Ang Winston, Nanyang Technological University

Since independence in 1965, within a relative short span of four decades, Singapore has evolved from a resource scarce nation into a prominent economic center of the world. Much of this success can be attributed to the effective and focused implementation of centralized public school educational policies that are pragmatic and efficient. Of late, as Singapore attempts to consolidate its economic position by capitalizing on the country’s arts and cultural resources, the public school system’s ability to realize the national vision is once again an issue on public consciousness.

This paper examines the evolution of the Singapore education system and highlights various challenges facing Singapore’s educators and policymakers in promoting art education reforms in schools. The main thesis of this research focuses on the feasibility of negotiating meaningful art education practices within a competitive and result-oriented education paradigm. Analysis of reactive data (semi-structured interviews) and non-reactive data (policy documents and visual texts) are methodological tools used in this inquiry.

Joong Peter, Nipissing University

Large-scale educational reform orchestrated by governments in the 1990’s continues to emerge in classrooms around the world and therefore change continues to a challenge today’s classroom teacher (Sowell, 2005; Fullan, 2001). Teachers do not resist change they simply resist the transitions required to change because transitioning requires letting go of the tried and true lesson plans, activities, and assessment modes in order to move into a new reality (Sowell, 2005).

The Chinese Department of Education introduced its ‘quality education’ reform in 1999 (Liu & Qui, 2005). This Chinese reform involved major changes in curriculum content, use of varied teaching and learning methods and to a variety of assessment modes (Liu & Qi, 2005). These changes required extensive transitioning as traditional modes of instruction needed to be replaced by a variety of new modes which seemed to be the centerpiece of this educational reform effort. Canada ( Ontario) introduced its own secondary reform in 1999 with similar initiatives as China (Ryan & Joong, 2005).

This study was undertaken to compare the secondary reform perceptions of Chinese teachers to Canadian ( Ontario) secondary teacher reform perceptions. The inquiry exposed and detailed curriculum planning, teaching strategies, assessment and evaluation strategies, special education programs, post-secondary opportunities, high-stakes examination elements, and sex and gender attitudes in both jurisdictions. Research modes used in both countries were the administration of questionnaire surveys, classroom observations, and personal interviews. Sample schools included twelve secondary school in Ontario, Canada and sixteen schools in Guangxi, China. At each sample school, 25 teachers and 160 students were asked to complete survey questionnaires. There are several commonplaces within each system of education. Even though teachers in Canada and China claimed to be fond of the reform, many had trouble with transitioning. Teachers in both countries had difficulty discarding a percentage of current teaching praxes in order to recreate new resources and attempt to put into practice new modes of teaching while using these new resources. This tension was further heightened when in-service professional development and resources were lacking. Each survey effort produced diverse responses to the question of teaching methods. Teachers seemed to have a different perspective than their students. Although somewhat unclear it appears that teachers were using more activity-based teaching and learning modes than they did before the reforms. Students indicated that teachers used teacher talk and demonstration methods as they had before the reforms. There were concerns with classroom management as new modes of teaching and transitioning created new situations and opportunities for students to deviate from expected behaviors. A Chinese researcher, Tao (2003) suggests that reforms involve not only the entire education system but also society. Therefore the reform needs to have widespread input, acceptance, and implementation if it is to have the desired affect.

Sun Hechuan , Shenyang Normal University

Zong Feifei, Shenyang Normal University

Zheng Dan, Shenyang Normal University

Ma Xiaoyan, Shenyang Normal University

The educational inspectorate is an important part of educational administration and evaluation. It monitors the quality of education and contributes to the provision of better education and care through effective inspection and regulation. This study attempts to compare the educational inspectorate systems in China and in the Netherlands from several different dimensions. First, it compares the historical development of the educational inspectorate systems in these two countries. Second, it compares their latest development, including the roles and responsibilities of the two inspectorates, their functions and evaluation contents, the strategies and methods used by the educational inspectors in China and in the Netherlands. Finally, the implications of this study for policy-makers, inspectors, educators and practitioners will be presented.

Ho Sui Chu Esther, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

As parents constitute a major group of stakeholders in the school based management reform in Hong Kong, this paper attempts to examine to what extent and how their involvement in school governance are accepted by principals, teachers and themselves in Hong Kong. The paper aims to clarify the decision areas of parental involvement in school governance and to compare the zone of acceptance for parental involvement in school governance by principals, teachers and parents.

