In a context of rapid economic growth, skills development systems have become increasingly important to countries in Southeast Asia in response to skills gaps generated by changing labour-market conditions. Countries in the region have no alternative but to invest in the development and maintenance of these systems. This paper asserts that in doing so they should recognise the importance of adopting a definition of skills that encompasses cognitive and soft skills as well as technical skills, they should regard as being essential to the development of effective labour market information systems, and they should adopt and institutional frameworks that are adequate to the task of managing complex and effective national skills development systems.
{"title":"Skills Development: A Review with Reference to Southeast Asia","authors":"J. Parry, M. Hayden","doi":"10.14425/00.87.94","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.87.94","url":null,"abstract":"In a context of rapid economic growth, skills development systems have become increasingly important to countries in Southeast Asia in response to skills gaps generated by changing labour-market conditions. Countries in the region have no alternative but to invest in the development and maintenance of these systems. This paper asserts that in doing so they should recognise the importance of adopting a definition of skills that encompasses cognitive and soft skills as well as technical skills, they should regard as being essential to the development of effective labour market information systems, and they should adopt and institutional frameworks that are adequate to the task of managing complex and effective national skills development systems.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Book ReviewLiteracy and Language in East Asia: Shifting Meanings, Values and Approaches. By Marilyn Kell and Peter Kell (Eds.) (2014), 165pp. ISBN: 978-981-4451-29-1, Singapore and New York: Springer.
{"title":"Literacy and Language in East Asia: Shifting Meanings, Values and Approaches","authors":"M. Samuel","doi":"10.14425/00.87.99","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.87.99","url":null,"abstract":"Book ReviewLiteracy and Language in East Asia: Shifting Meanings, Values and Approaches. By Marilyn Kell and Peter Kell (Eds.) (2014), 165pp. ISBN: 978-981-4451-29-1, Singapore and New York: Springer.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66973162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the millennium leading up to its days of glory and regional leadership under the iconic Angkor empire, and even in the centuries of dependence since, Cambodia has often benefited significantly from the influence of its patrons, starting with traders from India who sailed up the Mekong at the beginning of a magnificent water transport system including an inland sea. Most recently such benefits have been from global and multilateral sources. Equally, due to its pivotal strategic location at the centre of the South-East corner of Asia, Cambodia has also suffered, at times enormously, from the competing influences of a plethora of well-intentioned but radically different influences: religious, cultural, linguistic, imperial, political, ideological and educational. This article will review the educational system of Cambodia and the issues that come with achieving political and now psychological freedom from dependence on foreign dominance and tutelage.
{"title":"Cambodia: From Dependency to Sovereignty – Emerging National Leadership (doi: 10.14425/00.87.95)","authors":"Vin Mcnamara, I. Consultant","doi":"10.14425/00.87.95","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.87.95","url":null,"abstract":"In the millennium leading up to its days of glory and regional leadership under the iconic Angkor empire, and even in the centuries of dependence since, Cambodia has often benefited significantly from the influence of its patrons, starting with traders from India who sailed up the Mekong at the beginning of a magnificent water transport system including an inland sea. Most recently such benefits have been from global and multilateral sources. Equally, due to its pivotal strategic location at the centre of the South-East corner of Asia, Cambodia has also suffered, at times enormously, from the competing influences of a plethora of well-intentioned but radically different influences: religious, cultural, linguistic, imperial, political, ideological and educational. This article will review the educational system of Cambodia and the issues that come with achieving political and now psychological freedom from dependence on foreign dominance and tutelage.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Higher education in Latin America has deep roots back to the Spanish colonisation in the Hispanic countries. In Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, this sector did not emerge until the nineteenth century and in the Anglophone Caribbean, not until the twentieth. Now in the twenty-first century throughout the region it is subject to the global reach of the neoliberal era with marketisation, quality assurance and international rankings playing very strong roles. The number of private higher education institutions has increased dramatically with problems attached for quality, which is extremely variable. New types of institution have emerged, for example the community colleges in the Anglophone Caribbean offering the first few years of undergraduate study even in small island nations. At the top of the scale there are still quality institutions, but they are locked into the global convention and competition of the international rankings and league tables. So the overall picture is of a higher education sector of unusual variety and variability.
