Evaluating Education: Normative Systems and Institutional Practices – serie

This book presents a number of fundamentally challenging perspectives that have been brought to the fore by the national tests on religious education (RE) in Sweden. It particularly focuses on the content under the heading Ethics. It is common knowledge that many teachers find these parts difficult to handle within RE. Further, ethics is a field that addresses a range of moral and existential issues that are not easily treated. Many of these issues may be said to belong to the philosophical context, in which “eternal questions” are gathered and reflected upon. The first chapters highlight the concepts of ethical competence and critical thinking. In the following chapters the concept of ethical competence is analyzed with regard to teachers’ objectives and to students’ texts, respectively. These chapters pursue a more practice-related approach and highlight specific challenges identified from both teacher and student perspectives. Next, the book raises the issue of global responsibility. What kind of critical issues arise when handling such matters at school? Further, can contemporary moral philosophers contribute to such a discussion? In turn, the book discusses the role of statistical analyses with regard to national tests, while the closing chapters present international perspectives on the book’s main themes and concluding remarks.The book’s critical yet constructive approach to issues regarding assessment in ethics education makes a valuable contribution to an ongoing debate among researchers as well as to the everyday communication on testing in schools and classrooms. As such, it will appeal to scholars in ethics education and researchers in the field of assessment, as well as educators and teachers interested and engaged in the task of testing ethics in school contexts where curricular demands for valid and authoritative evaluation may provide important guidelines, but may also pose challenges of their own.

This Open Access book analyses the interplay between governing, evaluation and knowledge with an empirical focus on Swedish higher education. It investigates the origins, logics, and mechanisms of evaluation and quality assurance reforms and their dynamic interactions with institutional, national and European policy contexts. The chapters report findings from extensive empirical studies that offer detailed insight into the work of governing in higher education, by giving voice to actors at various levels and positions including the ministry, national agency and University employees. Central themes include the influence of European policy, changing system designs, media relations and quality assurance enactments in University institutions. The book also explores the ways in which an emerging professional cadre, labelled qualocrats, enacts and mediates evaluation and quality assurance policy and practice. Taken together, the expanding evaluation machinery in Swedish highereducation highlights the pivotal role of knowledge as a governing resource, and points to special features of evaluation as a particular form of practice that makes knowledge work for governing.

This Open Access book analyses the interplay between governing, evaluation and knowledge with an empirical focus on Swedish higher education. It investigates the origins, logics, and mechanisms of evaluation and quality assurance reforms and their dynamic interactions with institutional, national and European policy contexts. The chapters report findings from extensive empirical studies that offer detailed insight into the work of governing in higher education, by giving voice to actors at various levels and positions including the ministry, national agency and University employees. Central themes include the influence of European policy, changing system designs, media relations and quality assurance enactments in University institutions. The book also explores the ways in which an emerging professional cadre, labelled qualocrats, enacts and mediates evaluation and quality assurance policy and practice. Taken together, the expanding evaluation machinery in Swedish highereducation highlights the pivotal role of knowledge as a governing resource, and points to special features of evaluation as a particular form of practice that makes knowledge work for governing.

This open access book is the first account of the whole diversity of teacher education in the Nordic region: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Åland Islands and Sápmi (where the Sámi people live).

This open access book is the first account of the whole diversity of teacher education in the Nordic region: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, the Åland Islands and Sápmi (where the Sámi people live).

This edited volume highlights the deep issues of the educational markets and school segregation from its origins to its effects. The book discusses both global trends as well as focalized examples. It’s based on a comprehensive review of existing literature and an in-depth analysis of two educational systems: The French-speaking community in Belgium and Chile. Both contexts are characterized by a high degree of segregation, a structural environment of free choice of schools and competition between public and private schools financed with public resources. This book provides an up-to-date synthesis of scientific knowledge on the issue of segregation and rigorous analyses of recent policies aimed at reducing segregation in educational systems. It highlights the complexity of a process of change, the importance of its legitimacy among the population and the need of identifying the ethical and social justice issues surrounding school segregation. By providing a solid theoretical and empirical synthesis, this book is a great resource to students, researchers and academics in education, as well as social scientists and policy-makers.

This edited volume highlights the deep issues of the educational markets and school segregation from its origins to its effects. The book discusses both global trends as well as focalized examples. It’s based on a comprehensive review of existing literature and an in-depth analysis of two educational systems: The French-speaking community in Belgium and Chile. Both contexts are characterized by a high degree of segregation, a structural environment of free choice of schools and competition between public and private schools financed with public resources. This book provides an up-to-date synthesis of scientific knowledge on the issue of segregation and rigorous analyses of recent policies aimed at reducing segregation in educational systems. It highlights the complexity of a process of change, the importance of its legitimacy among the population and the need of identifying the ethical and social justice issues surrounding school segregation. By providing a solid theoretical and empirical synthesis, this book is a great resource to students, researchers and academics in education, as well as social scientists and policy-makers.

