders of abroad range of education research, professional experience, common sense, and political deliberation.Grupo FORCE (HUM-386). Departamento de Didáctica y Organización Escolar de la Universidad de Granad

Understanding mobility characteristics and needs of older persons in urban Pakistan with respect to use of public transport and self-driving

Since 1990, Pakistan's demographic transition has been increasing life spans with a steady rise in the number of older persons. Pakistan faces many challenges in caring for its older population. The proportion of the population aged 60 years and above is estimated to increase from 5.8% in 2000 to 12.4% in 2050. A study was conducted to understand the existing mobility characteristics of the elderly, their perceived needs and constraining factors. Data was collected using convenient sampling from 450 people aged 60 years or older in nine towns within Lahore City. Older people were approached around urban facilities (shops, banks, terminals) and asked to respond to survey questions. Within-residence interviews were also conducted, mainly for those women who declined interviews in public places. Descriptive and comparative analyses were performed, including Pearson's chi squared test for independence. The results are discussed in terms of mode choice, public transport preferences, self-driving issues and the relative benefits of formal and informal public transport options. The study found lower levels of weekly trip-making compared to those reported for older people in China, South Korea and USA. Vehicle ownership (mainly carsand motorcycles) and socio-demographic factors were found to significantly affect trip making. There were large gender differences in trip making and vehicle ownership, suggesting further research and policy action targeting the mobility needs of elderly women. Older persons were concerned about safety issues concerning public transport and self-driving, and also the behavior of transport crews, and this has informed several of the concluding policy recommendations

Comparing and learning from English and American higher education access and completion policies

England and the United States provide a very interesting pairing as countries with many similarities, but also instructive dissimilarities, with respect to their policies for higher education access and success. We focus on five key policy strands: student information provision; outreach from higher education institutions; student financial aid; affirmative action or contextualisation in higher education admissions; and programmes to improve higher education retention and completion. At the end, we draw conclusions on what England and the US can learn from each other. The US would benefit from following England in using Access and Participation Plans to govern university outreach efforts, making more use of income-contingent loans, and expanding the range of information provided to prospective higher education students. Meanwhile, England would benefit from following the US in making greater use of grant aid to students, devoting more policy attention to educational decisions students are making in early secondary school, and expanding its use of contextualised admissions. While we focus on England and the US, we think that the policy recommendations we make carry wider applicability. Many other countries with somewhat similar educational structures, experiences, and challenges could learn useful lessons from the policy experiences of these two countries

Internal and external determinants of export performance: Insights from Algeria

The internationalization of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) has been the focus of numerous studies. However, while the attention has thus far been on SMEs operating in developed countries, firms evolving in a developing context, including Africa, have been largely neglected. To address this, and drawing on a dual resources‐based and network‐based view, this study simultaneously investigates the importance of internal and external resources for firms’ export performance and regularity in the context of North African SMEs. Using a sample of Algerian exporters, the study reveals the superiority of discrete resources for boosting export performance and export regularity. These findings provide directions to Algerian SME managers and policymakers as to important factors driving the internationalization process in the developing Algerian context

Family literacy practices and home literacy resources: An Australian pilot study

The combined impact of social class, cultural background and experience upon early literacy achievement in the first year of schooling is among the most durable questions in educational research. Links have been established between social class and achievement but literacy involves complex social and cognitive practices that are not necessarily reflected in the connections that have been made. The complexity of relationships between social class, cultural background and experience, and their impact on early literacy achievement have received little research attention. Recent refinements of the broad terms of social class or socioeconomic status have questioned the established links between social class and achievement. Nevertheless, it remains difficult to move beyond deficit and mismatch models of explaining and understanding the underperformance of children from lower socioeconomic and cultural minority groups when conventional measures are used. The data from an Australian pilot study reported here add to the increasing evidence that income is not necessarily related directly to home literacy resources or to how those resources are used. Further, the data show that the level of print resources in the home may not be a good indicator of the level of use of those resources