Knowing and doing vocational education and training reform: evidence, learning and the policy process

Much of VET policy internationally draws on a toolkit that has been seriously questioned for its logic, international relevance and effectiveness by considerable amounts of academic research. Reflecting primarily on our experiences of leading a complex, multi-country policy study, we develop an account that seeks to explore ways in which the apparent incommensurability between academic and policy knowledge can be addressed. This leads on to a broader discussion of key issues of contestation in the debates about knowledge for policy as they relate to international education and development more generally. We consider three key turns in the discourse of international education policy and research: to "governing by numbers", "what works" and policy learning, and ask what happens when these discursive trends travel to Southern and VET contexts. We suggest that this analysis implies that policymakers need both to be more modest and reflexive in their expectations of what knowledge can be mobilised for policy purposes and more serious in their commitment to supporting the generation of the types of knowledge that they claim to value. For international and comparative educators, we stress the importance of being clearer in seeking to shape research agendas; more rigorous in our approaches to research; and better in our external communication of our findings. Given the particular focus of this special issue on VET, we end by reiterating the particular challenge of reawakening research on VET-for-development from twenty years of slumbers

Making different equal : social practices of policy-making and the National Qualifications Framework in South Africa between 1985 and 2003

This study explores the making of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in\ud South Africa between 1985 and 2003 and asks how a policy which represented a\ud national consensus on transforming education and training failed to become\ud hegemonic when the new state established itself.\ud Informed by involvement in these events, the thesis draws on data gathered from\ud documents and interviews with over 70 participants engaged in making the NQF.\ud Using a conceptual vocabulary derived from Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory\ud the study undertakes an analysis of the way social antagonisms were constructed and\ud political frontiers drawn. Through this taxonomy it seeks to explain how discourses\ud associated with the NQF were constructed, contested and changed. Working with\ud policy-makers' own accounts of their experiences the study explores the interrelationships\ud between policy discourses, policy-makers' subjectivities and the nature\ud of their agency.\ud The thesis argues that the emergence and development of the NQF can be explained\ud in relation to shifting hegemonic practices that sought to organise social relations in\ud the field of education and training. The NQF is portrayed as a feature of the political\ud transition, linked to practices concerned with securing a democratic market economy,\ud and suturing the social dislocation brought about by the end of apartheid. The analysis\ud runs that there has been a failure to maintain hegemony and that a rupture has\ud occurred along a fault line within the South African state between practices building a\ud corporatist state and those constructing a strong developmental state. In the process\ud policy-makers have negotiated subjectivities within complex and shifting discursive\ud networks

Gender equity in African higher education

This article explores women's participation in higher education, utilizing statistical data for Equity Scorecards, and life history interviews with students in two public and two private universities. It focuses on how gender and socioeconomic status intersect and constrain or facilitate participation in higher education. Findings to date suggest that opportunity structures reflect social inequalities

Democratising Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: Opportunity structures and social processes

Widening participation in higher education can be a force for democratisation and differentiation. In the developing world, there has been scant research and theorisation of how different structures of inequality intersect or how higher education relates to policy discourses of poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals. Socio-cultural theory has not been widely applied to research on higher education in low-income countries, nor has there been consideration of the part that private higher education plays in widening participation. In short, there has been limited scholarship on the sociology of higher education in low-income countries. This paper is based on our ESRC/DFID funded research project on Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: Developing an Equity Scorecard (www.sussex.ac.uk/education/wideningparticipation). Findings to date suggest that opportunity structures reflect social inequalities

Democratising higher education in Ghana and Tanzania: Opportunity structures and social inequalities

This article is based on an ESRC/DFID funded research project on Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: Developing an Equity Scorecard (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/education/wideningparticipation). There are questions about whether widening participation in higher education is a force for democratisation or differentiation. While participation rates are increasing globally, there has been scant research or socio-cultural theorisation of how different structures of inequality intersect in the developing world. Questions also need to be posed about how higher education relates to policy discourses of poverty reduction and the Millennium Development Goals. The article explores participation in higher education, utilising statistical data and life history interviews with students in two public and two private universities. It focuses on how gender and socio-economic status intersect and constrain or facilitate participation in higher education. Findings to date suggest that opportunity structures reflect social inequalities