This volume addresses the central question facing the future of higher education around the world, whether and why universities need to exist at all. This book accepts the question’s premise: It is not clear that the university is any longer needed as an institution -- that is, unless its defenders recover what had made the university the revolutionary institution that over the past two centuries has not only defined the shape of modern systematic inquiry but also the distinctiveness of the societies that have housed them. In short, what is required is a reanimation of the spirit of Wilhelm von Humboldt for our times; hence the book's title and subtitle. Humboldt was responsible for relaunching the university as the vanguard institution of 'Enlightenment' to which we continue to pay lip service – and sometimes not much more than that. Admittedly, the task of relaunching Humboldt today is made difficult because many of the concrete achievements associated with the Humboldtian university – not least academic disciplines and nation-states – are increasingly seen as problematic if not obsolete. However, the global reach of the Humboldtian vision in its 19th century and 20th century heyday offers hope that it may be recovered in the 21st century. The book focuses on the performative character of the academic vocation, what Humboldt memorably characterized as the 'unity of research and teaching' in the same person, a role model for students and society at large. The book's seven chapters develop this theme in a historically and philosophically nuanced way in terms of the Humboldtian vision of knowledge, sense of free expression and critical judgement, and commitment to translation and publicity.

This volume addresses the central question facing the future of higher education around the world, whether and why universities need to exist at all. This book accepts the question’s premise: It is not clear that the university is any longer needed as an institution -- that is, unless its defenders recover what had made the university the revolutionary institution that over the past two centuries has not only defined the shape of modern systematic inquiry but also the distinctiveness of the societies that have housed them. In short, what is required is a reanimation of the spirit of Wilhelm von Humboldt for our times; hence the book's title and subtitle. Humboldt was responsible for relaunching the university as the vanguard institution of 'Enlightenment' to which we continue to pay lip service – and sometimes not much more than that. Admittedly, the task of relaunching Humboldt today is made difficult because many of the concrete achievements associated with the Humboldtian university – not least academic disciplines and nation-states – are increasingly seen as problematic if not obsolete. However, the global reach of the Humboldtian vision in its 19th century and 20th century heyday offers hope that it may be recovered in the 21st century. The book focuses on the performative character of the academic vocation, what Humboldt memorably characterized as the 'unity of research and teaching' in the same person, a role model for students and society at large. The book's seven chapters develop this theme in a historically and philosophically nuanced way in terms of the Humboldtian vision of knowledge, sense of free expression and critical judgement, and commitment to translation and publicity.

This open access book compares and analyses the results in twelve countries of the two latest international student assessments: Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2021 (PIRLS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment 2022 (PISA) and tries to disentangle the effects of the pandemic from the long term trends in education.It is one of the first, or maybe the first, published volumes to provide a global assessment of the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student learning as measured by independent international comparative surveys.The 12 countries discussed in this volume represent a wide variety of educational systems – including Chile, Ecuador, England, Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and the United States. It compiles diverse scenarios including countries that are high performers; countries that perform at the OECD mean; and countries that are struggling to attain the OECD average. Each country has its history that reflects efforts to cope with pandemic school closures and to improve educational achievement.A major topic discussed in this edited volume is related to understanding the diverse circumstances for the variations in results within different countries: Why did learning loss in specific locations? How much learning was lost? Why is a country continuously declining? Why is another country constantly improving? Why is there higher or less levels of inequality? How is a country regularly improving with an outdated curriculum? Which policies have worked, and which ones have not? What can we do now? This book is a valuable contribution to answer these concerns based on a diverse sample of countries and research questions.

This book argues that judging and justifying are the two skills that specifically require academic training. In the current times, where the value of a university degree is increasingly questioned, it’s important to emphasize the significance of these skills. This volume addresses that universities are not necessarily stressing these skills, preferring instead to focus on the delivery of ‘content’ and the provision of ‘credentials’. Its main focus is on articulating the positive case for the university’s focus on judging and explaining as its core ‘transferable skills.’ It involves examining the historical and philosophical case for this claim, canvassing arguments made – and the example set -- by Plato, Francis Bacon, Immanuel Kant, William Whewell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Paul Feyerabend, Richard Rorty, John Rawls and Robert Nozick – as well as considering how they might be realized in today’s world.This book extends the arguments in Fuller’s recent book, Back to the University’s Future: The Second Coming of Humboldt (Springer, 2023).

This volume presents a systematic exploration of science governance from a normative political theory perspective. It introduces a ‘republican’ governance model for science research and education, centered on universities, aligning with Karl Popper's concept of the ‘open society’ despite the elite nature of scientific expertise. This extensively revised 25th anniversary edition addresses the intensified tension noted in the original. As science's need to assert authority has grown with its deeper involvement in political, economic, and cultural spheres, a more educated public, often influenced by maverick scientists via social media, has increasingly challenged this authority. The Governance of Science anticipated several aspects of this issue, which are revisited here, considering the future of ‘science republicanism’ today. While specific arguments have evolved, the book's initial call for the ‘secularization’ of science remains pertinent.

