This article is centred on the tendency to align education for newly arrived students with migration policy. Drawing on an in-depth analysis of interviews with four adult migrant students, we aim to investigate how the participants' experiences of studying and how they imagine their future intersect with their immigration status. The interviews were conducted when they were first studying a language introduction programme, and then three years later. We focus on the participants' narratives about transitions within the education system and later into the labour market. Using Sara Ahmed's approach to the orientation of subjects in time and space, the analysis shows that all students expressed a desire to "be in line," meaning finishing their studies and finding employment. Students with temporary and conditional residence permits were directed towards specific vocational tracks and sectors of the labour market. Migrant students are a heterogenous group and, based on the findings presented, we argue that immigration status constitutes a crucial part of this heterogeneity, influencing how students imagine their future in a new society.
Until their conceptual, systemic and substantive reform in the 1990s, preschool institutions in Slovenia were recognised predominantly as care institutions, on the one hand, and as "preparatory institutions" for school or pre-primary school, on the other. This paper presents an analysis of preschool education in Slovenia based on theoretical starting points, international comparative analyses of quality indicators for preschool education and curricular documents, as well as the results of Slovenian and foreign empirical research on early child development and learning. The analysis was conducted from the viewpoint of conceptual, systemic and curricular solutions. In particular, we emphasise the need to update the Curriculum for Preschool and resolve any professional dilemmas related to the efficiency and equity of preschool. In conclusion, we specifically highlight certain possibilities for improvements in Slovenian preschool education. (DIPF/Orig.)
The article starts with the serious question of why educational reforms do not lead to better learning. Although access to education has increased remarkably, the quality of education can be very low. The reality is that by 2030 there will be 800 million young people who do not have basic skills in reading and math. The answers will be sought from the concept of the educational ecosystem and how different subsystems, such as curriculum system, evaluation systems, teacher education policy, and the labour market, should be interconnected, and the systemic changes supported by all these subsystems. The basic conditions are that different actors and stakeholders work in collaboration, there are active interactions within and between different subsystems for supporting both equity and quality in education. Educational reforms are complex processes and need diverse partners and governance in which trust is present. The article also provides a brief case description in Finnish contexts of how educational reforms have been implemented in the frame of the ecosystem concept. In the end, the article summarises how educational ecosystems could help in overcoming global learning crises. (DIPF/Orig.)
Bolivia during 2020 was the victim of simultaneous political, economic, and public health crises. The three crises interacted with one another in ways that made each individual crisis more severe. The country's social policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic was uneven. Emergency cash transfers, a legacy of the left-wing Movement toward Socialism's (MAS) nearly 14 years in power, performed well. Although the amounts transferred were quite modest, they did reach the vast majority of Bolivians. On education, however, the government failed utterly, ultimately abandoning its constitutional obligation to provide free and universal schooling to all children. Online education never got off the ground and the school year was prematurely cancelled. The Bolivian state's chronic weakness was on display in its healthcare policy response. Not only did the government inherit inadequate infrastructure, but a combination of administrative incompetence and corruption marred the procurement of much-needed ventilators and other medical equipment. The result was one of the world's highest Covid-19 mortality rates.
Despite a growing emphasis in education policy on 'what works for whom and in what circumstances', there is still considerable attention to decontextualised 'best practices' that emerge from cross-country comparisons of student achievement. Also, while operational and even political aspects of context are increasingly incorporated into policy research, there is relatively little attention to the relationship between sociocultural context and education policy. In this paper, I explore the extent to which national sociocultural context influences the relationship between one aspect of policy - teacher accountability - and student outcomes. I do so by using multilevel modelling to analyse international survey data on education (from PISA 2012, PISA 2015, and TIMSS 2015) matched at the country level with survey data on culture (from the World Values Survey and Hofstede's IBM study). I find that one of the sociocultural constructs significantly and consistently moderates the relationship between teacher accountability and student outcomes, suggesting that some teacher accountability approaches may be beneficial in certain sociocultural contexts but detrimental in others. This finding implies a need for caution in generating universal policy prescriptions from international assessments such as PISA and TIMSS. It also strengthens the case for viewing teacher accountability as a socioculturally embedded process.
