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Recent expansions in prison school offerings and the re-introduction of the Second Chance Pell Grant have heightened the need for a better understanding of the effectiveness of prison education programs on policy-relevant outcomes. We estimate the effects of various forms of prison education on recidivism, post-release employment, and post-release wages. Using a sample of 152 estimates drawn from 79 papers, we conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the effect of four forms of prison education (adult basic education, secondary, vocational, and college). We find that prison education decreases recidivism and increases post-release employment and wages. The largest effects are experienced by prisoners participating in vocational or college education programs. We also calculate the economic returns on educational investment for prisons and prisoners. We find that each form of education yields large, positive returns due primarily to the high costs of incarceration and, therefore, high benefits to crime avoidance. The returns vary across education types, with vocational education having the highest return per dollar spent ($3.05) and college having the highest positive impact per student participating ($16,908). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' questioning plays an essential role in shaping collective argumentative discourse. This paper demonstrated that rationality dimensions in teacher questions can be assessed by adapting Habermas' three components of rationality. By coordinating Habermas' construct with Toulmin's model for argumentation, this paper investigated how two secondary mathematics teachers used rational questioning to support student participation in collective argumentation. This paper identified various ways in which two participating teachers used rational questioning to support student participation in argumentation via contributions of argument components. The results establish a theoretical connection between the use of rational questions and students' contributions of components of arguments. The results indicated that not all rational questions were associated with a component of argument, and rational questions may additionally support argumentation in general for the development of a culture of rationality. The study has implications in terms of theory and professional development of teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how different schools of thought in mathematics education think and speak about preparing mathematics for teaching by introducing and proposing certain metaphors. Among the metaphors under consideration here are the unpacking metaphor, which finds its origin in the Anglo-American school of thought of pedagogical reduction of mathematics; the elementarization metaphor, which has its origin in the German school of thought of didactic reconstruction of mathematics; and the recontextualization metaphor, which originates in the French school of thought of didactic transposition. The metaphorical language used in these schools of thought is based on different theoretical positions, orientations, and images of preparing mathematics for teaching. Although these metaphors are powerful and allow for different ways of thinking and speaking about preparing mathematics for teaching, they suggest that preparing mathematics for teaching is largely a one-sided process in the sense of an adaptation of the knowledge in question. To promote a more holistic understanding, an alternative metaphor is offered: preparing mathematics for teaching as ecological engineering. By using the ecological engineering metaphor, the preparation of mathematics for teaching is presented as a two-sided process that involves both the adaptation of knowledge and the modification of its environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Roma are facing serious disadvantages in education in Romania, where segregated schooling and lack of quality education are two main factors contributing to de facto exclusion from the education system. In an effort to compensate for this missing commitment of the formal education system, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide non-formal education for Roma children, often under the label 'afterschools'. This paper explores the work of an NGO running an after-school programme for out-of-school Roma children in Romania. While the after-school programme started out providing the children with informal education, it soon became involved in enrolling the children in a second-chance school. This process of enrolment is analysed as a three-stage process in this paper: preparing for access, providing physical access and supporting continuous access. Despite success in enrolling children into the formal education system, the approach taken by the NGO and the second-chance school had serious flaws. In particular, this paper discusses the lack of a child-friendly environment, compromised safety for the children, a lack of cultural sensitivity, racist attitudes towards the children and a pedagogy that did not give the children a fair chance to succeed in their education. These flaws are used to discuss the possibilities and limitations for NGOs to bring about educational change. This paper argues that while such programmes can do more harm than good, they can also use their knowledge and position to advocate for change in the formal education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Report: Zeitschrift für Weiterbildungsforschung is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper discusses the problem of master theses' production in psychology from a decolonial perspective. It presents a critique to the reproductive and monological model of knowledge currently promoted in higher education. Then, it proposes an alternative pedagogic model of research-tandem. The research-tandem is an example of an innovative way of understanding a university without borders, as developed within the international network of excellence "IBEF- Ideas for the Basic Education of the Future". Higher education must be detached from national-based curricula, and become a nomadic and collaborative across-cultural knowledge building endeavor. Current higher education aims to be national in its curricula but global in its marketability. In cultural psychology's perspective, higher education of the future shall be regarded as global in its vision yet local in its solutions. Future students must have the opportunity to build new knowledge by experiencing and sharing diversity rather than complying with standardized and monological trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we