{"title":"Global Issues of Higher Education with Special Reference to Latin America and the Caribbean","authors":"Francisco López Segrera","doi":"10.14425/00.76.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.76.06","url":null,"abstract":"Higher education in Latin America has deep roots back to the Spanish colonisation in the Hispanic countries. In Brazil, a former Portuguese colony, this sector did not emerge until the nineteenth century and in the Anglophone Caribbean, not until the twentieth. Now in the twenty-first century throughout the region it is subject to the global reach of the neoliberal era with marketisation, quality assurance and international rankings playing very strong roles. The number of private higher education institutions has increased dramatically with problems attached for quality, which is extremely variable. New types of institution have emerged, for example the community colleges in the Anglophone Caribbean offering the first few years of undergraduate study even in small island nations. At the top of the scale there are still quality institutions, but they are locked into the global convention and competition of the international rankings and league tables. So the overall picture is of a higher education sector of unusual variety and variability.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Book ReviewMeasuring Quality of Undergraduate Education in Japan By Reiko Yamada (Ed.) (2014), 214pp. ISBN: 978-981-4585-80-4 (print), Singapore: Springer.
{"title":"Measuring Quality of Undergraduate Education in Japan","authors":"Robert W. Aspinall","doi":"10.14425/00.76.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.76.04","url":null,"abstract":"Book ReviewMeasuring Quality of Undergraduate Education in Japan By Reiko Yamada (Ed.) (2014), 214pp. ISBN: 978-981-4585-80-4 (print), Singapore: Springer.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research suggests that cooperative interactions are associated with enhanced cognitive and affective outcomes. This paper describes eight principles that can be used to promote such interactions among students working in online environments. The principles derive from a well-established approach to education, known variously as cooperative learning and collaborative learning. Each principle is explained as to what it means, why it is important and how it can be deployed. The eight principles are heterogeneous grouping, teaching collaborative skills, group autonomy, maximum peer interactions, equal opportunity to participate, individual accountability, positive interdependence and cooperation as a value.
{"title":"Cooperative Learning Principles Enhance Online Interaction","authors":"G. Jacobs, P. Seow","doi":"10.14425/00.76.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.76.07","url":null,"abstract":"Research suggests that cooperative interactions are associated with enhanced cognitive and affective outcomes. This paper describes eight principles that can be used to promote such interactions among students working in online environments. The principles derive from a well-established approach to education, known variously as cooperative learning and collaborative learning. Each principle is explained as to what it means, why it is important and how it can be deployed. The eight principles are heterogeneous grouping, teaching collaborative skills, group autonomy, maximum peer interactions, equal opportunity to participate, individual accountability, positive interdependence and cooperation as a value.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972747","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Universities in some developing countries are undergoing reforms over the recent decades so that they become research-based institutions. It has been stressed that research is of paramount importance for enhancing the economy of a country and for societies to become knowledge-based. However some of these concepts and challenges faced by these universities are hardly explored. Relying on the analysis of qualitative interviews and document analysis, this paper examines how the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has taken numerous initiatives to boost the research capacity of universities in Pakistan. Even then, numerous challenge remains in the attempt to enhance research quality. Funding and its effective use, academic freedom, and value of research in the society emerged as major impediments to research development at the universities. Critical voices from the university faculty are rarely taken into account by those responsible for higher education bodies, therefore many of such challenges persist till date. The article proposes solutions for overcoming some of these challenges and situates the experience of Pakistani universities within the broader experiences of universities world-wide.
{"title":"Impediments to Enhancing Research within Universities in Developing Context: The Case of Pakistani Universities (doi: 10.14425/00.76.05)","authors":"Marodsilton Muborakshoeva, London","doi":"10.14425/00.76.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.76.05","url":null,"abstract":"Universities in some developing countries are undergoing reforms over the recent decades so that they become research-based institutions. It has been stressed that research is of paramount importance for enhancing the economy of a country and for societies to become knowledge-based. However some of these concepts and challenges faced by these universities are hardly explored. Relying on the analysis of qualitative interviews and document analysis, this paper examines how the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has taken numerous initiatives to boost the research capacity of universities in Pakistan. Even then, numerous challenge remains in the attempt to enhance research quality. Funding and its effective use, academic freedom, and value of research in the society emerged as major impediments to research development at the universities. Critical voices from the university faculty are rarely taken into account by those responsible for higher education bodies, therefore many of such challenges persist till date. The article proposes solutions for overcoming some of these challenges and situates the experience of Pakistani universities within the broader experiences of universities world-wide.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Statistics indicate that demographically, Singapore's minority Malay community, unlike the other ethnic groups in the small multicultural, multi-religious island-state, has yet to 'mature' and contribute fully to the country's economy. A subsequent argument is thus made on the need to ensure that learners from the community be developed in the best possible way so as to maximise their potential capacity and thus value-add to the nation's growth. A discussion on the various issues affecting Malay educational attainment is made as preface to the ensuing review of past programmes undertaken by local Malay organisations to improve the situation. The article will conclude by proposing further approaches to collectively raise the educational attainment of the ethnic group.