Mapping Meritocracy: Intersecting Gender, Poverty and Higher Educational Opportunity Structures

Widening participation in higher education can be a force for democratization. It can also map on to elite practices and contribute to further differentiation of social groups. Those with social capital are often able to decode and access new educational opportunities. Those without it can remain untouched by initiatives to facilitate their entry into the privileges that higher education can offer. This article is based on our ESRC/DFID-funded research project on Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania: Developing an Equity Scorecard (www.sussex.ac.uk/education/wideningparticipation). Meritocratic discourse infers that individual achievement is the most important principle determining access and success in higher education. The project is statistically and discursively deconstructing merit. We are mapping meritocracy in order to identify if the most marginalized communities are being included in the widening participation agenda. In this article, we demonstrate how current opportunity structures reflect traditional beliefs about meritocracy and reproduce privilege and exclusion. We argue that when gender is intersected with socio-economic status, participation rates of poorer women are seen to be extremely low in both African countries

ALL STARS FAVOURITES : N °2

Titre uniforme : [Lisboa antiga]Titre uniforme : [Sixteen tons]Titre uniforme : [Laura]Titre uniforme : [Lisboa antigua = Adieu Lisbonne]Titre uniforme : [Hey, Mr Banjo !]Titre uniforme : [Memories are made of this]Titre uniforme : [Laura]Titre uniforme : [The ballad of Davy Crockett]Titre uniforme : [Abdullah the great]. Extr.Comprend : HERNANDO'S HIDEAWAY ("Amour, castagnettes et tango") extrait de "Pajama Game" / ADLER et J. ROSS ; Johnnie RAY avec Joe REISMAN and his Orchestra - SAILOR BOYS HAVE TALK TO ME IN ENGLISH : de "Ziegfield Follies" / HILLIARD et DeLUGG ; Rosemary CLOONEY avec Jimmy CARROLL and his Orchestra - LISBOA ANTIGUA ("In old Lisbon") / GALHARDO - A. do VALE - PORTELA et DUPREE ; Mitch MILLER and his Orchestra and chorus - BALLAD OF DAVY CROCKETT : du film du même titre / BLACKBURN et BRUNS ; Fess PARKER - PLEDGING MY LOVE / WASHINGTON et ROBEY ; THE FOUR LADS - RAINFALL / HEYWOOD ; Percy FAITH and his Orchestra - I WANT YOU TO BE MY BABY / HENDRICKS ; Lilian BRIGGS avec O.B. MASINGILL and his orchestra - SKIDDLES / FELLER ; George LIBERACE and his Orchestra - IF HEARTS COULD TALK ("Tu peux chercher") du film "Abdullah le Grand" / AURIC - TWOMEY et WISE ; Percy FAITH and his Orchestra - SIXTEEN TONS / TRAVIS ; Frankie LAINE avec Buddy Cole and his orchestra - ARRIVEDERCI, DARLING ("Arrivederci, Roma") / GARINER - GIOVANNI - RASCEL et FISHMAN ; Jo STAFFORD, avec Paul WESTON and his Orchestra - HEY, Mr BANJO / MORGAN et MALKIN ; Frankie YANKOVIC and his Yanks - STRANGER IN PARADISE / BORODINE - arr. de WRIGHT et FORREST ; Tony BENNETT avec Percy FAITH and his orchestra - MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS / GILKYSON - DEHR et MILLER ; Mindy GARSON avec Ray CONNIFF'S Orchestra - THE WHITE SWAN ("Le cygne") / Guy LUYPAERTS ; Morton GOULD et les Rochester Pops - LAURA / MERCER et RAKSIN ; Frank SINATRA avec Axel STORDAHL and his orhestraBnF-Partenariats, Collection sonore - BelieveContient une table des matière