discuss individual numeracy practices of older people (age cohort 65 and above), concentrating on findings concerning interdependencies of numeracy practices and vulnerability and their reciprocal effects, drawing on first results of a qualitative, explorative study entitled 'Numeracy as social practice in the course of time'. For this paper, we examine the issue of vulnerability in relation to dimensions such as financial and economic situation, health and social embeddedness. Drawing on the concept of 'numeracy as social practice' according to Baker and Street (International encyclopedia of adult education and training, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1996), we focus on the strategies of older people using numeracy practices and skills to lead independent, self-determined and autonomous lives, to experience individual life satisfaction and to avoid vulnerable situations. The findings, derived from in-depth interviews with the above-mentioned cohort, show that various meanings are attributed to numeracy practices in response to certain requirements and needs concerning personal well-being, as well as anticipating developments such as biographical transitions. We discuss how mathematical knowledge and skills are applied when transformed into individual numeracy practices. Our findings, which demonstrate the creative and meaningful use of numeracy practices according to personal needs, are then discussed within the scope of formal teaching and learning processes in basic adult education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lesotho is an inland country striving to improve its economy. Accessible education is perceived as an effective approach to economic growth. Over the years, various projects were commenced to improve Lesotho's basic education provision. However, the progress is not satisfactory or stable. This paper argues for systemic thinking and adopts Warfield's interactive management to identify the difficulties in Lesotho's education projects. Interactive management can help stakeholders to identify system elements, structure the relationship between systems elements and produce a diagraph representing the system in question. The core mechanism of interactive management is a binary matrix which can infer the existence of a relationship between system elements, provided that the relationship is transitive. Four root problems were identified through the interactive management process: 'board members not educated', 'poor service delivery by the Ministry of Education and Training to teachers', 'food insecurity' and 'reduced and standardisation of school fees at post primary schools'. The developed model demonstrates how system elements are interconnected. The model has potential to be used as a starting point for the Lesotho government to manage on its basic education problems through the identified root causes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on learner errors in mathematics education is beginning to focus on how teachers can learn to identify and engage with the reasoning behind these errors. Research on professional learning communities is beginning to show that they present powerful opportunities for on-going teacher collaboration and learning. In this paper, I bring the two areas of research together. Drawing on data from one professional learning community in the Data Informed Practice Improvement Project, I show how teachers in this community came to understand key concepts about learner errors and shifted their ways of talking about learner errors. I identify three important shifts that the teachers made in their learning about learner errors: from identifying to interpreting errors; from interpreting to engaging errors; and from focusing on learner errors to focusing on their own knowledge. I argue that these three shifts suggest a deepening of teachers' thinking in relation to learner errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbolic polygonal data analysis is a new type of framework to extract valuable knowledge from a new structure of data using regular polygon built from data in class, big data, and complex data. This paper introduces a toolbox for symbolic polygonal data, named psda, that contains the main descriptive measures for this type of variable, e.g., mean, variance, correlation, and a polygonal linear regression model (plr). It is applied at the Brazilian Basic Education Assessment System (SAEB), giving a new perspective to the managers of the counties to realize the public policy in the Brazilian educational system. The hypothesis test showed that the polygonal linear regression model presented the best performance compared to some symbolic interval regression models in the SAEB application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Germany, the respondents who had participated in the 2012 survey of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) were re-approached for the panel study PIAAC-L. PIAAC-L aims at investigating the longitudinal effects of skill outcomes over the life course and the development of the key skills assessed in PIAAC. Moreover, additional and alternative background information was collected and analyzed within PIAAC-L. PIAAC-L consists of three follow-up waves to the initial PIAAC 2012 survey. The present paper describes the rationale for PIAAC-L and the benefits of conducting a longitudinal PIAAC follow-up study in Germany. In addition, we outline the general design of PIAAC-L and the specific design of the three waves of data collection. Finally, we address the analytic potential of PIAAC-L data set and its availability to the scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effect of globalization on public expenditures allocated to different stages of education. First, we derive theoretically that globalization's influence on education expenditures depends on the type of government. For benevolent governments, the model suggests that expenditures for higher education will increase and expenditures for basic education will decline with deepening economic integration. For Leviathan governments, on the other hand, the effects of globalization on public education spending cannot be unambiguously predicted. In the second part of the paper, we empirically analyze globalization's influence on primary, secondary, and tertiary education expenditures with panel data covering 104 countries over the 1992-2006 period. The results indicate that globalization has led in both industrialized and developing countries to more spending for secondary and tertiary and to less spending for primary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the impact of various factors on teacher