Educational decentralization is a popular reform theme of governments around the world, but with motives, strategies and outcomes as different as the countries themselves. For…
Abstract
Educational decentralization is a popular reform theme of governments around the world, but with motives, strategies and outcomes as different as the countries themselves. For researchers and policy makers alike, there is a growing need to synthesize the positive and negative aspects of these national strategies and experiences. The objective of this paper is to identify and explain the key issues and forces that play major roles in shaping organization and management strategies of educational decentralization. Examples from five Hispanic nations that have initiated decentralization reforms will be utilized to illustrate the major points: Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua and Spain. The paper is organized around a series of questions that tap core decentralization issues, such as national and regional goals, planning, political stress, resource distribution, infrastructure development, and job stability. The paper concludes with a conceptual model of the decentralization process and a series of “lessons learned” from the five nations.
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The difference between developed and less developed countriesresides to a great extent in the effectiveness of their administrativesystems. The objective of this study is to…
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The difference between developed and less developed countries resides to a great extent in the effectiveness of their administrative systems. The objective of this study is to identify and analyse the organisational constraints acting upon and within the Egyptian Ministry of Education that deter its capacity for administrative reform. Critical management processes are examined, such as policy formation, promotion procedures, planning, resource distribution, and local level decision making. Field visits to several regional school systems, as well as interviews with most of the senior ministry officials, were carried out by a team of American and Egyptian researchers. The research is significant because it provides a close examination of a system closed to most Western researchers. The administrative structure of the Ministry will be of interest to scholars because, even though it is highly bureaucratic, it operates with relative efficiency. However, what it cannot do with any degree of effectiveness is change the educational system from its long‐established patterns.
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The educational restructuring movement began with the publicationof the now famous A Nation at Risk report, which providedconvincing evidence that the quality of American schools…
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The educational restructuring movement began with the publication of the now famous A Nation at Risk report, which provided convincing evidence that the quality of American schools was unacceptably low. Two waves of reform rolled across the country during the decade. The first emphasised “top‐down” initiatives put in motion by State governors who identified educators as the problem. The solution was greater accountability, closer supervision, tighter regulation, better teacher screening, tougher graduation standards, and a longer school year. Quickly disenchanted with the insensitivity and inflexibility of the first wave, a second began later in the decade which emphasised that educators were the solution, not the problem. The decade ended with importance given to “bottom‐up” reform initiatives emphasising deregulation, choice, school‐based management, and schools within schools.
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The use of expert testimony in arbitration is explored. Why has it become so important in arbitration? The author has examined when and how to use an expert's testimony. He also…
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The use of expert testimony in arbitration is explored. Why has it become so important in arbitration? The author has examined when and how to use an expert's testimony. He also discusses how to counteract an expert's testimony.
We have observed in the reports of those engaged in the administration of the Acts several references to the practice of milking so that a portion of the milk is left in the udder…
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We have observed in the reports of those engaged in the administration of the Acts several references to the practice of milking so that a portion of the milk is left in the udder of the cow, this portion being removed subsequently and not included in the milk sent out to customers. The inspector for the southern division of the county of Northampton reports that on a sample of milk being found deficient in fat to the extent of 17 per cent., a further sample was taken at the time of milking when a milkman was found to be not properly “stripping” the cows. He was warned. The analyst for the county of Notts writes: “The first strippings obtained before the milk glands have been normally excited by the milking are very low in fat yet are “genuine” milk in the sense that nothing has been added to or taken from it. It is nonsense to talk of genuine milk in the sense that everything that comes from the udder of the cow is to be taken as genuine milk fit for sale.” In a case tried before the Recorder of Middlesbrough, one witness said that among some farmers it was a common practice not to “strip” cows until after the milk was sent away.
