Avoiding fake degrees from diploma mills: Recommendations for educators and academic administrators

Earning a college degree is generally considered to be the key to successful career pathways, a means for social mobility, and one of the only ways to remain competitive in the international marketplace of the 21st century. In the Seventh-day Adventist Church, many employees—including teachers and academic administrators—pursue additional credentialing to enhance their professional skills and to advance in their careers. However, in recent years, ethical questions have arisen related to various individuals’ academic integrity and the quality and legitimacy of academic degrees and other types of credentialing certain individuals have pursued. The purpose of this article is to address the issue of degree fraud, share the biblical basis regarding integrity as it relates to such situations, present ways to identify reputable colleges and accredited degree programs, and inform administrators and teachers, so they can better advise students about how to avoid enrolling in non-reputable institutions and programs

United States accreditation in higher education: does it dilute academic freedom?

US higher education accreditation agencies provide exter-nal quality evaluation for institutions and programmes todeliver quality control and assurance. Although there isample discussion about the benefits and drawbacks of theaccreditation process, this article reviews the academic lit-erature to consider the impact that accreditation mighthave on the academic freedom of the teaching staff.Specifically, this article centres on how standardisation,assessments and the fundamental elements of accreditationaffect academic freedom in higher education and howthese might dilute academic freedom

Restoring Hope for Syrian Refugees: Social Support Students Need to Excel at School

This qualitative, phenomenological case study was designed to elicit Syrian refugee students’ perceptions regarding the individuals who provide them with the social support needed for academic success. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 male Syrian eighth graders at a public middle school in Lebanon. House\u27s social support framework guided this study and served as the theoretical lens through which data were collected and analysed. Findings from this study revealed teachers, supervisors, and administrators as expected major providers of the social supports that Syrian refugee students need to excel in their studies. However, when students do not find support where they might expect it to be, they adopt coping strategies such as independence, perseverance, self-efficacy, and peer-teaching. These findings are of primary importance to school administrators, humanitarian aid agencies, and policymakers. The article concludes with recommendations for practice and future research

Teachers’ understandings of the social and professional support needed to implement change in Qatar

Currently, Qatar is implementing an educational reform to enhance teaching and learning in public and private schools. The Qatar National School Accreditation significantly impacted Qatar\u27s private schools, requiring teachers to implement various mandated educational changes. Using House (1981) types of social support, this qualitative, phenomenological study was designed to explore teachers\u27 understandings regarding the social and professional support they need to implement educational change at an international school in Qatar. To help teachers engage in change, findings revealed that educational leaders need to heed teacher wellbeing during educational reform, educational change should be contextualized and tailored to the needs of teachers, and support should be offered to reduce teachers\u27 stress and facilitate the change process. Recommendations for educational leaders trying to help teachers implement mandated educational change are provided in light of the derived findings

Regional intergovernmental organizations in the global south: Emerging education policy nodes between the global and the national

Regional Intergovernmental Organizations (RIGOs) play unclear roles in education policy making and transfer. Much comparative education scholarship on the topic focuses on exploring the interplay between global and local/national actors in education policy, overlooking regional dimensions. To deepen our understanding, we analyzed the strategic plans of four RIGOs in Africa, the Arab and Islamic worlds, and Southeast Asia. Qualitative policy analysis is employed to reveal the roles RIGOs aspire to play in educational development. Of the what, how, and why dimensions of policy, this study focuses on the last two, as they reveal the rationales the RIGOs provided to justify their organizational positioning, their strategies to contribute to education policy, and their mediations with the national and the global. Our analysis has showed that RIGOs position themselves as significant actors in educational development in their respective regions, playing several complementary and sometimes conflicting roles. Analysis via institutional theory of the interplay of national, regional, and global contexts has revealed organizational isomorphism, decoupling between policy and practice, expansive structuration, otherhood engagements, and scientization and rationalization of organizational work. The RIGOs view themselves as elaborators of global models and, simultaneously, promoters of regionalism. Implications for education policy and research are identified

Intersections of Literacy and Teaching With the Disciplines and Professions: We Asked Some Experts

© 2019 International Literacy Association A project to invite experts in various disciplines to converse with literacy professors and teachers with over 30 participants resulted in several insights about disciplinary literacy and student learning in the disciplines and professions. The authors suggest that such conversations or partnerships strengthen student learning for college, career, and civic life. The authors differentiate between professions and disciplines, highlighting how informed citizenship is an important outcome of teaching the literacies of the disciplines. The authors explore the purposes of communication within and between the disciplines. Insights and recommendations are presented