effectiveness is considered in the South African context. The Teacher Effectiveness Model is constructed to answer the research question whether it is the low quantity of teachers or predominantly their low quality that contributes to the basic education crisis of Quintile 1 to 3 schools in the Western Cape, South Africa. The model illustrates the impact of improving the quantity and quality of teachers within the province. This research question is answered when the system exhibits an increase of 13% in the success measure when the quantity is improved and an increase of 10% in the success measure when quality is improved. Improvement in both factors, however, gives the best result with a 17% increase in the success measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observing the transition from industrial work to more and more digitalised work in the last decades, in this paper we discuss changes in employment and the relevance of numeracy in adult basic education and in working environments. In a knowledge society, the demand for highly qualified professionals is growing. It is questionable what effects this need will have on other occupational groups. Is there a higher risk of becoming more vulnerable as a result of a so-called 'polarisation of the labour market'? Dealing with change in employment structures for industrialised countries, the authors examine the change in numeracy practices in the International Adult Literacy Survey compared with that in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies. In a comparison of the two large-scale assessments, the authors are able to confirm a polarisation in the sense of more higher- and lower-qualified jobs and less medium-qualified jobs. Numeracy practices, however, have been decreasing across all occupational groups over the last 3 decades. Today there is a higher risk of becoming vulnerable if the occupations are part of a middle qualified job. More critical numeracy skills and a visibility of numeracy at work could reduce the risk of vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In dealing with over-indebtedness and poverty, numeracy appears necessary for affected persons, in order to use the scarce money available with foresight and to avoid financially negative decisions. However, numeracy as an essential part of (financial) basic education for adults has not yet been systematically taken into account in German debt counselling. Nor are the difficult conditions concerning over-indebted life situations considered sufficiently in theoretical models of numeracy or financial literacy. There is a lack of knowledge in adult mathematics education about the mathematical requirements in the context of over-indebtedness and the numeracy practices of persons affected. In this paper we therefore intend to clarify the understanding and significance of numeracy practices in over-indebted life situations from the perspective of German debt-counselling professionals. The empirical basis comprises qualitative data of two group interviews with debt-counselling professionals (n = 11). Amongst other things, our findings show the complexity of contextual factors in mathematical demands and numeracy practices in precarious living situations, which can help to develop current thinking on numeracy and financial literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to describe the findings of a national research project which sought to evaluate the design and application of purpose built software for teaching reading in Arabic in the First Cycle of Basic Education (Grades 1-4) in Oman. Funded by his Majesty the Sultan of Oman's Grant for Strategic Research, an experimental methodology was used to investigate the effectiveness of e-learning on Grade 4 student outcomes in comprehension and reading aloud. The sample consisted of four fourth-class students' groups with 52 students for two experimental groups and 53 students for two control groups. A pre- and post-test was designed, reviewed and conducted. The research findings prove the effectiveness of the software on the students' achievement in reading comprehension; and that the students' attitudes towards the use of software in learning Arabic are positive. The research discusses these findings, suggests recommendations, and future steps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper addresses the perceived benefits from gamification in the context of special education. It presents the findings of a study evaluating the effects of a specific gamification element (badges) on the engagement of five students with special learning needs, through online courses developed on the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS). The results indicate that this particular gamification element yielded positive effects on students' engagement and on their overall attitude towards the educational process in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Reading has been widely discussed, mainly due to the published results of international performance tests of schoolchildren. The gaps generated in literacy hinder the development of basic skills necessary for reading, which will have a negative impact on the teaching-learning process from elementary school to high school. This study aimed to compare the reading performance of the students in public and private schools through tests of the Brazilian reading processes-PROLEC-SE-R. Methods: Cross-sectional study. The Brazilian adaptation of the PROLEC-SE-R was administered to 436 students: 221 from the state school (G1 6th year, n = 30; G2 7th year, n = 33; G3 8th year, n = 35; G4 9th year, n = 31; G5 1st year, n = 32; G6 2nd year, n = 30; G7 3rd year, n = 30) e 215 private schools (G8 6th year, n = 31; G9 7th year, n = 31; G10 8th year, n = 30; G11 9th year, n = 31; G12 1st year, n = 30; G13 2nd year, n = 31; G14 3rd year, n = 31). Tools of descriptive and bivariate analysis were used. Results: Superior performance of the private school students on spelling tests helps their reading as evidenced by their scores for syntactic and semantic processes. When the knowledge of the use of the word in text, extraction of meaning and its understanding was needed, the difficulty of access to the mental lexicon of the studied population became evident. Conclusion: The PROLEC-SE-R, in addition to establishing the reading profile of elementary and high school students, shows that the gaps in teaching and learning, which exist between public and private education in the literacy period, accompany students throughout the basic education cycle. Knowing the reading profile and in which process there is a disruption is important so that the teaching of specific strategies can