Pub Date : 2024-03-21DOI: 10.1177/14782103241240808
Ann-Marie Creaven
Universal Design for Learning is a pedagogical approach that aims ‘to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn’ (CAST website, n.d.). Originating in the context of K12 education in the United States, the core principles involve the provision of multiple means of representation, engagement, and action/expression. Despite high instructor satisfaction with UDL, evidence of effectiveness for students’ learning is insufficient. Effectiveness aside, the purpose of this policy research note is to describe additional issues in UDL specifically relating to disabled students. First, I argue that the core tenet of UDL to meet all learners’ needs by emphasizing variability in approaches to learning (and consequently avoiding reference to ‘disability’) may inadvertently marginalize disabled students. Second, I argue that the focus on instructional design as a panacea to meet the needs of ‘all people’, including disabled students, is insufficient. This potentially distracts well-intentioned educators from more substantive challenges experienced by disabled students, relating to the built environment. Until the sensory and social needs of disabled students are met, instructional approaches like UDL cannot provide an equitable learning experience for many disabled students. Therefore, I argue that higher education leaders should attend to the sensory and social environments of university campuses before retrofitting inclusive pedagogies to the current typical university campus.
{"title":"Considering the sensory and social needs of disabled students in higher education: A call to return to the roots of universal design","authors":"Ann-Marie Creaven","doi":"10.1177/14782103241240808","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241240808","url":null,"abstract":"Universal Design for Learning is a pedagogical approach that aims ‘to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn’ (CAST website, n.d.). Originating in the context of K12 education in the United States, the core principles involve the provision of multiple means of representation, engagement, and action/expression. Despite high instructor satisfaction with UDL, evidence of effectiveness for students’ learning is insufficient. Effectiveness aside, the purpose of this policy research note is to describe additional issues in UDL specifically relating to disabled students. First, I argue that the core tenet of UDL to meet all learners’ needs by emphasizing variability in approaches to learning (and consequently avoiding reference to ‘disability’) may inadvertently marginalize disabled students. Second, I argue that the focus on instructional design as a panacea to meet the needs of ‘all people’, including disabled students, is insufficient. This potentially distracts well-intentioned educators from more substantive challenges experienced by disabled students, relating to the built environment. Until the sensory and social needs of disabled students are met, instructional approaches like UDL cannot provide an equitable learning experience for many disabled students. Therefore, I argue that higher education leaders should attend to the sensory and social environments of university campuses before retrofitting inclusive pedagogies to the current typical university campus.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140221868","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}
Pub Date : 2024-03-18DOI: 10.1177/14782103241240806
Aron Foley, Daniel Faas, Merike Darmody
Ireland’s cultural identity has transformed significantly in the past few decades as a result of large-scale inward migration. Consequently, the creation of culturally responsive school environments has become a major concern in policy discourses in recent years. Despite the prevalence of such discourses, research on the cultural responsiveness of the four major primary school types in Ireland, and what factors influence the gap between policy and practice across these school types has remained sparse. Addressing this lacuna in research, this exploratory multi-method study draws on data collected from teachers, principals, and parents. This study highlights several factors that assist students from culturally and religiously diverse backgrounds to develop a sense of school belonging and explores the challenges associated with implementing policies related to creating culturally responsive classrooms in Irish primary schools. This study holds international relevance as it highlights key factors facilitating schools’ response to the growing migration trend experienced throughout Europe.