In 2004-2005, a total of 294 principals returned the questionnaires, a response rate of 32%. Among these 294 schools as represented by the responded principals, 94, i.e., 10% of the primary school population, were selected to provide a representative sample on the school types and the socioeconomic backgrounds of parents. It was to these 94 schools, teacher and parent questionnaires were sent. A total of 2879 teachers and 15800 parents participated in the two surveys respectively.

Factor analysis with a Varimax rotation method helps delineate three factors from the 15 areas within each group for stakeholders. The three factors are staffing and curriculum, school administration, student and parent affairs. ANOVA analysis indicated that, on the whole, the three stakeholders are consistently more receptive to parental involvement in the issues related to ‘parent and student affairs’; follow by issues of ‘school administration’. Yet the view of principals appears to have the highest degree of acceptance among the three stakeholders in these two aspects. Regarding decision issues related to “curriculum and staffing”, all the three stakeholders tend to have lower expectation for parents to participate, yet the expectations of parents are higher than both teachers and principals.

Wood Derris Lynette, University of Tasmania

This research examines by means of a questionnaire survey, the risk taking perceptions and participation rates of Senior Secondary female students aged from sixteen to nineteen years (16-19)in a Northern Tasmanian Senior Secondary School. The questionnaire focusses on the females' personal gaols and risk taking activities within the context of social capital psychological,social, educational and risk taking health background theory and in the three domains of family, school and community.Comparisons are drawn between the town and country female participants.The adolescents' revelations about their personal qualities, sense of self, personal and parental control and future aspirations are compared and contrasted with their actual risk taking activities.The females demonstrate participation rates at varying levels within the selection of fourteen (14) risk taking activities chosen for this study. Both groups demonstrate high levels of aspirations, a positive influence and authority from their mothers and the negative influence of fathers. Religious affiliation and church attendance is diminished, whilst community involvement revolves around sport and musical activities. Both groups report happy childhoods,resilience to trauma and a very positive sense of self and personal identity.The students distinguish between positive and negative risk taking activities,with the negative focussing on alcohol related risk taking, sexual activity and marijuana use with very little knowledge and concern for the health related implications involved.The findings emphasise the sense of self, the impact of the family, and the effect of religious beliefs in curbing negative risk taking activities.

Carroll Dave, Dublin Institute of Technology

Lawless Deirdre, Dublin Institute of Technology

Hussey Matt, Dublin Institute of Technology

Gordon Damian, Dublin Institute of Technology

O'Leary Ciaran, Dublin Institute of Technology

China , like most countries in the Asia-Pacific region, is experiencing unprecedented economic growth within a context of globalisation and the emergence of a global knowledge economy. This growth is fuelled by developments in Information Technology (IT) and high quality IT services. Skilled industry-oriented IT graduates are needed who will be immediately productive in an internationally competitive environment. Any barriers to providing such graduates must be removed through national educational reforms, driven by research-based best practice, and informed by international experience.

In response to the challenges faced by China in producing industry-oriented IT graduates the Emersion project (Education to Meet the Requirements of the Software Industry and Beyond) was established in 2003, as a partnership project between the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), and the University of Wolverhampton (UoW), funded under the European Union (EU) ASIA-Link programme to develop, implement, and evaluate an industry-oriented IT education model and system in China.

A key aspect of this model is its quality assurance (QA) system which is an integration of the QA systems from the partner institutions (HIT-DIT-UoW).

This paper describes the motivation for introducing a QA system in education, describes Emersion and the motivation for the Emersion QA model, and then describes the QA model and its role in ensuring sustainability and evolution of the education model in the face of globalisation.

The importance of the research described in this paper is that it provides an example of successful international co-operation between researchers, educators, and policy-makers, guided by research-based best practice, to achieve a common understanding of quality issues in industrially focused education. Government policy-makers, educators, and industrialists developing industry-oriented education models will gain insight into the issues faced when educating current and future generations of IT professionals to meet the challenges of a globalised knowledge economy.

Mistades Voltaire, College of Science , De La Salle University

Maritime transport plays a vital role in the world economy carrying 97% of world trade. Modern navigation equipment has paved the way for faster and more sophisticated sea vessels. The complexities of the rules and regulations governing modern merchant marine shipping prompted the introduction of new requirements for maritime education and training as outlined in the Standards for Training, Certification, and Watch-keeping 1995. The world’s merchant marine fleet is manned by some 1.2 million-strong skilled seafarers. The Philippines, with 280,000 registered seafarers, is the world’s largest seafarer supply nation, providing 28.1% of the available pool of seafarers. Recent studies, however, have noted the need to increase the number of Filipino seafarers who are qualified for senior officership positions on board sea vessels.