This chapter integrates current Chinese education reform into the unique socioeconomic context of China in a transitional time and explores the complexity of education…
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This chapter integrates current Chinese education reform into the unique socioeconomic context of China in a transitional time and explores the complexity of education decentralization in China through an in-depth analysis on changes in education finance, administration, and curriculum development. Mark Hanson's theory of education decentralization is cited to build a conceptual framework for examining education decentralization in China. Previous studies, government documents, laws, and regulations related to the current wave of Chinese education reform are reviewed to capture a true picture of education decentralization in China. In investigating the background, actual actions, and motive of the current Chinese education reform, the chapter demonstrates that the on-going Chinese education reform is moving toward a centralized decentralization. Linking education with the unified national goal of economic modernization, the paradoxical mixture of centralization and decentralization is a strategic means to avoid loss of centralized control. Literature on decentralization reform in Chinese education primarily concentrates on changed Chinese education policies in the reform. This chapter places the focus on the contextual factors that shape the decentralization trend in current reform.
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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some…
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Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.
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In commenting upon a recent action brought by a Mr. Soper for a libel published upon him in a trade journal in regard to the sale of adulterated boots, the Daily Telegraph makes…
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In commenting upon a recent action brought by a Mr. Soper for a libel published upon him in a trade journal in regard to the sale of adulterated boots, the Daily Telegraph makes some excellent remarks, which ought to appeal strongly to all manufacturers, no matter what trade they are engaged in, who are really desirous of conducting their concerns upon honest and straightforward lines. The Daily Telegraph observes that reformers are rarely popular with their rivals, especially when they expose tricks in the trade, and advocate raising the standard of commercial honesty. Mr. Soper, the plaintiff in the case in question, was in that position. He had started a crusade against the practice of adulterating the soles of boots with paper fillings, and advocated a standard mark, in order to distinguish what is genuine from what is adulterated. This was resented by the threatened interests. Mr. Soper raised up enemies, and, in consequence, the article complained of was written, accusing him of “knowingly” selling adulterated boots at his shop while he thus publicly denounced them. The libel lay in the word “knowingly,” for it appeared that adulterated boots were actually sold at Mr. SoPer's establishment. But this was because he had failed to detect their presence; he had taken all the precautions which he could take, and he had cut open a number of pairs; he demanded guarantees from the manufacturers with whom he dealt; and, moreover, he was willing to take back any pair from any customer which were found to contain paper. The boot trade does not emerge with credit from this investigation. It was admitted that adulteration had been going on for the last ten years, and one manufacturer's traveller, when asked whether he was not surprised that paper should be found in the soles of boots costing seven or eight shillings, frankly replied, “Nothing surprises me in the boot trade.” The public will share his truly Horatian attitude of mind. Some such standard mark as that advocated by Mr. Soper seems to be the only method of protecting the public, if, indeed, the public desires to be protected, which seems doubtful. The ordinary customer is as helpless in a boot shop as in a curiosity shop. He must trust the word of the shopkeeper. And in turn the shopkeeper has to trust the manufacturers. The excuses of some of the latter, that the use of paper instead of leather did not mean any profit for them, or that the workmen could not be stopped from using cardboard fillings, will not do. There would be no adulteration if it were not profitable to adulterate. Adulteration seems to be rampant in most industries. One might even say that in some it is no longer the exception, but the rule. Wool, for example, has been treated just as scurvily as leather. Woollen no longer means woollen, but cotton with a pinch of wool. One has to ask for “guaranteed pure wool”— and pay accordingly—to feel any confidence that one is getting wool. So, too, with flannel and silk, and even cotton is adulterated with minerals to give it an essentially false weight. The ingredients from which “shoddy” is made would terrify the future wearer of it if he could see the “devil” at work, tearing up the noisome rags. Ignorance in this respect is becoming more blissful every year. Cheap sweets, cheap jams, cheap table delicacies, and all kinds of foods, all of which are warranted pure by the manufacturers, are, as a matter of fact, adulterated with impunity, and are all, in reality, “nasty” as well as “cheap.” The impotence of Government departments and of the Legislature in face of this condition of things has been demonstrated ad nauseam, and while such efforts as are made by local authorities to detect and suppress adulteration should receive all possible support and encouragement, it must be admitted that there is only one effective way of dealing with the evil—namely, the supply of guarantees of an independent and authoritative type to retail vendors and purchasers.