{"title":"The creation of culturally responsive school environments in Ireland: Factors that assist in reducing the gap between policy and practice","authors":"Aron Foley, Daniel Faas, Merike Darmody","doi":"10.1177/14782103241240806","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241240806","url":null,"abstract":"Ireland’s cultural identity has transformed significantly in the past few decades as a result of large-scale inward migration. Consequently, the creation of culturally responsive school environments has become a major concern in policy discourses in recent years. Despite the prevalence of such discourses, research on the cultural responsiveness of the four major primary school types in Ireland, and what factors influence the gap between policy and practice across these school types has remained sparse. Addressing this lacuna in research, this exploratory multi-method study draws on data collected from teachers, principals, and parents. This study highlights several factors that assist students from culturally and religiously diverse backgrounds to develop a sense of school belonging and explores the challenges associated with implementing policies related to creating culturally responsive classrooms in Irish primary schools. This study holds international relevance as it highlights key factors facilitating schools’ response to the growing migration trend experienced throughout Europe.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140166751","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}
Pub Date : 2024-03-18DOI: 10.1177/14782103241240542
Zahid Naz
This article seeks to provide a new paradigm for questioning how quality and excellence in teaching practices are understood and evaluated. By combining ideas from complexity theory and Michel Foucault’s conception of polymorphous correlations, I argue that a shift away from the forms of thought that engender reductionist evaluations can become a starting point to redefine the efficacy of teaching practices. By examining teaching practices through data obtained from interviews and classroom observations at a further education college, this article justifies disrupting our current common sense by which quality is defined in the landscape of educational policies and research. It is necessary, first, to try to unsettle the so-called discourse of evidence-based teaching, resulting in the production and dissemination of universalised pedagogical forms. By exploring how ecological factors affect institutional hierarchies and influence teaching practices, I challenge the notion that power relations in education are solely one-directional and oppressive. Insights from theory and teaching practices suggest that there are new forms of power at play, drawing attention to the concept I refer to as ‘transphenomenal awareness', and offering a more profound understanding of the significance of transcending the confines of pedagogical determinism that presently guides educational policymaking.
{"title":"‘Tick boxes are just tick boxes’: Problematising evidence-based teaching and exploring the space of the possible through a complexity lens","authors":"Zahid Naz","doi":"10.1177/14782103241240542","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241240542","url":null,"abstract":"This article seeks to provide a new paradigm for questioning how quality and excellence in teaching practices are understood and evaluated. By combining ideas from complexity theory and Michel Foucault’s conception of polymorphous correlations, I argue that a shift away from the forms of thought that engender reductionist evaluations can become a starting point to redefine the efficacy of teaching practices. By examining teaching practices through data obtained from interviews and classroom observations at a further education college, this article justifies disrupting our current common sense by which quality is defined in the landscape of educational policies and research. It is necessary, first, to try to unsettle the so-called discourse of evidence-based teaching, resulting in the production and dissemination of universalised pedagogical forms. By exploring how ecological factors affect institutional hierarchies and influence teaching practices, I challenge the notion that power relations in education are solely one-directional and oppressive. Insights from theory and teaching practices suggest that there are new forms of power at play, drawing attention to the concept I refer to as ‘transphenomenal awareness', and offering a more profound understanding of the significance of transcending the confines of pedagogical determinism that presently guides educational policymaking.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140166497","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}
This paper examines the current education policy for achieving digital education in European Union overall and in Greece specifically. By using a theoretical framework of policy enactment, this study explored different factors which could predict technology integration and digital education. A survey was conducted with 205 classroom teachers across 32 primary schools in Greece. The analysis tracked the progress towards achieving digital education. The results of this study confirmed that current policies are accurately targeted on significant areas which are predictors of technology integration. This paper recommends strategies for achieving, scaling, and sustaining school system improvement for digital education.
{"title":"Achieving digital education in primary schools: Success factors and policy recommendations","authors":"Ourania Maria Ventista, Magdalini Kolokitha, Paraskevi Tsani, Georgios Polydoros, Grigorios Arkoumanis","doi":"10.1177/14782103241238825","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241238825","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the current education policy for achieving digital education in European Union overall and in Greece specifically. By using a theoretical framework of policy enactment, this study explored different factors which could predict technology integration and digital education. A survey was conducted with 205 classroom teachers across 32 primary schools in Greece. The analysis tracked the progress towards achieving digital education. The results of this study confirmed that current policies are accurately targeted on significant areas which are predictors of technology integration. This paper recommends strategies for achieving, scaling, and sustaining school system improvement for digital education.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140151438","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}
Pub Date : 2024-03-08DOI: 10.1177/14782103241238495
Breda McTaggart
Regional Technical Colleges, later Institutes of Technology, were developed just over fifty years ago in response to a perceived gap in knowledge, skills, and competencies required to promote market growth and success ( Thorn, 2018 ). It was envisaged that this change to Ireland’s higher education landscape would be capable of continuing adaptation to the social, economic, and technological changes (to meet the needs of employers and students (Steering Committee on Technical Education Report to the Minister for Education on Regional Technical Colleges, 1967, 11). Fifty years after this initiative began, the presented paper wishes to reflect and review what is occurring within today’s higher education landscape, posing the question: Did the newly introduced additional higher education institute type evolve from their modest beginnings? Specifically, did they, as suggested by the Steering Committee on Technical Education Report to the Minister for Education on Regional Technical Colleges (1967), avoid the dichotomy and provide students with an opportunity to study in a variety of fields close to their home, or has something else emerged and evolved that is in contradiction to this ambition. This research paper examines these questions using available Higher Education Authority data, considering what this means for student access, equity, and choice within Ireland’s higher education system. The findings of this review suggest that while increased student participation in higher education is evident, the choice for today’s aspiring student is less noticeable or possible within some fields of study because of the socially constructed configuration of Ireland’s higher education system.