Peerness is a common approach to learning, especially in Nordic adult education, but is increasingly adopted by European Union (EU)-funded projects that aim to improve migrants' employability. This article discusses action research that evaluated an ESF-funded project, run by a Finnish popular adult education association in collaboration with vocational adult education institutes, NGOs, and a trade union. The project trained migrants to become peer group guides and empower migrant-background participants for employment. The training prepared guides to become experiential experts, but increased the distance between the participants and themselves. The guidance could even strengthen the otherness of participants when the peerness was based solely on sharing a migrant background. Voluntary peer guidance may reinforce this separation, but dependence on ESF funding also shapes mainstream adult education; therefore, the empowerment of migrants should build on collaboration between experiential experts and guidance professionals as part of the regular adult education system. (DIPF/Orig.)
This article aims to explore continuity and change in adult migrants' experiences of Swedish for immigrants (SFI), a state-subsidised language programme for basic Swedish. The study has a longitudinal and comparative design, drawing on discourse analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with language learners in 2001/2002 and 2015/2016. This period was characterized by important societal shifts, defined by increased migration, growing tension between discourses on rights and obligations of adult migrants living in Sweden, and an intensified marketisation of the Swedish education system derived from neoliberal principles. The study describes how these changes affected SFI as well as the conceivable impact that restructuring the language programme had on the learners. Ultimately, the study highlights tensions between various state initiatives that impacted the language programme and the SFI participants' experiences of being adult language learners. (DIPF/Orig.)
Die Umsetzung von schulischer Inklusion findet in Deutschland auf verschiedenen Ebenen des Bildungssystems statt, z.B. in der Gestaltung der Schulstruktur. In diesem Zusammenhang stellt sich die Frage, wie sich die Umsetzung von Inklusion abbilden lässt. In Abhängigkeit davon, wie Inklusion als politische Vorgabe gedeutet wird, kann es beispielsweise variieren, welche empirischen Daten hierfür erhoben werden. Daran anknüpfend geht es im Rahmen der Arbeit um die Fragen, inwiefern Inklusion in den Messinstrumenten der Schulinspektion berücksichtigt wird und wie diese entstanden sind. Schulinspektionen evaluieren in den einzelnen Bundesländern mithilfe von Messinstrumenten, z.B. Schülerfragebögen und Unterrichtsbeobachtungsbögen, die Qualität von Einzelschulen. Dabei unterscheiden sich die Bundesländer darin, welche Instrumente sie anwenden. Durch die Analyse der Messinstrumente und mithilfe von Experteninterviews wird herausgearbeitet, ob und welche Daten in Bezug auf die Umsetzung von Inklusion erhoben werden. Des Weiteren wird deutlich, wie die Messinstrumente der Schulinspektionen entstanden sind und welche Rahmenbedingungen prägend wirkten. Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Entwicklungsprozess ermöglicht es zu zeigen, warum sich die Messinstrumente zwischen den Bundesländern unterscheiden. Für die Bearbeitung der Fragestellung wird auf organisations- und bewertungssoziologische Arbeiten (z.B. Sensemaking Ansatz) zurückgegriffen sowie auf zentrale Konzepte der Inklusionsforschung und den Educational Governance-Ansatz. (DIPF/Orig.) ; Due to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities, the Federal States of Germany have to implement inclusive education. However, there is no shared understanding how to define inclusive education in Germany. Therefore, different understandings on how to implement inclusive education within the schools exist. Comparing different Federal States of Germany, Anne Piezunka examines how school inspectorates define inclusive education. School inspectorates are part of the educational administration. They evaluate the quality of schools and are a key means of accountability. Evaluating the quality of schools, they analyze documents, conduct interviews and observe classes. Thereby, they apply several metrics. For example: "The class starts on time". Every federal state has developed its own metrics. Piezunka analyzes which metrics school inspectorates apply to evaluate the implementation of inclusive education on the school level. Interviewing the developers of metrics, she also studies the development of these metrics and seeks to explain differences between the federal states. The study brings together sensemaking theory, sociology of evaluation and research on inclusive education. (DIPF/Orig.)
