This book explores the philosophies, barriers and opportunities shaping education environments for children, teachers and student teachers in diverse countries around the world through a series of pertinent articles. These are drawn from the contributors' experiential knowledge of education in contexts such as Australia, Canada, China, Finland, India, Nepal, Palestine, Qatar, South Africa, the UK and Venezuela. The issues raised enable valuable insights into formal education from pre-school to higher education within individual national contexts, while also having significance across state boundaries. They are set against a background of international comparisons, global economies and communications, and environmental and social change. The topics covered include global citizenship, learning environments, inclusion and inequality. Each of the articles introduces a key issue, offers contextualized examples and questions to prompt discussion and further research, along with a guide to further resources. Thoughtfully structured, the editors provide an overarching introduction and concluding chapter, reflecting on global issues and directions of travel in educational policies as well as highlighting countries which are bucking current trends. They also include a short introduction to each part, drawing together chapters and challenging thinking.

This book explores the philosophies, barriers and opportunities shaping education environments for children, teachers and student teachers in diverse countries around the world through a series of pertinent articles. These are drawn from the contributors' experiential knowledge of education in contexts such as Australia, Canada, China, Finland, India, Nepal, Palestine, Qatar, South Africa, the UK and Venezuela. The issues raised enable valuable insights into formal education from pre-school to higher education within individual national contexts, while also having significance across state boundaries. They are set against a background of international comparisons, global economies and communications, and environmental and social change. The topics covered include global citizenship, learning environments, inclusion and inequality. Each of the articles introduces a key issue, offers contextualized examples and questions to prompt discussion and further research, along with a guide to further resources. Thoughtfully structured, the editors provide an overarching introduction and concluding chapter, reflecting on global issues and directions of travel in educational policies as well as highlighting countries which are bucking current trends. They also include a short introduction to each part, drawing together chapters and challenging thinking.

All over the world, governments, policymakers, and educators are advocating the need to educate students for the 21st first century. This book provides insights into what this means and the ways 21st century education is theorized and implemented in practice. The first part, “Perspectives: Mapping our futures-in-the-making,” uncovers the contradictions, tensions and processes that shape 21st century education discourses. The second part, “Policies: Constructing the future through policymaking,” discusses how 21st century education is translated into policies and the resulting tensions that emerge from top-down, state sanctioned policies and bottom-up initiatives. The third part, “Practices: Enacting the Future in Local Contexts,” discusses on-the-ground initiatives that schools in various countries around the world enact to educate their students for the 21st century. This volume includes contributions from leading scholars in the field as well as educators from schools and those working with schools.

Global Perspectives on Education Research echoes the breadth and scope of education research worldwide. It features the work of established and emerging scholars from a range of universities and research institutions in Africa, Europe, and North America. The book's ten chapters are organized around four themes: Education Policy, Teaching and Learning, School Context and Student Outcomes, and Assessment and Measurement. Each chapter offers cross-cultural, transnational, or comparative insights on some of the most pressing challenges and promising opportunities for improving education around the world. Across thematic areas, these perspectives shape new ways of understanding context as an influence on, and a framework for, conceptual insights into education policy and practice at the international, national, and local levels. With chapters on topics including the cultural complexities of literacy, the effect of socioeconomic inequality on student learning, and the tension between education for global competitiveness and education for global citizenship as national policy strategies, Global Perspectives on Education Research addresses issues and questions that will interest education researchers, educators, policy makers, and societal leaders worldwide. This volume is a publication of the World Education Research Association (WERA). WERA is an association of major national, regional, and international specialty research associations dedicated to advancing education research as a scientific and scholarly field. WERA undertakes initiatives that are global in nature and thus transcend what any one association can accomplish in its own country, region, or area of specialization.

This edited volume explores questions about ‘what works’, how, for whom, when, and why in education, and considers how and to what extent such knowledge can be understood and extended across countries and different educational systems. The book starts by presenting an overview of the history of educational effectiveness research and offers examples of current theories of educational effectiveness. Next, it provides exemplars of effectiveness studies that report on educational systems, policies, and practices from across six continents. These studies vary in their research methods and outcomes, illustrating a field of research that is conscious of its origins, its agenda, and its ambition to understand and improve the functioning of schools, networks, and education systems around the world. The book brings these threads together within the final chapter and uses them to signpost directions for future research. 'International Perspectives in Educational Effectiveness Research is an excellent and timely addition to the educational effectiveness literature. It offers a rigorous and insightful range of international perspectives that will be of interest to researchers, policy makers and students of the field.' - Professor Christopher Chapman, University of Glasgow, UK & President-Elect of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement 'This important new volume brings up to date the contributions of educational effectiveness research to the development of policy and practice in the field over the last 50 years. Drawing together the ideas of many of the major researchers in the field, it provides a comprehensive analysis of these earlier contributions, leading to critical commentaries that point to areas for future attention. The editors make use of expertise from a range of disciplines to strengthen the themes that are addressed. Most importantly, the book emphasises the need to pay greater attention to the challenge of equity - arguably the most significant challenge facing education systems internationally. In this respect, a particular strength of the book is the accounts provided from many different parts of the world. These underline the importance of context, a factor often previously overlooked in this field of research. Given all of this, I have no doubt that International Perspectives in Educational Effectiveness Research will become a major source for practitioners, policy-makers and researchers.' - Professor Mel Ainscow, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Manchester & Professor of Education, University of Glasgow, UK

This insightful collection of essays explores the ways in which open education can democratise access to education for all. It is a rich resource that offers both research and case studies to relate the application of open technologies and approaches in education settings around the world. A must-read for practitioners, policy-makers, scholars and students in the field of education.

“It is now time to break down the ideology of exceptionalism in the United States and other Anglo-American nations if we are to develop reforms that will truly inspire our teachers to improve learning for all our students—especially those who struggle the most. In that essential quest, Pasi Sahlberg is undoubtedly one of the very best teachers of all.” —From the Foreword by Andy Hargreaves, Lynch School of Education, Boston College Finnish Lessons is a first-hand, comprehensive account of how Finland built a world-class education system during the past three decades. The author traces the evolution of education policies in Finland and highlights how they differ from the United States and other industrialized countries. He shows how rather than relying on competition, choice, and external testing of students, education reforms in Finland focus on professionalizing teachers’ work, developing instructional leadership in schools, and enhancing trust in teachers and schools. This book details the complexity of educational change and encourages educators and policymakers to develop effective solutions for their own districts and schools.