{"title":"Fifty years on – limitations and opportunities within Ireland`s higher education system and structures","authors":"Breda McTaggart","doi":"10.1177/14782103241238495","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241238495","url":null,"abstract":"Regional Technical Colleges, later Institutes of Technology, were developed just over fifty years ago in response to a perceived gap in knowledge, skills, and competencies required to promote market growth and success ( Thorn, 2018 ). It was envisaged that this change to Ireland’s higher education landscape would be capable of continuing adaptation to the social, economic, and technological changes (to meet the needs of employers and students (Steering Committee on Technical Education Report to the Minister for Education on Regional Technical Colleges, 1967, 11). Fifty years after this initiative began, the presented paper wishes to reflect and review what is occurring within today’s higher education landscape, posing the question: Did the newly introduced additional higher education institute type evolve from their modest beginnings? Specifically, did they, as suggested by the Steering Committee on Technical Education Report to the Minister for Education on Regional Technical Colleges (1967), avoid the dichotomy and provide students with an opportunity to study in a variety of fields close to their home, or has something else emerged and evolved that is in contradiction to this ambition. This research paper examines these questions using available Higher Education Authority data, considering what this means for student access, equity, and choice within Ireland’s higher education system. The findings of this review suggest that while increased student participation in higher education is evident, the choice for today’s aspiring student is less noticeable or possible within some fields of study because of the socially constructed configuration of Ireland’s higher education system.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140075101","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}
Pub Date : 2024-03-08DOI: 10.1177/14782103241238489
Sonal Nakar, Rachel Trevarthen
Vocational education and training teachers play an integral role in ensuring students, both international and domestic, gain quality learning experiences and positive outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic caused rapid changes and abruptly shifted vocational education from face-to-face teaching to teaching at a distance. This study aims to investigate vocational education and training teachers’ experiences during and post COVID-19. A systematic review and analysis of 26 publications, published between 2019 and 2022 in English-language peer-reviewed journals, revealed areas that were underexamined and warranted deeper exploration, including the impacts on pedagogy and recognition of the precarity under which many vocational teachers work. Such challenges impact students and teachers economically and mentally. Investigation of teacher experiences can aid management and policymakers to respond to the uncertainties of the post-pandemic world as it provides us with critical moments to rethink the management of professional development and support for teachers to be able to provide equitable opportunities to students’ differentiated needs.
{"title":"Investigating VET teachers’ experiences during and post COVID","authors":"Sonal Nakar, Rachel Trevarthen","doi":"10.1177/14782103241238489","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241238489","url":null,"abstract":"Vocational education and training teachers play an integral role in ensuring students, both international and domestic, gain quality learning experiences and positive outcomes. The COVID-19 pandemic caused rapid changes and abruptly shifted vocational education from face-to-face teaching to teaching at a distance. This study aims to investigate vocational education and training teachers’ experiences during and post COVID-19. A systematic review and analysis of 26 publications, published between 2019 and 2022 in English-language peer-reviewed journals, revealed areas that were underexamined and warranted deeper exploration, including the impacts on pedagogy and recognition of the precarity under which many vocational teachers work. Such challenges impact students and teachers economically and mentally. Investigation of teacher experiences can aid management and policymakers to respond to the uncertainties of the post-pandemic world as it provides us with critical moments to rethink the management of professional development and support for teachers to be able to provide equitable opportunities to students’ differentiated needs.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140116026","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}
Pub Date : 2024-03-06DOI: 10.1177/14782103241238046
Naomi Pears-Scown
This piece demonstrates a creative practice that invites educators from diverse backgrounds to consider the memories, stories, and cultural histories alive within them. How we carry and know our own stories influences how we can critically and reflexively enact or challenge policies of cultural responsivity in education. Given that the political landscapes in education get remade over and over, the threads of our personal histories remain vital to remember, so they, too, do not move into the realm of forgetting. To connect, in an ongoing way, to our unique heritages and stories is to challenge current policy proposals that intend to privatise historical and cultural education, risking fragmentation and dissociation. This piece uses a diffractive storytelling approach through critical autoethnography to consider how material artefacts are imbued with histories and stories. This article traces my memories as a Pākehā (immigrant of European origin) educator in Aotearoa, New Zealand, from Scotland, through the artefact of a tartan quilt. I demonstrate how educators may use creative practices to remember and trace the threads of their stories through their material artefacts, elucidating the lenses from which they teach so they may equip students with the tools to navigate political influences within their own stories.