be promoted throughout the entire schooling process, especially in primary and secondary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores, through a case study of the World Bank's pursuit of universal basic education, the gulf between the Bank's dialogue with international civil society elites and its treatment of grassroots civil society in its development practice. It argues that the World Bank is pursuing a conscious program to build a global elite governance system similar to Bank vice-president J. F. Rischard's concept of global issues networks, in which experts from business, government, and civil society will set globally binding social and economic policies. There is a risk of co-optation of international NGOs into this autocratic global managerial system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in advancing the cause of education for all and livelong learning. After examining the claimed benefits of ICTs for promoting education and schooling, and the characteristics of education and the basic education movement in Asia, the paper focuses on providing a case study of one country in South-East Asia, that of Myanmar, regarding the use of ICTs to achieve lifelong education for all. The paper reports on a research study being undertaken by the author which examines how ICTs are being harnessed to support educational needs in the formal education system in Myanmar, including basic education, teacher development, and in the higher education institutions under the Ministry of Education. The study focuses specifically on the applications of ICTs for increasing access and improving quality in the context of the Information Age. The research is based on a field survey and case studies of best practices and innovations in the applications of ICTs to education in the Myanmar education system. By identifying the conditions that must be addressed in making effective use of ICTs for learning and teaching, the results of this study provides much needed feedback to assist the Ministry of Education in Myanmar to operate most cost-effectively in this area. Although the paper specifically examines the situation regarding one particular country, lessons learnt from the experience of Myanmar have much to offer researchers, policy makers and practitioners regarding the applications of ICTs to education development in other parts of Asia, and indeed in other parts of the world. However, the extent to which the results of this research study are generalizable to other developing countries has yet to be ascertained, since this is beyond the scope of the study reported on in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is part of a 3-year strategic research project to measure the effectiveness of the design and use of new software for learning Arabic. However, this paper's particular objective is to evaluate the use of technology in the Omani basic education schools as it is perceived by the Arabic language teachers. The study follows the descriptive methods using a questionnaire as the main instrument. It was found that teachers mostly use computer software and presentation devices to introduce and explain their lessons. Significant differences were found among teachers in terms of teaching experience in favor of the (1-3 years) category but there was no significant difference attributed to the technological expertise. The research discusses these findings and suggests recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have indicated that students' writing skills benefit from contextualized L1 grammar teaching, in which language structures are observed and analyzed in authentic texts and as embedded into teaching of reading and writing. The contextualized approach is also promoted by the current Finnish curriculum for basic education. This study investigates the relationship between grammatical understanding and writing skills using statistical methods as well as a complementary qualitative analysis of student texts. The data are derived from a large cross-sectional assessment of L1 learning achievement in Finnish year 9 students (N = 6,044). Linear regression analyses indicate that grammatical understanding is a significant predictor of writing skills and correlates strongly with the syntactic, stylistic, genre-related, and orthographical quality of the students' argumentative texts. Weaker writers use less complex vocabulary and sometimes "lose control" of syntactic structures. Learning grammar is related to metalinguistic understanding which, in turn, helps writers to analyze and control their language use, and thus produce better texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many quarters, attempts are underway to identify learning outcomes in higher education which are context-neutral or ‘generic’; such measures could provide new ways to assess and compare outputs from higher education. This paper considers potential challenges in using such broad learning outcomes across contrasting disciplinary and national settings. An empirical contribution is provided by an analysis of data from the international REFLEX survey for Norwegian and English bachelor’s degree graduates. This sheds some light on the relationships between graduates’ broad learning outcomes (general competencies), their national contexts and their disciplinary area. It finds variations in competencies across subjects and countries, suggesting that general competencies of the type often suggested as generic learning outcomes may be unstable and problematic to compare across contrasting settings. It highlights the need for comparative research into variations in learning outcomes and graduate competencies considering disciplinary and national factors. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, I discuss Universal Basic Education (UBE) in relation to the teaching and learning of mathematics in Southern Africa. I present the status of UBE for all countries in the region and then use 3 selected examples: Botswana, Malawi, and Zambia, to illustrate the provision of mathematics in the general framework of UBE in the countries. I draw from results of SACMEQ evaluations to compare the 3 countries' quality of primary education and also the mathematical achievement of learners. According to the evaluations, countries that have better age-appropriate enrolment and provide a better quality of primary education seem to have better mathematical achievement than countries that have less age-appropriate enrolment and less quality of primary education. While this might seem obvious, it is important to note because of the many challenges that some Southern African countries are facing in their efforts in providing quality mathematics education to all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explored (1) the developmental trend of student level of reasoning across grade level in pattern generalization; (2) the mediatory role of task variables in the developmental trend of student level of reasoning within and across tasks; and (3) developmental trend of student level of reasoning associated with strategy use across grade level. A test designed to measure student level of reasoning was given to a sample of 1232 students from grades 4 to 11 from 5 schools in Lebanon. The Structure of the Learned Outcomes or Responses (SOLO) was used as a theoretical model. Results show that student level of reasoning exhibited an increasing trend across clusters of grade levels and that there were several SOLO levels in each cluster of grade levels. Type of task (immediate, near, far) and function type (linear, non-linear) seem to mediate the development of level of reasoning across grade level but the complexity of the task (simple, more complex) did not. Students used several strategies in each cluster of grade levels and the developmental trends of student level of reasoning associated with strategy use were not uniform and varied across clusters of grade levels, thus supporting a neo-Piagetian interpretation of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematics educators have long emphasised the importance of attitudes, beliefs, and feelings towards mathematics, as crucial in motivating (or not) its learning and use, and as influenced in turn by its social images. This paper is about images of mathematics. Our search for advertisements containing such images in UK daily newspapers, during 2006-2008, found that 4.7 % of editions included a 'mathematical' advert, compared with 1.7 % in pilot work for 1994-2003. The incidence varied across type of newspaper, being correlated with class and gender profiles of the readership. Three quarters of advertisements were classified as containing only very simple mathematics. 'Semiotic discursive' analysis of selected advertisements suggests that they draw on mathematics not to inform, but to connote qualities like precision, certainty, and authority. We discuss the discourse on mathematics in advertising as 'quasi-pedagogic' discourse, and argue that its oversimplified forms, being empty of mathematical content, become powerful means for regulating and 'pedagogising' today's global consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explored how engagement developed over time during a proportional reasoning unit for a group of US bilingual Latino/a students, with particular attention to aspects of social and cultural activity that supported students' engagement. Our findings suggest that student mathematical engagement developed primarily as a relational process characterized by students' social relations across time, their understandings about their relationships with mathematics, and the important relations emerging across proportional reasoning ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In most parts of the world today, the goal of providing all children with free and Universal Primary Education (UPE) has received broad national and international support and some educational systems have evolved from predominantly 'fee-charging' towards 'fee-free' status in recent times. In Ghana, for example, the endorsement of Education for All (EFA) and millennium development goals (MDGs) agreements coupled with commitment to internal constitutional reforms have resulted in the initiation of the Free Compulsory Universal, Basic Education (fCUBE) policy. Dishearteningly however, in many low-income countries (including Ghana), verbal commitments to these laudable social goals do not appear to be translated into the needed changes in policy and practice. This article draws on a case study of the fCUBE policy implementation to provide insights into the complexities involved in operationalising UPE policy initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa. The methodological approach involved the critical discourse analysis of interviews with Ghanaian education officials who mediate policy at the 'meso-level'. Owing to the commitments of the fCUBE policy to enhancing the educational opportunities and outcomes for the socially and economically disadvantaged, the paper sees it (i.e. the fCUBE policy) as deeply rooted in social democracy. However, it is argued that as long as there is a blurring in meaning of the intentions encapsulated in its title, primary education in Ghana cannot be said to be 'free', 'compulsory' and 'universal'. It is concluded that accentuating policy purposes in low-income countries is not inherently problematic but that the challenges lie with how the intentions and provisions of policy are conceptualised and operationalised in context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood is a critical period of rapid physical, cognitive, and psycho-social development of a child. The quality of care and education which a child receives at this crucial age will determine to a great extent the level of his/her physical and cognitive development in the future. In Nigeria, Early Childhood Care, Development and Education (ECCDE) is an aspect of Universal Basic Education which was introduced in 1999 to increase the access of children to basic education and improve the state of education in the country. While all hands are on deck to ensure successful implementation and achievement of the objectives of the scheme, it is unfortunate that ECCDE is facing some challenges thus making it unrecognized in Nigeria. This paper examines the challenges of early childhood education in Nigeria. To improve the situation, the following measures are recommended: establishment of more public crèche, kindergarten, and nursery schools by the government; enforcement of the use of mother tongue in the teaching of children; training more personnel in the field of early childhood education in tertiary institutions; and introducing unified curriculum as well as providing more infrastructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Building a strategic direction for education ultimately rests on the extent, to which we resolve the key issue addressed by UNESCO’s International Commission on Education for the 21st Century (the Delors Report): what kind of education is needed to create the kind of world, we want to emerge in the future? Certainly, globalisation brings with it many new challenges, opportunities and dangers and global forces are impacting on the directions being taken by education systems around the world. At the same time, we, individually and collectively, must strive to determine