The paper describes the pilot study, conducted during the summers of 2004 and 2005, aimed at improving the quality of inputs to maritime institutions. An intensive review course covering topics in English, Math, and Physics were conducted during an eight-week period for selected incoming first year students of Philippine maritime institutions. The students¡¦ academic performance and recommendations for future endeavors are reported.

Tung-Cheung Elaine, The Hong Kong Institute of Education

In response to the curriculum reform in liberal studies proposed by the Curriculum Development Council in 2005 in Hong Kong, teachers could view the guidance curriculum with a new perspective and serve as curriculum builders, developers and practitioners. In order to understand the current practice in Hong Kong, PRC and Australia as the Asian Pacific countries as a comparative study, this reseach study has closely examined the guidance curricula in five primary schools in Hong Kong and two primary and secondary schools in Sydney through school visits, observation and interviews. Research reports indicated that the Australian schools have well adopted the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education. Following the American, British and Australian guidance models with some indigenous school culture, Hong Kong schools have adopted the guidance curriculum in different names, inter alias Personal Growth Education, Personal and Social Education, Life Education, Civic and Moral Education. As the guidance curriculum has long been established in both east and west education systems, it is timely for education policy makers, teachers and school counsellors in Hong Kong to bring the guidance curriculum in perspective for the whole child development and the well being of individual students. Unless educators take a proactive role in the domain of affective education through curriculum change with the developement of the guidance curriculum, the promotion of the comprehenisve guidance system in the current education reform is but another empty slogan.

Tufan Enver, Gazi Universitesi

The first serious attempts for music education during the Ottoman Era (also referred to as “secular institutes”) were the palace schools (Enderun). These schools are regarded as the first civilian educational institutions not giving “religious music education.” After adopting the western art music in state schools since 1826, a totally different and new music education process has begun within the framework of military and band music. In regard to tools, methods, techniques, and applications the process of music education has shown great progress since then. Music has taken its place as a subject area and as a course in the curricula first in female teacher schools (1869) and then in the male teacher schools and male middle schools (1910). During the late Ottoman era an increase has been observed in the number of schools offering music courses. However, they were mostly in big cities and therefore were not spread throughout the country. Again in this period, almost no progress was seen in training and educating music teachers and as a result the interest towards western music and the new Turkish music were limited to the enlightened elite. After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey a countrywide development in all areas was aimed and public education was given a great importance. That provided a leverage for developing music education. In this era music education and related policies were founded and formed on the basis of Atatürk’s views and ideas. The opinion was that Turkish national music could be developed by relying on the tunes and melodies of the folk music and processing them according to the modern rules of music. Music teacher education began in the Republican era in 1924 in Ankara. Today this school is a part of Gazi Faculty of Education. It played a vital role in growing the academic staff of almost all schools training prospective music teachers.

Walker Elaine, Seton Hall University

Ramaswami Soundaram, Seton Hall University

Finkelstein Martin, Seton Hall University

The 2000 Dakar Framework for Action reaffirmed the collective commitment of national governments, regional and international bodies, as well as non-governmental organizations (NGO) to the achievement of the Education for All (EFA) goals and targets. The EFA goals are premised on the fundamentality of education as a human right, and its importance to sustainable economic and social development. EFA targets six education policy areas as means of equalizing educational opportunities and access for all citizens. These are: (1) Early childhood education; (2) improved access to high quality free and compulsory primary education particularly for girls, children in poverty and ethnic minorities by the year 2015; (3) equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills programs by adults and youths; (4)50% improvement in adult literacy by the year 2015, especially among women; (5) the elimination of gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and gender equality by 2015; and (6) improvement in the overall quality of education. Early assessments of progress towards meeting these goals reveal the profound challenges that resource-deprived countries, as well as post-crisis countries have faced. Moreover, regional differences, class and income inequalities and socio-cultural factors have contributed to the difficulties that have bedeviled the attainment of EFA goals in countries in South West Asia, the Americas and the Carribbean, particularly with respect to sub-national minorities. This paper uses the most current available data from UNESCO to track EFA progress in 75 countries in East, South and West Asia, the Pacific, the Americas and the Carribean. The analysis is overlain by a critical examination of issues related to ongoing assessment of EFA targets, national policy discourses and decision-making with respect to the goals, as well as proposals to improve coordination, implementation and monitoring at the national and regional level.