{"title":"A tale of tartan: Diffractive storytelling in response to educational policy for Pākehā educators in Aotearoa New Zealand","authors":"Naomi Pears-Scown","doi":"10.1177/14782103241238046","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241238046","url":null,"abstract":"This piece demonstrates a creative practice that invites educators from diverse backgrounds to consider the memories, stories, and cultural histories alive within them. How we carry and know our own stories influences how we can critically and reflexively enact or challenge policies of cultural responsivity in education. Given that the political landscapes in education get remade over and over, the threads of our personal histories remain vital to remember, so they, too, do not move into the realm of forgetting. To connect, in an ongoing way, to our unique heritages and stories is to challenge current policy proposals that intend to privatise historical and cultural education, risking fragmentation and dissociation. This piece uses a diffractive storytelling approach through critical autoethnography to consider how material artefacts are imbued with histories and stories. This article traces my memories as a Pākehā (immigrant of European origin) educator in Aotearoa, New Zealand, from Scotland, through the artefact of a tartan quilt. I demonstrate how educators may use creative practices to remember and trace the threads of their stories through their material artefacts, elucidating the lenses from which they teach so they may equip students with the tools to navigate political influences within their own stories.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140074839","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}
Pub Date : 2024-03-02DOI: 10.1177/14782103241237320
Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng
This article examines the trajectory of global human rights expansion, with a specific focus on the advancement of girls’ and women’s education. By adopting a generational lens and using a reflective standpoint, I unpack the role of gender-specific social capital in fostering agency and empowerment among girls, particularly within the Global South. Building upon Porter’s Girls’ education, development and social change: ‘Seeding, Strengthening and Linking’ (Global Fund for Women) (2016), I propose a civic pedagogical PCCS (Place-based education initiatives, Cost-efficient and ecologically sound innovations, Collective intelligence building, Shared knowledge inquiry) model as a response to humanitarian crises, ideological disparities, and armed conflicts. Additionally, I draw upon the Indian concept of jugaad to comprehend the social, spatial, and economic negotiations in the Global South, enabling strategic resourcefulness. Furthermore, I introduce a Dalitbahujan feminist lens to emphasise the significance of girls’ education in the current decade and beyond. By reexamining Porter’s narratives and considering global circumstances, I focus on the dynamics of gender-oriented social capital. This article enriches the discussion on girls’ education within the frameworks of 21st-century ideologies of neoliberalism, philanthrocapitalism, and neo-capitalism, highlighting the crucial role of collaborative efforts.
{"title":"An intergenerational comeback: Girls’ education, development, and social capital","authors":"Sheng-Hsiang Lance Peng","doi":"10.1177/14782103241237320","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241237320","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the trajectory of global human rights expansion, with a specific focus on the advancement of girls’ and women’s education. By adopting a generational lens and using a reflective standpoint, I unpack the role of gender-specific social capital in fostering agency and empowerment among girls, particularly within the Global South. Building upon Porter’s Girls’ education, development and social change: ‘Seeding, Strengthening and Linking’ (Global Fund for Women) (2016), I propose a civic pedagogical PCCS (Place-based education initiatives, Cost-efficient and ecologically sound innovations, Collective intelligence building, Shared knowledge inquiry) model as a response to humanitarian crises, ideological disparities, and armed conflicts. Additionally, I draw upon the Indian concept of jugaad to comprehend the social, spatial, and economic negotiations in the Global South, enabling strategic resourcefulness. Furthermore, I introduce a Dalitbahujan feminist lens to emphasise the significance of girls’ education in the current decade and beyond. By reexamining Porter’s narratives and considering global circumstances, I focus on the dynamics of gender-oriented social capital. This article enriches the discussion on girls’ education within the frameworks of 21st-century ideologies of neoliberalism, philanthrocapitalism, and neo-capitalism, highlighting the crucial role of collaborative efforts.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140018880","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}
Pub Date : 2024-02-23DOI: 10.1177/14782103241235725
Anthemis Raptopoulou, Brendan Munhall
The concept of democracy is a central component in education policy at all levels, yet its meaning can be interpreted in a number of ways. This paper examines how democracy is conceptualised and utilised as a legitimising force driving education policy reform. More specifically, attention is given to the use of democracy in the process of promoting programming’s inclusion in the Swedish compulsory curriculum. A number of mass-media articles published in Swedish are analysed using the concept of floating signifiers. The context of Sweden is of particular interest, since the notion of democracy has been a driving force in Swedish society for the legitimisation of education policy changes. In this paper, we chose to approach the link between democracy and education from a critical perspective and ask how the concept of democracy is being utilized as a part of political struggles to hegemonize and legitimize educational changes. It is argued that democracy, as a floating signifier, was central to the discursive production of the educational agenda of programming and its legitimisation. This article aims to function as a critique of the promotion of programming in education as a means to democracy.