our own destiny. The direction in which education heads depends both on the global forces shaping our common future, and on the policy choices and programs, we put in place over the next decade. In this paper, it is argued that in the 21st century, we need a renewed sense of the purpose in education, one which restores harmony in human development by giving greater emphasis to the social, cultural and moral dimensions of education. In essence, we must learn to live together and develop the competencies needed tackle the social, environmental and economic challenges facing us in a rapidly changing, complex and unequal and conflicted world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is true that SBM shapes and charts the direction of school operations, it is interesting to discuss how a developing country like the Philippines is influenced by this reform strategy as a structural and procedural framework in managing its system of education, particularly, its basic education sector which through the years has been criticized for its alarming state as shown by its performance indicators rates. This paper purports to provide a panorama on how school-based management as a restructuring framework is viewed and interpreted by the basic education sector which constitutes the largest portion of the country’s educational system. Specifically, the eight key elements of successful SBM schools, namely: (1) an active vision; (2) meaningful decision-making authority; (3) distribution of power; (4) development and use of knowledge and skills; (5) collecting and communicating information; (6) rewards for progress; (7) shared leadership; and (8) cultivating resources, were used to serve the purpose of this discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights how a developing country like the Philippines incarnates a learner-centered approach in its overall education framework. Specifically, key policies and strategies relative to curriculum development, pedagogical issues, educational innovation and evaluation, professional development of teachers and school-community dynamics are discussed on the basis of the platform of hermeneutics of retrieval, the hermeneutics of the actual and the hermeneutics of the potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article sheds light on discrimination that denies basic education to Rohingya refugee children currently living in the unregistered Kutupalong refugee camp at Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The condition of basic education is partially due to the discrimination they experience in Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is further shaped by limited education opportunities they are offered in the host country, Bangladesh. Employing a qualitative method, this study interviewed 18 informants from three categories: namely, Rohingya refugee children, guardians, and teachers (from Burmese and Bangladeshi backgrounds) and administered four focus group discussions to develop a deep understanding of their experiences. The results indicated that the unjust education opportunities provided by the Myanmar government and its divisive control of Rakhine State create various and linked forms of discrimination. The study revealed that ethnic identity, gender, religious background, age, and economic status play crucial roles in denying refugee children basic education in Myanmar and Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the concept of "basic education" from the Declaration of the World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA, Jomtien 1990), this paper explores the impact of the non-formal education programme (NFPE) of the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) in the achievement of basic education for rural Bangladeshi children. Using an instrument developed previously in Bangladesh, three groups with different educational experiences were assessed: (1) children who attended BRAC‘s NFPE; (2) those attending formal school; (3) children who had never attended school. A total of 720 randomly selected children, who live in five rural areas of Bangladesh were assessed in this study. Of the four components of basic education, BRAC children did significantly better in life skills and writing than their peers in formal schools. Equal performance was observed in reading and numeracy. Although the children who had never attended school in general did poorly, some had developed life skills knowledge and more than half had acquired numeracy skills. This study concludes that BRAC‘s education programme has a positive impact on basic education in rural Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined whether the teacher-student relationship (TSR) served as a protective factor for students from families of lower socioeconomic status (SES). It was based on data from a standard mathematics assessment and survey using student and teacher questionnaires that were developed by the Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality (CICA-BEQ) in China in 2016, which included 8707 fourth-grade Chinese students nested within 164 classes. We used multilevel structural equation models (MSEM) to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy in mathematics in the relationship between SES and mathematics achievement and the moderating role of TSR in the direct and indirect relationship between SES and mathematics achievement at both the student-level and the class-level. The results suggested that the effect of SES on mathematics achievement was mediated by academic self-efficacy in mathematics both at the student-level and the class-level. The results also demonstrated a significant interaction between TSR and SES for self-efficacy both at the student-level and the class-level. Additionally, statistics indicated that TSR moderated the indirect relationship between SES and achievement via academic self-efficacy in mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nations transfer educational reform models for the systematic improvement of education. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Gulf Cooperation Council states, which have implemented primarily Western decentralized reform models to overhaul their educational systems. This article reports non-empirical research, written as a conceptual analysis that examines the current situation of the educational reform in Qatar. The theory of education transferring serves as a conceptual framework to scrutinize Qatar's recent educational change to Project-based Learning. This illustrates the shift from the initial decentralized reform to its current centralized state. Contextual factors that influence decentralization are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assesses the extent to which children's language preference and their home environment matter for literacy retention. Using data from the Complementary Basic Education (CBE) program in Ghana, the authors found that large numbers of disadvantaged students reverted to not even being able to read a single word following school closures over a four-month holiday period. Widening literacy gaps were found for girls who reported they did not receive instruction in a language that they understood or did not have the resources, support, or activities at home to enable them to continue to learn while schools were closed. For boys, widening literacy gaps were only influenced by resources, support, or activities at home, but not by language preferences. The article findings suggest that schools and teachers must pay closer attention to language preference, particularly for girls, in order to ensure that language of instruction is not a barrier to literacy retention. The article also provides further evidence to support the growing claims that home supports are essential for reducing inequities in learning outcomes during school closures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to describe how underlying vocabulary knowledge manifests into vocabulary usage, and in turn, how usage predicts writing quality among adult basic education (ABE) learners. ABE learners were administered tasks that measured vocabulary knowledge, in the forms of both vocabulary breadth and depth. Participants were also given a composition writing task, and these samples were evaluated for overall writing quality and vocabulary usage. A mediating model was constructed to describe the relationships among variables. This model indicates that vocabulary depth is predictive of writing quality through the mediating variable of vocabulary usage after controlling for the direct contribution of vocabulary breadth. We found no evidence that vocabulary breadth contributes to writing quality when controlling for vocabulary depth and vocabulary usage. The results of the study reveal important relationships among vocabulary knowledge and vocabulary usage in written work that warrants further investigation in developing learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mathematical modelling is endorsed as both a means and an end to learning mathematics. Despite its utility and inclusion as a curricular objective, one of many questions remaining about learners' modelling regards how modelers choose relevant situational attributes and express mathematical relationships in terms of them. Research on quantitative reasoning has informed the field on how individuals quantify attributes and conceive of covariational relationships among them. However, this research has not often attended to modelers' mathematization in open modelling tasks, an endeavor that invites further attention to theoretical and methodological details. To this end, we offer a synthesis of existing theories to present a cognitive account of mathematical model construction through a quantity-oriented lens. Second, we use empirical data to illustrate why it is productive for theories of modelling to attend to and account for students' quantitative reasoning while modelling. Finally, we identify remaining challenges to coordinating different theoretical accounts of model construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In activities based on proof without words (PWW), we developed, students are given a PWW– a diagram that alludes to the proof of a mathematical theorem. The students work collaboratively to construct a proof alluded by the PWW, and then each student writes and submits a proof attempt. In a 3-year design-based study, we investigate and develop PWW-based activities for advancing upper secondary students' proficiency in constructing proofs. We use the concept of gap-filling as a theoretical framework. In a nutshell, gap-filling is an action of adding information absent in a text that a reader does for sense-making. We inquire whether secondary school students independently construct a proof when a PWW is at their disposal, what characterizes those gaps that students identify and fill, and how PWW design principles influence students' gap-filling. We identified four categories of gaps: key idea, generality, constructional, and figure property justifications. We find that students mainly fill key idea gaps but not generality gaps and that PWWs that presented the construction procedure led more students to fill the constructional gaps. However, PWWs that did not explicitly present some figures' property led more students to fill those justification gaps. We identify five PWW design principles that can enhance secondary students' gap-filling and conclude that a meticulous design paves the way to implement PWW-based activities for fostering mathematical proving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated how 46 pre-service teachers (PSTs) planned for differentiation of instruction in mathematics. Content analysis was utilized to explore the differentiation strategies included and student characteristics considered in PST plans and how PSTs used differentiation strategies and student characteristics to differentiate lesson content, process, product, and environment. In addition, a rubric was designed and utilized to analyze the level of detail PSTs provided in their plans. Results indicated that overall, PSTs were developing in their planning for differentiation of instruction, using general terms to describe the modifications they would make to meet student needs. Moreover, results revealed that PSTs included strategies to differentiate lesson content and environment most often in their plans and frequently considered student readiness levels when planning for differentiation. Findings also revealed that PSTs need support in learning how to plan for differentiation based on student cultural backgrounds. Implications for mathematics teacher preparation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: It is often assumed sleep duration has decreased and sleep schedules have delayed over the last decades, as society modernized. We aimed to investigate changes in the sleep patterns of school-age children over time. Methods: We compared the sleep timings, durations, and disturbances of primary school-age children in 1995 and roughly two decades later, in 2016. Data from 666 children attending the 3rd and 4th grades of basic education were combined from two different cross-sectional school-based studies conducted within the same educational region of mainland Portugal using the same parent-report questionnaire (Children's Sleep–wake Patterns