Dealing with China is not only about finding answers to urgent problems in politics, business, or technology. Rather, a system of European China competence must be established that ensures long-term capacity for action. It is crucial to locate this task at the nexus of foreign and education policy. The development of China competence through education should therefore be part of Europe's China strategy. (author's abstract)
Diagnose und Förderung von naturwissenschaftlicher Begabung im Kita- und Vorschulalter ist seit einigen Jahren ein fester Bestandteil der Bildungspläne der deutschen und österreichischen Bundesländer. Jedoch wurden seither bestehende Programme zur Förderung selten evaluiert, Gelingensbedingungen in Bezug auf die Erzieher*innen kaum untersucht und sehr wenige Diagnoseinstrumente zur Feststellung einer naturwissenschaftlichen Begabung oder des Fachinteresses entwickelt. Dieser Artikel gibt einen Überblick über die bisherigen Forschungsergebnisse zu dem Themengebiet Diagnose und Förderung von naturwissenschaftlicher Begabung im Kitaalter und zeigt im Anschluss Forschungslücken auf, die es in weiteren Vorhaben zu bearbeiten und zu schließen gilt.
Die Umsetzung von schulischer Inklusion findet in Deutschland auf verschiedenen Ebenen des Bildungssystems statt, z.B. in der Gestaltung der Schulstruktur. In diesem Zusammenhang stellt sich die Frage, wie sich die Umsetzung von Inklusion abbilden lässt. In Abhängigkeit davon, wie Inklusion als politische Vorgabe gedeutet wird, kann es beispielsweise variieren, welche empirischen Daten hierfür erhoben werden. Daran anknüpfend geht es im Rahmen der Arbeit um die Fragen, inwiefern Inklusion in den Messinstrumenten der Schulinspektion berücksichtigt wird und wie diese entstanden sind. Schulinspektionen evaluieren in den einzelnen Bundesländern mithilfe von Messinstrumenten, z.B. Schülerfragebögen und Unterrichtsbeobachtungsbögen, die Qualität von Einzelschulen. Dabei unterscheiden sich die Bundesländer darin, welche Instrumente sie anwenden. Durch die Analyse der Messinstrumente und mithilfe von Experteninterviews wird herausgearbeitet, ob und welche Daten in Bezug auf die Umsetzung von Inklusion erhoben werden. Des Weiteren wird deutlich, wie die Messinstrumente der Schulinspektionen entstanden sind und welche Rahmenbedingungen prägend wirkten. Die Auseinandersetzung mit dem Entwicklungsprozess ermöglicht es zu zeigen, warum sich die Messinstrumente zwischen den Bundesländern unterscheiden. Für die Bearbeitung der Fragestellung wird auf organisations- und bewertungssoziologische Arbeiten (z.B. Sensemaking Ansatz) zurückgegriffen sowie auf zentrale Konzepte der Inklusionsforschung und den Educational Governance-Ansatz.
Digitale Medien werden als relevant für gesellschaftliche Teilhabe in formalen, nonformalen und informellen Bildungskontexten betrachtet. Dieser Beitrag fokussiert unterschiedliche Dimensionen der (Re-)Produktion digitaler Ungleichheit in und zwischen Familie, Kinder- und Jugendhilfe sowie Schule und schlägt eine analytisch-reflexive Perspektive von Medienbildung vor, die Subjekt wie Strukturen in den Blick nimmt. (DIPF/Orig.) ; Digital media is considered relevant for social participation in formal, non-formal and informal educational contexts. This paper focuses on different dimensions of the (re-)production of digital inequality in and between family, child and youth welfare as well as school and proposes an analytical-reflexive perspective of media education that looks at both subject and structures. (DIPF/Orig.)