Vaidya Shipra, National Council of Educational Research and Training

The first decade of 21st century is characterized by a profound transformation in Indian economy. Communication technology has opened the four walled office operations with systems like World Wide Web forging global connections. Affordable user friendly office technology has made it possible for organisations and communities to flourish in the new economy, in a professional and cost effective manner.

Does education at the school level fit into this workplace revolution? The advent of globalisation offers rethinking about the selection and delivery of instructional content and integration of new sources of information in order to develop competence with knowledge. The answer lies in integrating basic skills across the school curriculum. There are certain core attributes such as thinking creatively, self belief, initiative and positive attitude towards work which should be fostered among children encouraging them to make unique, innovative and creative contribution in the world of work, whether in employment or self employment.

The paper deals with exploring and institutionalising the pedagogic role of entrepreneurship in education for all children irrespective of their economic, social or cultural background in the context of building a truly national system of education.

Section I seeks to provide a perspective on the recommendations of various educational committees set up by Government of India for placing ‘productive work’ at the heart of education, particularly the school education, since the Gandhian proposal of Nai Talim at The National Education Conference in 1937 to National Curriculum Framework (NCERT)– 2005.

Section II deals with the study of growth and expansion of entrepreneurship in India. The Global Monitor Report (GEM), India – 2002, has established benchmarks in respect of contribution made by education to the levels of entrepreneurship.

Finally, it discusses the key challenges for appropriate skilled pedagogy which is perhaps more than lesson content in securing the degree of integration of entrepreneurship across all subject areas taught in the school.

Lai Yeung Susanna Wai Ching, The University of Hong Kong

Adolescent suicide and mental health problems have received increasing concern globally in the past decade. The World Health Organization estimated that adolescent suicide accounts for at least 100.000 annual deaths in young people world-wide (WHO,2001). Many countries have published national pamphlets and guidelines to combat the problem. In Hong Kong, suicide is the leading cause of death for those aged 15-24. This age group has the highest admission rate for attempted suicide at the A&E departments of hospitals under the Hospital Authority. Prevalence rates of suicidal ideation and attempts among high school students in other countries have been found to be around 20% and 8% respectively (Gould & Kramer, 2001; Brener et al., 2000). Local studies found that around 20 - 42% had ideation (Chan, 1995; Fong, 1993; Stewart et al., 1999; Yip , 2001). Suicidality is only one of the several serious mental health problems among adolescents. Young people also face other psychosocial issues that warrant urgent actions. As educators, we need to provide timely intervention to build adolescents’ resilience. However, local teachers also face tremendous pressures posed by implementing the numerous education reform measures in recent years. Surveys have found that teachers feel highly stressed and some are overloaded to the extent that time spent with students have been adversely affected. Therefore, the present paper attempts to explore how teachers can fulfil both the objectives of implementing education reform and concurrently building students’ resilience; and by doing so, maximizing effects of efforts made. This paper will examine several education reform measures, specifically individual Key Learning Areas, Learning Goals and the generic skills, to suggest how educators can implement and meet the demands therein and at the same time cultivate students’ resilience.

Jehan Almeer, Higher Education Institute

Salman Salman, Higher Education Institute

Recognising that Qatar now is part of the globalised world and that education is the corner- stone of building a knowledge society, it was necessary to reform Qatar’s educational system so that it was capable of overcoming current and emerging challenges. Among these challenges is ensuring that young Qataris have access to, and graduate from, the best available institutions world-wide.

This paper explains the how education reform policy relates to higher education – which in Qatar also includes post school further education and vocational education and training.

The paper explains the policy developed by the Higher Education Institute which is designed to support high achieving Qatari learners study at the world’s most prestigious higher education institutions. This of course recognises that Qatar cannot host the levels of excellence and scope provided by internationally recognised universities and colleges, yet it just this type of experience and educational quality which is needed as Qatar takes its place in the global economy of the 21st century. This policy links scholarship programmes, institutional quality, institutional accreditation, and will ultimately provide mechanisms which equate qualifications gained at very different institutions.

Among the first tasks undertaken by the Higher Education Institute is creating a single, authoritative list of the universities and colleges where young Qataris will be supported by government scholarships. While it is recognised that the institutions on the list represent the world’s best, Qatar is also concerned that in using public resources to support study overseas, often at considerable cost, that the outcomes obtained are closely matched to Qatar’s labour market needs.

In this paper, a discussion of how Qatar arrived at this list of colleges and universities is provided.