Questionnaire). Results: Mean sleep duration did not differ significantly between the two time points (schooldays: t =.118, p =.906; free days: t = 1.310, p =.191), albeit the percentage of children sleeping the recommended number of hours decreased significantly in 2016 when compared to 1995 (schooldays: χ2 = 4.406, p =.036; free days: χ2 = 16.859, p <.001). Wake-times advanced on free days in 2016. Difficulties on settling to sleep alone and returning to sleep were more prevalent in 2016, as well as fearing the dark and needing lights on or parent's presence to fall asleep. Conclusions: Sleep onset-related disturbances appear to have increased from 1995 to 2016. One possible explanation for this increase might be the change in parental practices preventing children from learning to fall asleep autonomously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) advancement has led to the digitization of school selection and placement systems in a developing economy such as Ghana. As a result, the Ghana Education Service (GES) in 2005 introduce the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) to improve selection and placement transparency and equity of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates into Second-Cycle Schools (SCSs), and to reduce the number of human errors connected with the manual system of BECE candidate selection and placement. This study employed a critical realism paradigm and a qualitative method approach underpinned by the Fit and Viability theory to evaluate the CSSPS implementation in a developing economy particularly Ghana since its commencement and determine how well the task and technology match (fit) the demand of CSSPS in addition to its economic factors, IT Infrastructure, and organizational viability have impacted its general performance. Twenty-five (25) respondents were chosen and interviewed based on their level of involvement and the various roles they play in the CSSPS implementation for this study via purposeful sampling. The results revealed that, while the CSSPS was a good fit for the reason for which it was introduced, its viability goals were not fully met. The findings also indicated that CSSPS performance level when introduced was below expectation but has improved over time, hence satisfactory performance. The study extends the fit viability theory beyond IS adoption and implementation to pinpoint the CSSPS's required task and environmental needs, as well as its implementation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid changes in globalization and technology advancement, self-directed learning is argued repeatedly as a key competency needed to survive in the twenty-first century. In August 2019, the Taiwan Ministry of Education implemented the new Curriculum Guidelines for 12-Year Basic Education. Being Taiwan's first official curriculum that promoted self-directed learning, this study contributed to the emerging knowledge of how the introduction of the curriculum guidelines affected students' readiness for self-directed learning. Three cohorts of high school students from seven schools returned 10,020 valid surveys. The Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS), a reputable instrument developed by Lucy Guglielmino (2000), was used in the study. The results provided a bird's-eye view of evidence supporting our explanations for the positive, though slight, effect of implementing new curriculum guidelines in fostering self-directed high-school learners. Moreover, the progression of self-directed learning readiness appeared differently among schools and among different demographic associations. We suggest that future researchers both (a) qualitatively explore how specific latent variables were changed in different instructional interventions, and (b) conduct panel studies to advance our understanding of curriculum reform and learners' self-direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, both India and Vietnam have successfully expanded access to schooling to near-universal levels and have shifted their focus to quality-oriented policy reform. Yet, international and national evidence shows strongly contrasting learning profiles for children within the two systems. Simple indicators of numeracy suggest similar learning levels in both countries for 5-year-olds, but data suggest that, by the time they are 15, Vietnamese pupils outperform those in many OECD countries, while many pupils in India fail to master even the most basic skills. This article examines evidence from the Young Lives longitudinal surveys for Vietnam and the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on the diverging learning profiles of children in the light of their socioeconomic, cultural, and educational contexts. It considers various explanations for this divergence, including recent education policies, and highlights potential areas for cross-country policy learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I investigate the long run relationship between education, industrialisation and growth. I evaluate the impact of primary schooling on the economic development of France between the 1830s and 1914. To do so, I rely on very precise data on education at the level of municipalities. I instrument educational achievements, namely enrolment rates and schooling years, by the proximity of municipalities to printing presses established before 1500. This method returns a positive impact of an early high educational achievement on growth during the nineteenth century. This indicates a positive effect of the acquisition of basic education and elementary skills on the development of French municipalities. Therefore, the accumulation of human capital within primary schools contributed positively to growth during the nineteenth century and up to World War I, the core period of modernisation and industrialisation in France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive review of China’s policy for the integration of ICT in basic education from 1988 to 2021 through a mixed-methods research on 179 policy documents. I identified three phases of China’s evolving policy system for the integration of ICT in basic education. The policy focuses on the innovation of teaching, the construction of infrastructure, and the cultivation of ICT competence to promote education reform and modernization, which finally contributes to education equity and quality. To achieve these targets, in recent 10 years, joint efforts and open communication have been stressed in the policy. This study provides a quantitative foundation for understanding policy change for the integration of ICT in basic education in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]