Suchergebnisse

The first part is dedicated to explore how educational attainment varies after reforms in compulsory education and can be seen as a starting point for further analysis that make use of these kind of laws to instrument for education. In the second half of the twentieth century reforms in compulsory education laws aimed at increasing educational attainment in many countries. Using individual-level data from a cross-section of country, the question on whether these reforms had the expected effect is addressed. In a regression discontinuity design framework, reforms effects are controlled by mean of a standard linear model, focusing on the average effect, and of a quantile regression model. An introductory part based on a single country study will give advices on the best strategy to identify individuals' exposure to the reform, taking into account migration and internal mobility, and problems related to low quality of data and discrepancies among them. Then the overall effect of the reforms is considered on a cross section of countries and the results show that the average effect is positive, even if there are substantial differences among the countries considered. Reforms play a role in reducing inequality of educational attainment, having a positive impact on people who belong to the lower quantiles of the distribution of education. After this first introductory part, we focus on a single country and using a representative sample of Ecuadorian young women's households, we investigate whether education, instrumented by a reform in compulsory education, shapes fertility choices, labor market participation rate and future children's outcomes. Estimates show that the completion of lower secondary school decreases the probability of early motherhood by 7%. Then, after controlling for labor market preferences in a model where the choices to be a mother and to be in the labor force are considered simultaneously, we find evidence that schooling is positively related to women's labor market participation rate and negatively to early motherhood. The last section concludes stressing the potential intergenerational effects of changes in the age at first birth, showing that firstborn children born to older mothers have better educational outcomes than those born to younger ones. So policies aimed at increasing women educational attainment are found to be positively related to better women's outcomes, expressed by lowered teenage motherhood rate and by increased labor market attachment, and also to improved children's conditions, represented by their schooling attendance. The last chapter takes into account a reform that reorganized the Italian university system in 2001. Based on a survey on employers' preferences over prospective workers hiring practices, this work focuses on the variations in the demand for skilled labor force after a reform of the Italian University system. This reform caused an increase in tertiary education attendance and a reduction in drop out rates. Whether graduates are more likely to be hired after the increase in the supply of skilled human capital or not is investigated, paying attention to the kind of occupation for which they are required. Since the reform modified both the length of degrees and course contents, this work also attempts to study employers' choice between the BA and the MA graduates. Results show that the demand for skilled workers increased and this is mainly driven by the fact that employers are substituting less skilled workers with more skilled ones for clerical and technical occupations. Factors that could have altered post-reform hiring decisions are presented and discussed and evidence suggests that they should not lead to overestimate the effect of the University reform.

Abstract
Against the backdrop of a growing national and international accountability movement in education outcomes, this study sets up a simple model of yardstick competition with incumbent-disciplining effects through voters comparing performance measures of public education both across nations and federal states. It implies a potential strategic dilemma where a single top-performance state can block reform measures that could benefit low-performance states more than would do for itself. The linchpin predictions of the model are tested by analyzing announcement effects of student achievement tests on vote and popularity (VP) functions of German national and state government incumbents.

In a context of expanding early childhood education, this article begins by adopting a critical approach, exploring the technologies being applied to young children in a contemporary society of control, taking the case of England, a country which has seen a marked change in government's attitude towards early childhood education over the past 20 years, from indifference to high priority. England also illustrates the relationship between changing state attitudes to early childhood education and the growing influence of neoliberalism on politics and economics. The second part of the article changes tack, from a critique of a powerful discourse of control to the disruptive potential of a discourse of hope. While recognising that 'everything is dangerous', not least education and the institution of the school, and that the dangers should never be downplayed, there are alternatives, for example, a discourse of education and the school that foregrounds democracy, emancipation and potentiality, a discourse that many have sought to enact and continue to do so.

"Affordable education. Transparent science. Accessible scholarship. These ideals are slowly becoming a reality thanks to the open education, open science, and open access movements. Running separate—if parallel—courses, they all share a philosophy of equity, progress, and justice. This book shares the stories, motives, insights, and practical tips from global leaders in the open movement."

Quality assurance (QA) has received increasing attention in the Chinese higher education (HE) sector. This paper examines the QA system in HE in China and its influence on university governance and academic performance. It starts with an introduction into the development of the QA system, and is followed by a discussion of how QA affects accountability and autonomy from the perspective of the faculty. Given that different stakeholders have different understandings of education quality, the next section contributes to the debate on whether the current system is designed for improvement of learning experience, or as a means of effective government control. This paper concludes by highlighting the importance of involving faculty and students in the current QA system to enhance the quality of HE.