Jehan Almeer, Higher Education Institute

Salman Salman, Higher Education Institute

Recognising that Qatar now is part of the globalised world and that education is the corner- stone of building a knowledge society, it was necessary to reform Qatar’s educational system so that it was capable of overcoming current and emerging challenges. Among these challenges is ensuring that young Qataris have access to, and graduate from, the best available institutions world-wide.

This paper explains the how education reform policy relates to higher education – which in Qatar also includes post school further education and vocational education and training.

The paper explains the policy developed by the Higher Education Institute which is designed to support high achieving Qatari learners study at the world’s most prestigious higher education institutions. This of course recognises that Qatar cannot host the levels of excellence and scope provided by internationally recognised universities and colleges, yet it just this type of experience and educational quality which is needed as Qatar takes its place in the global economy of the 21st century. This policy links scholarship programmes, institutional quality, institutional accreditation, and will ultimately provide mechanisms which equate qualifications gained at very different institutions.

Among the first tasks undertaken by the Higher Education Institute is creating a single, authoritative list of the universities and colleges where young Qataris will be supported by government scholarships. While it is recognised that the institutions on the list represent the world’s best, Qatar is also concerned that in using public resources to support study overseas, often at considerable cost, that the outcomes obtained are closely matched to Qatar’s labour market needs.

In this paper, a discussion of how Qatar arrived at this list of colleges and universities is provided.

Lake David, James Cook University

Queensland is a huge administrative area with a heavily-populated south-eastern corner and thinly scattered communities that can be separated by hundreds of kilometers of dirt road, or, in other areas, not accessible by road. Students from remote communities perform relatively poorly in science. In this study, parents, students and teachers in nine schools from rural and regional Queensland were interviewed about their perceptions of school science.

The study found that the demographic included all the economic diversity of urban areas in the towns, with additional diversity arising from the agricultural sector and the indigenous communities.

Remote was not only defined by the distance to administrative centres, but also by the size of the population with which students and teachers could easily interact. Remote in this sense meant the locality lacked a critical mass of peers to share with, and access to diverse resources to extend experience. Teachers, students and parents had differing interpretations of remoteness, each with positive and negative connotations.

For teachers transferred to remote schools, remoteness meant less administrative and educational support balanced by opportunities to express creativity, from barramundi farming to rainforest interpretation. While these teachers missed their urban ties, students and their parents often reported how important their family and community support was for the success of the school. Locally-raised and long-term teachers with knowledge of local needs and opportunities were well regarded.

Despite reporting frequent visiting science museums and similar activities, remoteness from resource diversity required extra time and money in excursions for students, professional development for teachers, and transport and maintenance for equipment.

Respondents in all groups constantly referred to the tension between ‘mainstreamed’ curriculum for remote students to succeed in the city, and localised curriculum to benefit the community. Possible approaches to ease this tension are discussed.

Hameedy Mansoor A., University of Alzahra

Asslaanee Seemaa, University of Alzahra

Self-regulation is one of the major cornerstones of constructivist theories of learning/teaching, as is global development. Self-regulation refers to the ability to think, feel, and behave, without the direct help of others, while solving problems. Self-regulated learners not only know different learning strategies, but they also value and use them appropriately. As such self-regulation is a part and parcel of the notion of global development, wherein simultaneous development in all fronts (cognitive, affective, and behavioral) is desirable and hence, sought. To seek such goals requires educational methods compatible with their philosophical underpinnings. The traditional methods in education seem to lack such compatibility. Therefore, in any educational system, like that of Iran, wherein the utilization of these methods is commonplace, learners would not develop globally and would be dependent on others, a situation that clearly calls for change.

Iran ’s 20 million strong student population in K-12 grades faces many challenges among which high rate of school-failure/grade-repetition and low performance on international tests of mathematics, science, and reading necessitate a re-evaluation of educational goals and methods. Efforts undertaken in this direction have resulted in in-service re-training courses on methods, among others. Nevertheless, the net effect of all such efforts should culminate in the last grade and be manifested in the college preparatory year. A group of 161 college preppies along with 50 of their teachers were randomly selected and surveyed on self-regulation and global development in relationship to the educational methods used in their school. The results support the advantage of the new methods that are based on constructivism. However, the actions taken seem more cosmetic than deep down alterations, as the new methods are filtered through the traditional thinking expressed in the traditional terms and concepts without addressing the philosophical underpinning of both old and new methods.

