Making Reforms Truly Transform: The case of the Philippine Basic Education by Philippine Institute of Development Studies, Policy Notes. Looking at the analysis and issues raised on the dismal state of Philippine education, one is confronted with the realization that the issues raised are the same year after year. Has nothing been done to improve Philippine education? On the contrary, there have been quite a lot of frameworks for reform in the past 20 years alone; yet, their results have not translated into large-scale, integrated, and sustained outcomes. Philippine basic education was observed to resonate with plaguing the Philippine education system. Half of the school-aged children in the 1920s were outside the reach of schools, Pupil performance was generally low in subjects that relied on English. The policy note argues that despite the several attempts to improve Philippine education through significant reform interventions at the policy level, the analysis of the dismal state of Philippine education tiresome in their repetition year after year. The policy note, which summarizes the analysis and recommendations (Chapter 2) of the 2008/2009 Philippine Human Development Report (PHDR),provides insight into this seeming paradox by focusing on one of the reform measures discussed in the decentralization of basic education chapter. Some of the constraints that prevent education reforms from transforming education include: 1. Department of Education (DepEd) depends entirely on foreign-assisted projects that have activities built into pilot project 2. The reform projects remaining peripheral to the operation of DepEd throughout their implementation – implementation of reforms is no longer sustained by the actors involved in the project after the project ends (use any of the statements) 3. The constant change in the leadership of DepEd Building on previous projects, the BESRA - launched in 2006 - holds much promise for the future of Filipino children. The policy paper points out the challenge for DepEd: how to revise and strengthen its various institutional processes to enable it to carry out its own reform agenda. Key policy recommendations include: assess and manage risks strengthen Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and multisectoral decisions expand advocacy and social marketing of BESRA prioritize capacity building continue developing efficient systems of procurement, financial management, human resources, and formula-based allocation of MOOE prioritize efficient and cost-effective interventions The Policy note concludes that in BESRA lies the hope of widespread institutional reform that would finally lead to changes in the Philippines’ education landscape. It is thus important that BESRA’s multi- component, multilevel, and multidisciplinary agenda gets the necessary focused and sustained implementation across political administrations. Globalization and the changing face of educational leadership: Current trends & emerging dilemmas David Litz Abstract This paper has used a deconstructivist conceptual framework in order to explore and analyze the multifaceted and complex impacts of globalization on educational leadership in the early 21st century. It will be argued that globalization has had far-reaching positive and negative effects on all of the various nation-states, cultures, economies, and peoples of the world and that these have also resulted in the emergence and evolution of a variety of interesting and practical educational leadership paradigms and managerial practices. In addition, this paper will conclude with several recommendations that can be used to guide additional research on the varied aspects and trends of educational leadership in a globalized context, and the development of international or cross-cultural international leadership development initiatives. Redesigning Critical Pedagogy in the Era of Knowledge-based Economy: The Case of Hong Kong Stephen Ching-Kiu Chan and Po-Keung Hui Department of Cultural Studies Lingnan University Abstract In what ways can pedagogy become critical again in schools, and how may Cultural Studies serve as a research and developmental strategy working toward such a goal ? We propose, in this paper, to re-consider the critical functions of Cultural Studies and its productive link s to the designing of critical pedagogy in the current context of Hong Kong. We address this question on three levels of analysis. On the first level we review the roles of cultural (educational) research, with particular reference to evaluation studies on the impacts of the educational reforms in local schools. At the second level we reflect on the effectiveness of cultural (educational) policies by examining the planning and implementation processes of l ocal reforms relating to the Integrated Humanities and Liberal Studies subject. The third level of analysis concerns critical cultural practices, where we look closely at the transformative potential of Cultural Studies as a teaching and research programme in light of its interface with public culture and critical pedagogy of various kinds. Putting these three levels of analysis together, we try to provide a multi-level framework for understanding the complex relationships between critical research, educational policy and cultural practices in the con temporary Hong Kong context, with an aim to generating more effective intervention in the design of critical pedagogy in the era of so-called knowledge-based economy. Introduction Since Tung Chee-hwa became the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) on 1 July 1997, education has been a key policy area of the SAR government. At the start of Mr Tung’s second term, in September 2001, the Curriculum Development Council issued the policy paper Learning to Learn: The Way Forward in Curriculum Development , signaling the launch of a long-overdue educational reform for the former British colony. With a focus on the setting up of the two by this policy paper, we want to reflect on the specific work of Cultural Studies conceived as a critical intellectual project, and discuss its multi-layered intervention in the re-design of critical pedagogy in Hong Kong. This will be handled in three parts. We shall first examine the utility of educational research with reference to evaluation studies on the implementation of IH and LS in local schools. Then we shall discuss the multiple effects of educational policies by looking at the public discourse on LS, as well as the problems of local policy-making in light of their implications for what we believe the Cultural Studies project can deliver today in the social and governmental contexts concerned. Drawing on our experiences in providing teacher training workshops and developing teaching materials for IH and LS, the third part of this paper proposes a model of critical cultural practice. Here we shall look at the transformative potential of Cultural Studies as a teaching and research programme, in light of its interface with public culture and critical pedagogy. The concluding section will put together the evaluation, planning, and implementation of the IH and LS subjects so as to provide a multi-level framework for understanding the complex relationships between critical research, educational policy and cultural practices in the contemporary context, with an aim to generating more effective intervention in the design of critical pedagogy for our time.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 04:51:10 +0000
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