Fabricating Quality In Education

How is European Education Governed? Data is now the lifeblood of education governance. At the international level, organisations like the OECD steer education systems through their programmes of assessment and the European Commission’s project of creating the most successful knowledge economy in the world is driven by data collection, analysis and comparison. At the national level, policy-makers increasingly depend on data to show them where they are positioned, in relation to their competitors, and draw on data to justify policy directions. Within systems, schools and teachers have become proficient in data use, and interpret their priorities with reference to data. This book draws on a three-year comparative study of the influence of data on education systems in Europe, looking at the contrasting policy contexts of Denmark, England, Finland, Scotland and Sweden, and examining the use of data in these systems, in relation to steering by Europe, as well as policy mediation and ‘translation’ of data within systems. The authors draw on interviews with key policy actors in the European Commission and with national policy makers in all five systems, as well as on local case studies and a major comparative survey of the effects of data production and use on the work of teachers and headteachers. The research brought together international researchers from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, including educationalists, political scientists and specialists in research and evaluation. The book offers new arguments relating to the use of Quality Assurance and Evaluation as a means of standardising and harmonising education policy and practice, while also drawing attention to significant variation in policy and practice across these systems. It should be of interest to researchers, post-graduate students and advanced undergraduate students in policy studies in education and more generally.

This book argues that data and their use constitute a form of governance of education. It highlights the ways in which education is steered and managed so that a European education policy space is ‘fabricated’ through data which travel across national systems, and which enter and restructure provision to make it measurable, comparable and governable.

What is working in education in the UK - and what isn't? This book offers a highly readable guide to what the latest research says about improving young people's outcomes in pre-school, primary and secondary education. Never has this issue been more topical as the UK attempts to compete in the global economy against countries with increasingly educated and skilled work-forces. The book discusses whether education policy has really been guided by the evidence, and explores why the failings of Britain's educational system have been so resistant to change, as well as the success stories that have emerged. Making a Difference in Education looks at schooling from early years to age 16 and entry into Further Education, with a special focus on literacy, numeracy and IT. Reviewing a large body of research, and paying particular attention to findings which are strong enough to guide policy, the authors examine teacher performance, school quality and accountability, and the problematically large social gap that still exists in state school education today. Each chapter concludes with a summary of key findings and key policy requirements. As a comprehensive research review, Making a Difference in Education should be essential reading for faculty and students in education and social policy, and of great interest to teachers and indeed to anyone who wants to know about the effectiveness of UK education policy and practice, and where they should be going.

Manufacturing Engineering Education includes original and unpublished chapters that develop the applications of the manufacturing engineering education field. Chapters convey innovative research ideas that have a prodigious significance in the life of academics, engineers, researchers and professionals involved with manufacturing engineering. Today, the interest in this subject is shown in many prominent global institutes and universities, and the robust momentum of manufacturing has helped the U.S. economy continue to grow throughout 2014. This book covers manufacturing engineering education, with a special emphasis on curriculum development, and didactic aspects. Includes original and unpublished chapters that develop the applications of the manufacturing engineering education principle Applies manufacturing engineering education to curriculum development Offers research ideas that can be applied to the work of academics, engineers, researchers and professionals

In the context of profound social, political and technological changes, recent global trends in education have included the emergence of new forms of curriculum policy. Addressing a gap in the literature, this book investigates the ways in which curriculum policy is influenced, formulated, and enacted in a number of countries-cases in Europe.

Winner of two Outstanding Book Awards from the Association of Educational Communications and Technology (Culture, Learning, & Technology and Systems Thinking & Change divisions)! Rapid advancements in our ability to collect, process, and analyze massive amounts of data along with the widespread use of online and blended learning platforms have enabled educators at all levels to gain new insights into how people learn. Responsible Analytics and Data Mining in Education addresses the thoughtful and purposeful navigation, evaluation, and implementation of these emerging forms of educational data analysis. Chapter authors from around the world explore how data analytics can be used to improve course and program quality; how the data and its interpretations may inadvertently impact students, faculty, and institutions; the quality and reliability of data, as well as the accuracy of data-based decisions; ethical implications surrounding the collection, distribution, and use of student-generated data; and more. This volume unpacks and explores this complex issue through a systematic framework whose dimensions address the issues that must be considered before implementation of a new initiative or program.

Making a Difference: Challenges for Teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education has been written to provide an international forum of scholarly discussion around the theme of how teachers and teacher educators can make a difference. It examines some of the challenges that need to be addressed across the teaching profession. The chapters have been developed by the contributors from a set of keynote presentations and refereed papers given at the 2005 International Study Association for Teachers and Teaching (ISATT) Conference, in Sydney, Australia. The conference was attended by 190 delegates, from a diverse range of countries: Australia, Belgium, Bosnia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Jamaica, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, and the West Indies. A distinctive feature of the conference was the range of education systems, policies, teacher education programs, school districts, classrooms, teachers and students whose views were argued for and critiqued. This book has been prepared so that it reflects that breadth of contexts and issues. The book is presented in four sections, each emphasising a unique dimension of what is involved in making a difference. The authors offer a range of viewpoints from their different cultural, historical and professional contexts. While each section has a special emphasis, the major themes of heeding challenges and making a difference are woven into all the sections. The chapters in this book provide readers with frameworks, evidence and examples addressing challenges and making a difference. Evidence is presented as to how realities have been transformed for students, teachers and teacher educators as well as for the profession itself. We hope that your engagement with the authors and material in this ISATT forum will motivate you to transform realities in your own professional worlds. ISATT members please contact our Acquisitions Editors responsible for Brill's Education list, for the ISATT members discount.

Fabricating Europe has within it a core idea, a crucial but imprecise idea, that of a European educational space, which transnational governance, networks and cultural and economic projects are creating now. Yet, the perceptible creation of this contemporary space of European policy making and networking has not been a subject of study. It appears offstage in studies of national systems in which national and professional identity; political organization; policy formation and public/private markets are all viewed as contained within the borders of the state. Fabricating Europe is concerned with the new possibilities to be discerned and imagined in the European public and institutional spaces and discourses in education and the lack of impetus within the broad area of educational studies to meet the task of creating analyses and responses.