Marsh David D., University of Southern California

Olsen Carlye, University of Southern California

Schools have long been regarded as the most important unit of change in student performance. However, recent research has pointed to the importance of the district in influencing student performance (see Marsh, 2000 for a review). Despite recognizing the importance of school districts in improving instruction (Kerr, Marsh, & Ikemoto, 2005; Marsh & Kerr, 2004; McLaughlin & Talbert, 2004), limited research has focused on the how districts and schools work in partnership to influence learning. This study examined how districts act as agents of changes to improve teaching and learning, and how those district reforms were implemented at the school level. Research questions focused on the district’s design for improving teaching and learning, factors that shaped the district design, the implementation strategy used by the district to implement the design, the extent of the implementation and effectiveness of the district design. At the school level, research questions focused on the how school-level efforts facilitated the implementation on the district design, the extent the district design had been implemented at the school and in the classroom, and the effectives of the district’s design at the school and classroom levels. Four districts and 8 schools participated in the study.

Case study analysis yielded a number of important and significant findings. All district designs sought to improve pedagogy over a period of 3 to 4 years and used research-based strategies. Each district clearly articulated that the central goal of their reforms was to improve the achievement of all students in the district. The impetus for implementing districtwide instructional improvement varied based on local conditions, but increased federal and state accountability was influential in the development of each district’s efforts. Policy implications will be linked to national and regional efforts to improve teaching and learning in Asian countries.

Tang Thomas K. W., The Open University of Hong Kong

Despite the close tie of Hong Kong with many countries of the Asia Pacific region in terms of trade, tourism, culture and a sizable non-Chinese Asian “minority” living here, there is very little in the Hong Kong school curriculum to promote regional mutual understanding. This paper will use a null curriculum perspective (Einser, 1985) to analyze the curriculum in Hong Kong, especially the proposed New Senior Secondary curriculum, which is newly developed in recent years after the diminishing British influence on Hong Kong education.

This basis of the arguments put forward is, in part, documentary analysis of the final drafts of the Curriculum and Assessment Guides recently released by the Government, including those of Liberal Studies, History, Geography, Economics, as well as Travel and Tourism. By comparing with what are in the curriculum, the peculiar absence of the Asia-Pacific may represent a state of mind of curriculum policy makers rather than simple omission or ignorance. The absence of Asia-Pacific in the official documents is likely to create a null-curriculum effect; namely, a hidden curriculum exists because of some obvious issues being left out of the official curriculum. In the case, secondary school students are likely to be skewed in their understanding of the roles of Hong Kong among neighboring countries. Data from some focus group discussions among students just graduated from secondary schools indicate that such a null-curriculum effect is quite common. With little improvement over this omission in the New Senior Secondary Curriculum to be implemented a couple of years down the road, the skewed understanding is likely to persist.

Koh Yong Chiah, Ministry of Education

Lim Fei Victor, Ministry of Education

Fong Yick Chee, Jurong Junior College

Adriadi Hendri, Ministry of Education

"Teach Less, Learn More!" Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, gave this clarion call in his inaugural National Day Rally Speech in 2004, exhorting schools to “Teach Less” so that students can “Learn More”.

While it can be seen as an impetus for educators to better their pedagogy and innovate their lessons for a richer and more fulfilling classroom experience as well as a heralding of curriculum review where content reduction could possibly happen, these efforts, at best, produce exiguous results.

The key towards an effective attainment of the somewhat nebulous Teach Less Learn More (TLLM) lies not just in the producers of quality engaged learning but also in the recipients of the learning themselves. The dismal failures of some of the well-crafted lessons designed with the best intentions when met with dispassionate and disinterested learners are proverbial. This is indicative that just as selecting the seeds and methods of planting is important, crucial emphasis must be given to the tilling of the ground so that it is ready for the seed.

This preparation of the ground is one of the most essential components of education -- Character Development. Only a student that is disciplined and motivated will engage actively with the learning in the classroom and only a student that has a strong sense of appreciation of the learning and a keen sense of responsibility will take learning beyond the confines of the classrooms and the textbooks. In other words, the instilling of sound moral values in our students is imperative, if quality engaged learning is to take place.

Such an ethos places due emphasis on values education and in Jurong Junior College (JJ), we have made People Development a prime focus. With the in-house developed People Development Conceptual Model which synthesises Asian philosophy which emphasises the harmony of complements along with Western theories in psychology and pedagogy, JJ has developed a unique People Development Training Framework, which is formulated along the lines of the Asian thinking model of 修身 , 齐家 , 治国 , 平天下 .