{"title":"Evaluating the work of Singapore’s Malay-based Organisations in Raising the Educational Attainment of the Ethnic Community: A Continuing Analysis (doi: 10.14425/00.76.08)","authors":"Sham Juhari","doi":"10.14425/00.76.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.76.08","url":null,"abstract":"Statistics indicate that demographically, Singapore's minority Malay community, unlike the other ethnic groups in the small multicultural, multi-religious island-state, has yet to 'mature' and contribute fully to the country's economy. A subsequent argument is thus made on the need to ensure that learners from the community be developed in the best possible way so as to maximise their potential capacity and thus value-add to the nation's growth. A discussion on the various issues affecting Malay educational attainment is made as preface to the ensuing review of past programmes undertaken by local Malay organisations to improve the situation. The article will conclude by proposing further approaches to collectively raise the educational attainment of the ethnic group.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2015-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Race and class are two of the most significant factors associated with educational inequality within and across societies. However, their definitions and significance vary over time, and from one place to another. As subjective factors related to identity, they also impact on one another in their effects on educational access and equity. These issues create challenges for conducting comparative educational research that effectively explores one or both of these factors. This essay examines challenges employing race and class in comparative educational research. Race and class are analysed separately, illustrating that ethical and political issues, not just conceptual miscommunications, are at stake in defining and using these categories. The geographical and political complexity of using race and class are also reflected on more generally, and the argument is put forward that analytic and self-reflexive understanding of diversity is needed for the development of fruitful understanding of the relationship between race and class and educational equity and justice.
{"title":"The Challenge of Comparing Fluid Categories: Race and Class in Educational Research","authors":"L. Jackson","doi":"10.14425/00.73.60","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.73.60","url":null,"abstract":"Race and class are two of the most significant factors associated with educational inequality within and across societies. However, their definitions and significance vary over time, and from one place to another. As subjective factors related to identity, they also impact on one another in their effects on educational access and equity. These issues create challenges for conducting comparative educational research that effectively explores one or both of these factors. This essay examines challenges employing race and class in comparative educational research. Race and class are analysed separately, illustrating that ethical and political issues, not just conceptual miscommunications, are at stake in defining and using these categories. The geographical and political complexity of using race and class are also reflected on more generally, and the argument is put forward that analytic and self-reflexive understanding of diversity is needed for the development of fruitful understanding of the relationship between race and class and educational equity and justice.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972358","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy in South Africa is based on a narrow set of assumptions regarding the identity of learners and the reasons that they are in public further education and training (FET) colleges. These assumptions reflect an international orthodoxy about the centrality of employability that is located within what Giddens (1994) has described as 'productivism', a view that reduces life to the economic sphere. Through exploring the stories of a group of South African public FET college learners' regarding their reasons for choosing FET colleges, this paper shows that VET is valued by these students for a range of reasons. These include preparation for the world of work, but also a desire to improve their ability to contribute to their communities and families; raise their self-esteem; and expand their future life possibilities. Thus, the paper advances the largely hitherto theoretical critique of productivist VET accounts by offering empirical evidence of counter-narratives.
{"title":"Advancing Life Projects: South African Students Explain Why They Come to FET Colleges","authors":"L. Powell, S. McGrath","doi":"10.14425/00.73.63","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14425/00.73.63","url":null,"abstract":"Vocational Education and Training (VET) policy in South Africa is based on a narrow set of assumptions regarding the identity of learners and the reasons that they are in public further education and training (FET) colleges. These assumptions reflect an international orthodoxy about the centrality of employability that is located within what Giddens (1994) has described as 'productivism', a view that reduces life to the economic sphere. Through exploring the stories of a group of South African public FET college learners' regarding their reasons for choosing FET colleges, this paper shows that VET is valued by these students for a range of reasons. These include preparation for the world of work, but also a desire to improve their ability to contribute to their communities and families; raise their self-esteem; and expand their future life possibilities. Thus, the paper advances the largely hitherto theoretical critique of productivist VET accounts by offering empirical evidence of counter-narratives.","PeriodicalId":42500,"journal":{"name":"Journal of International and Comparative Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.9,"publicationDate":"2014-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"66972462","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}