{"title":"Democracy as a floating signifier: The struggle for legitimation of programming in Swedish schools","authors":"Anthemis Raptopoulou, Brendan Munhall","doi":"10.1177/14782103241235725","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241235725","url":null,"abstract":"The concept of democracy is a central component in education policy at all levels, yet its meaning can be interpreted in a number of ways. This paper examines how democracy is conceptualised and utilised as a legitimising force driving education policy reform. More specifically, attention is given to the use of democracy in the process of promoting programming’s inclusion in the Swedish compulsory curriculum. A number of mass-media articles published in Swedish are analysed using the concept of floating signifiers. The context of Sweden is of particular interest, since the notion of democracy has been a driving force in Swedish society for the legitimisation of education policy changes. In this paper, we chose to approach the link between democracy and education from a critical perspective and ask how the concept of democracy is being utilized as a part of political struggles to hegemonize and legitimize educational changes. It is argued that democracy, as a floating signifier, was central to the discursive production of the educational agenda of programming and its legitimisation. This article aims to function as a critique of the promotion of programming in education as a means to democracy.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139946935","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}
Pub Date : 2024-02-17DOI: 10.1177/14782103241234408
Kimkong Heng, Bunhorn Doeur
Cambodia aspires to become a knowledge-based society to remain relevant in the context of the global knowledge-based economy. However, it remains uncertain how this aspiration can be realized considering the low quality of the country’s education system. Drawing on secondary sources, this article aims to shed light on Cambodia’s aspirations for a knowledge-based society. The article begins by defining the term “knowledge-based society” before providing an overview of the Cambodian education system and discussing key challenges that limit Cambodia’s ability to realize its vision to become a knowledge society. Key challenges were related to low higher education enrollment, a shortage of educational staff with doctoral degrees, a weak innovation capacity, and other critical challenges such as low academic salaries, a lack of clear academic career pathways, limited research funding, and limited knowledge about research. The article provides a set of recommendations that concerned stakeholders should consider to improve the quality of the Cambodian education system and support the country to achieve its goal in developing into a knowledge-based society. It concludes with suggestions for future research to generate new knowledge about Cambodia—a context underrepresented in international literature.
{"title":"Cambodia’s aspirations to become a knowledge-based society: Challenges and recommendations","authors":"Kimkong Heng, Bunhorn Doeur","doi":"10.1177/14782103241234408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103241234408","url":null,"abstract":"Cambodia aspires to become a knowledge-based society to remain relevant in the context of the global knowledge-based economy. However, it remains uncertain how this aspiration can be realized considering the low quality of the country’s education system. Drawing on secondary sources, this article aims to shed light on Cambodia’s aspirations for a knowledge-based society. The article begins by defining the term “knowledge-based society” before providing an overview of the Cambodian education system and discussing key challenges that limit Cambodia’s ability to realize its vision to become a knowledge society. Key challenges were related to low higher education enrollment, a shortage of educational staff with doctoral degrees, a weak innovation capacity, and other critical challenges such as low academic salaries, a lack of clear academic career pathways, limited research funding, and limited knowledge about research. The article provides a set of recommendations that concerned stakeholders should consider to improve the quality of the Cambodian education system and support the country to achieve its goal in developing into a knowledge-based society. It concludes with suggestions for future research to generate new knowledge about Cambodia—a context underrepresented in international literature.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139946933","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}
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