This paper outlines a college in Singapore's journey to build a model of education which focuses on people development as well as the transformation and amelioration that this endeavour has harvested.

Atasoy Basri, Gazi Universitesi

Tasar Mehmet Fatih, Gazi Universitesi

The purpose of this paper is to give a broad overview of Turkish Educational system with emphasis on teacher education starting with the late Ottoman and during the Republican eras. The problems and issues in the Turkish educational system are discussed with reference to socio-economical background of the country. The major efforts of educational change and reform during the past 100 years are going to be delineated. Considering that nowadays Turkey is going through a major educational reform in elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels of education and reviewing and evaluating options available for progress from around the world this overview is of the educational system will shed light on future prospects for reform. It is deemed that for an international audience a review of this kind is capable of bringing glimpses of experiences from a developing country and from a Eurasian perspective. After the great devastation and destroy that the World War I and the War of Independence brought to the country the foundations of the Turkish educational system was laid down by the founding fathers in the early republican era by inviting the most influential figures of the time, such as John Dewey, into country and receiving their advice. In the following years one of the main concerns has always been the increase the percentage of the literate people in the whole populations. In doing so The Ministry of Education continually sought to increase the number of well educated teachers in all subject areas and give them appointments all around the country. It is seen that Turkey is still struggling to meet the needs of the population in terms of number of adequate school buildings (classrooms) and qualified personnel. The faculties of education are playing a vital role in educating the teachers with high competence.

Gallagher Tony, Queens University Belfast

Over recent decades most educational reforms have aimed at raising educational standards. In Northern Ireland concern at the high level of variance in educational outcomes helped promote a reform of the post-primary education system. This included a proposal to end the use of high-stakes tests at the end of primary education as a means of allocating pupils to either academic or vocational schools. Under the new proposals academic selection will end and post-primary schools will be encouraged to work in collaborative networks to ensure access to a wide curriculum for all pupils.

However, the education system in Northern Ireland is also characterised by religious segregation, with separate schools for Protestants and Catholics and only a small sector of joint religiously Integrated schools. Although this institutional division has existed in Northern Ireland for very many years, many have argued that it does not contribute to the amelioration of social conflict and division, and may not help the process of moving Northern Ireland out of a period of political violence. The proposals for school collaboration open up the possibility of encouraging cross-sectoral links between Protestant and Catholic schools in order to render the institutional barriers that exist among young people more porous.

The paper will discuss the genesis of the separate policy strands on standards and the promotion of reconciliation and consider how they have come to be connected in the reform proposals. The paper will highlight the way sectional interests have attempted to block the reform process and will emphasise the importance of pro-active support by government and other agencies. Most importantly, the paper will argue that education reform can and should address a range of priorities, and that reform predicated on the basis of higher standards should be made consonant with key social priorities.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuong, Vietnam Education Foundation

Gray Peter, United States Naval Academy

McNamara Lynne, Vietnam Education Foundation

Director Stephen W., Drexel University

Doughty Philp, Syracuse University

Gamble H. Ray, The National Academies of the United States

Hopcroft John, Cornell University

Rogers Gloria, ABET, Inc.

Silvera Isaac, Harvard University

This paper discusses the conceptual foundation, methodologies, and initial outcomes of the Initiative on the Status of Undergraduate Education of the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF). This initiative is intended to help higher education leadership and management in their efforts to transform curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation methodologies in the sciences and engineering in Vietnam.

Quality assurance along with the evaluation of teaching and learning can provide the information needed to stimulate and sustain the improvement of higher education in Vietnam. This paper will describe the results to date of the VEF Initiative in: (1) appraising the current conditions of higher education in Vietnam; (2) providing recommendations for leadership, for professional development of higher education university teaching staff and administrators, and for the modernization of curricula, pedagogy and evaluation methodologies; and (3) suggesting potential pilot projects focusing on quality assurance.

Visits in May 2006 by a team of U.S. experts organized by the National Academies in the United States and VEF led to the conclusion that five areas are in need of attention: pedagogy of undergraduate teaching and learning, structure and organization of undergraduate courses and curricula, instructor capabilities and attributes, graduate education and research, and evaluation of student learning outcomes and institutional effectiveness.

As a result, pilot projects are recommended that focus on leadership and professional development of Vietnamese teaching staff and administrators. These projects address the issues related to the five areas in ways appropriate to specific academic programs and institutions in Vietnam, including the Vietnam National University and the Ministry of Education and Training. The intent of the VEF Initiative, which focused on the areas of computer science, electrical engineering, and physics, is to provide models for the upgrading of science and engineering as well as other areas of Vietnamese higher education in order to improve the status of science and technology in Vietnam.