This book offers a detailed analysis and assessment of the state of education round the world. The argument is made that education and curriculum practices are deficient for two reasons. The first is the adoption by governments, policy-makers and practitioners of a set of knowledge practices that can be broadly characterised as empiricist and technicist, and which has come to dominate how curricula are constructed and certainly how education systems and their work can be described. The second is the adoption of a model of curriculum that is both backward-looking and, in its own terms, confused and muddled. This book then sets out an alternative model, which is more cogent and better focused on human wellbeing.

This book offers a detailed analysis and assessment of the state of education round the world. The argument is made that education and curriculum practices are deficient for two reasons. The first is the adoption by governments, policy-makers and practitioners of a set of knowledge practices that can be broadly characterised as empiricist and technicist, and which has come to dominate how curricula are constructed and certainly how education systems and their work can be described. The second is the adoption of a model of curriculum that is both backward-looking and, in its own terms, confused and muddled. This book then sets out an alternative model, which is more cogent and better focused on human wellbeing.

This book presents a number of fundamentally challenging perspectives that have been brought to the fore by the national tests on religious education (RE) in Sweden. It particularly focuses on the content under the heading Ethics. It is common knowledge that many teachers find these parts difficult to handle within RE. Further, ethics is a field that addresses a range of moral and existential issues that are not easily treated. Many of these issues may be said to belong to the philosophical context, in which “eternal questions” are gathered and reflected upon. The first chapters highlight the concepts of ethical competence and critical thinking. In the following chapters the concept of ethical competence is analyzed with regard to teachers’ objectives and to students’ texts, respectively. These chapters pursue a more practice-related approach and highlight specific challenges identified from both teacher and student perspectives. Next, the book raises the issue of global responsibility. What kind of critical issues arise when handling such matters at school? Further, can contemporary moral philosophers contribute to such a discussion? In turn, the book discusses the role of statistical analyses with regard to national tests, while the closing chapters present international perspectives on the book’s main themes and concluding remarks.The book’s critical yet constructive approach to issues regarding assessment in ethics education makes a valuable contribution to an ongoing debate among researchers as well as to the everyday communication on testing in schools and classrooms. As such, it will appeal to scholars in ethics education and researchers in the field of assessment, as well as educators and teachers interested and engaged in the task of testing ethics in school contexts where curricular demands for valid and authoritative evaluation may provide important guidelines, but may also pose challenges of their own.

​This book deals with the development of New Zealand’s standards system for primary school achievement, ‘Kiwi Standards’, which took effect from 2010 onwards and is becoming increasingly embedded over time. The approach, where teachers make ‘Overall Teacher Judgements’ based on a range of assessment tools and their own observations rather than using any particular national test, has created predictable problems with moderation within and across schools. It has been claimed that this ‘bold’ Kiwi Standards approach avoids the narrowed curriculum and mediocre outcomes of high-stakes assessment in other countries. Yet this book suggests it just produces another variant of the same problems and demonstrates that even a relatively weak high-stakes assessment approach still produces performative effects. The book provides a blow by blow account of the development of a policy including the continuous repositioning of New Zealand’s Government as it has sought to justify the policy in the face of opposition from educators. Indeed the Kiwi Standards tale provides a world-class example of teachers fighting back against policy, with the help of academics. There is an indigenous Māori aspect to the story as well. Finally, this book also provides comparative international perspectives including responses from well-known US, English and Australian academics.

​This book deals with the development of New Zealand’s standards system for primary school achievement, ‘Kiwi Standards’, which took effect from 2010 onwards and is becoming increasingly embedded over time. The approach, where teachers make ‘Overall Teacher Judgements’ based on a range of assessment tools and their own observations rather than using any particular national test, has created predictable problems with moderation within and across schools. It has been claimed that this ‘bold’ Kiwi Standards approach avoids the narrowed curriculum and mediocre outcomes of high-stakes assessment in other countries. Yet this book suggests it just produces another variant of the same problems and demonstrates that even a relatively weak high-stakes assessment approach still produces performative effects. The book provides a blow by blow account of the development of a policy including the continuous repositioning of New Zealand’s Government as it has sought to justify the policy in the face of opposition from educators. Indeed the Kiwi Standards tale provides a world-class example of teachers fighting back against policy, with the help of academics. There is an indigenous Māori aspect to the story as well. Finally, this book also provides comparative international perspectives including responses from well-known US, English and Australian academics.

This open access book focuses on the dimensions of the discourse of 'The World Class University', its alleged characteristics, and its policy expressions. It offers a broad overview of the historical background and current trajectory of the world-class-university construct. It also deepens the theoretical discussion, and points a way forward out of present impasses resulting from the pervasive use and abuse of the notion of "world-class" and related terms in the discourse of quality assessment. The book includes approaches and results from fields of inquiry not otherwise prominent in Higher Education studies, including philosophy and media studies, as well as sociology, anthropology, educational theory.The growing impact of global rankings and their strategic use in the restructuring of higher education systems to increase global competitiveness has led to a ‘reputation race’ and the emergence of the global discourse of world class universities. The discourse of world class universities has rapid uptake in East Asian countries, with China recently refining its strategy. This book provides insights into this process and its future development.