Watkins Richard, Supreme Education Council

In recent years, Qatar has embarked on an ambitious education transformation programme - Education for a New Era. The main aim of which is creating a world-class public school system, and Qatar is devoting considerable resources in ways which aim to bring about greatly improved learner achievement.

This paper reviews progress on the reform, reports briefly on bold plans to make Qatar’s schools world-class, and provides a limited description of how the aims of Education for a New Era related to stimulating and sustaining Qatar’s economic and social development.

The paper is particularly concerned with attempts to impose an approach to education - charter schooling - from without, while failing to acknowledge the unique setting and situation of Qatar as a modern nation-state with its own particular needs, history, culture and religion.

This paper also draws upon a review of the evidence – though that is perhaps far too strong a term to use in this context as actual evidence is sadly lacking – which was adduced in support of Qatar’s move to a charter school system based on approaches more commonly seen in the United States.

Significant questions remain about how far Qatar is along the reform path, whether its direction will derive optimal outcomes, or whether there are alternative approaches that should inform the pace of travel and the eventual destination. Beyond the question of speed, there is the equally important issue of scale: just how quickly will reform occur and how many schools will embrace this approach within a reasonable period.

Of course, larger, often implicit questions remain: was Qatar’s decision to adopt an approach to school education reform which is led and sustained by its independent schools, a sensible one, would it produce the outcomes prescribed for it by its champions, or would this approach require substantial local revision and re-organisation to ensure that it works in Qatar?

Harris Michael, Ferris State University

Johnston Michelle, Ferris State University

International comparative studies link educational attainment to economic growth and development by tying national economic power to the educational attainment of the labor force. Specifically, “human capital,” as measured by educational attainment, is an important resource for improving the economic potential of a nation. The link between education and economic growth is particularly significant in developing countries and in nations emerging from conflict like Vietnam and the regions within it. In Vietnam, high school students from the Mekong, where economic progress is slow, perform lower on national tests than their peers across Vietnam. Concomitantly, their teachers demonstrate limited instructional repertoires, skills in curriculum development, and content discipline knowledge. To address those problems and improve student achievement, Ferris State University, a public university in Michigan, and An Giang University in the Mekong Delta created a partnership for educational reform. Through this partnership, Ferris State University, using mixed-delivery and distance learning technologies, will offer its Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with subject area content area concentration is various sciences (e.g., Biology and Chemistry) and mathematics at An Giang University. Vietnamese teachers will gain expertise in their content disciplines as well as curriculum development and pedagogy. They will learn to align content to research-based best practices in instruction and assessment for the purpose of enhancing student achievement. The partnership recognizes that literacy is fundamental to academic success and proposes to integrate literacy concepts within the graduate courses. This paper describes the partnership and initial phases of its implementation using a data-based decision making model.

Airini , The University of Auckland

Langley John, The University of Auckland

McNaughton Stuart, The University of Auckland

In many settings across the globe educational reform has been about compliance and top-down reform. This paper suggests that educational reform is not linear, but a continual process of constructing meaning – as learner, teacher, leader and within a range of organizations. The key to effective education reform is the improvement in relationships between all involved.

This paper describes projects designed to bring about major improvement in school and tertiary student outcomes. Individually the projects will illustrate characteristics of educational reform in local contacts. In combination they will signal key elements essential to getting large scale high-quality school and tertiary education cultures geared to student success.

For the past four years we have been working in projects across New Zealand aimed at improved literacy. We will report on aspects of this work aimed at long-term education reform through policy-research-practice collaboration. The collaboratively designed interventions have resulted in significant improvements in primary school student literacy achievement.

Educational reform in New Zealand secondary education has included understanding the future. This planning method means that greatest attention is paid to those issues that will assume importance in five, ten, fifteen or twenty years time, rather than those immediately present. We will discuss what we are learning about the characteristics of educational reform when focusing on secondary school futures.

From 2001-2005 the reformation of outcomes for underrepresented and underachieving students in tertiary education has been targeted. We will describe a project undertaken in a university setting focused on improved student success rates for teacher education students of Pacific Nation heritage. The importance of personality and innovative in teaching, alongside research, and organisational learning were evident in achieving improved student success.

By describing characteristics of educational reform this paper sets the scene for future possibilities when research, policy and practice work together for student success.