CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF PAKISTAN NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL POLICIES OF 1992, 1998 AND 2009 WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO EXAMINATION REFORMS IN SINDH BOARD

The objective of the study was to analyze the Educational Polices of Pakistan with specific focus on examination reforms during 1992 to 2009. .The scope of the study focused on the recommendations made by the policy makers regarding examination reforms which were included in the educational policies of 1992, 1998 and 2009. It reviews the observed phenomenon of service delivery failures in public examination in Pakistan although various initiatives ,programs and policies since 1947 to were introduced to increase the inputs to examination but do not produce effective services outputs where it may counts as students cognitive development as it required for competing the international education system. This was a mix-method study using a phenomenological approach for which a questionnaire and an interview protocol were designed to collect the data. Participants were identified through stratified random sampling design in which teachers were included from secondary and higher secondary level schools/colleges. Two hypotheses were formulated for the study. Data was analyzed by using t- test and through content analysis and it was found that education policies do not comprehensively focus on this important area of education system by which students and teacher learning may be measured due to dearth of research culture. This results in no major reforms in the process of reforms and improvement in the examination process both in academic and administrative sides and working of Boards of Education. On the basis of the findings concrete recommendations have been made

Typology of Learning Contents in “Supplementary Textbook for Disaster Prevention Education” – What Are Teachers in the Areas Affected by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995, and the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Striving to Teach Students in Junior High School? –

A supplementary textbook for disaster prevention education was analyzed for understanding the content educators wish to include in disaster prevention curriculums. The text was a condensed textbook – edited by schoolteachers and boards of education in the local governments – from wide areas with a population of one million who were severely affected by the damage and deaths caused by the Great Hanshin-Awaji and the Great East Japan Earthquakes. The targets for analysis were supplementary textbooks for students in junior high schools, published by the five boards of education in Miyagi, Sendai, Iwate, Hyogo, and Kobe. 147 subjects of five supplementary textbooks for disaster prevention education were evaluated as to their applicability to 46 evaluation items. The average of the evaluation items was 11.59 (SD = 2.92). Numerous “Records” (111 subjects, 75.5%) and “Images” (109 subjects, 74.1%), resulted from each evaluation. A remarkable majority of disaster types included “Earthquake disasters” (108 subjects, 73.5%) and “Tsunami disasters” (85 subjects, 57.8%). “Related Fields,” “Social studies” (30 subjects, 20.4%), and “Science” (29 subjects, 19.7%) were the most common subjects. In “Related Fields,” “Special activities” included the highest subjects (59 subjects, 40.1%), after “Ethics,” which included 56 subjects (38.1%). “Writer and persons involved” and “Student who writes compositions and is involved as a learner” included 72 subjects (49.0%). Subsequently, there were “Local residents,” (52 subjects, 35.4%), “Researchers and experts” (36 subjects, 24.5%), and “Unaffected persons” (35 subjects, 23.8%), which included volunteers. Regarding “Type of disaster prevention education,” learning activities for “Prepare for disasters” included the most subjects at 92 (62.6%). Subsequently, learning activities to “Enrich the mind (love for family and community, compassion, the importance of life,)” by raising students’ included 60 subjects (40.8%). Regarding “Qualities and abilities expected to be acquired,” “Knowledge” showed the highest 91 subjects (61.9%). Next was “Self-awareness” (64 subjects, 43.5%), “Social participation/community contribution” (48 subjects, 32.7%), and “Kindness to disaster-affected people” (47 subjects, 32.0%). Moreover, cluster analysis (ward method) was performed using a data set of the subject evaluation of the supplementary textbooks. The analysis with subjects presented six types: “Life-saving measures,” “Fortifying town,” “Measures required for disaster survival,” “Awareness of joining local community,” “Disaster comradery,” and “Living with family and community.” All the five supplementary textbooks featured those six types. More than half of the subjects were featured content regarding student emotions. The first three types were combined and understood as “Countermeasures” with “Knowledge.” In addition, the latter three types were combined and understood as subjects to teach the “Will to live together,” with a relation such as that of ethics and emotional learning. When the same data set was subjected to cluster analysis (ward method) using the evaluation items, four types were obtained: “Knowledge to prepare for earthquake and tsunami disasters,” “Solidarity with family and residents,” “Emergency Response Judgement,” and “Knowledge and skills useful at disaster time.” The types correspond to the classification of the conceptual model of disaster prevention education conducted by Sato et al. [1]. Additionally, all types have corresponding qualities and abilities. The results led teachers to believe that disaster prevention education should be implemented, not simply as life-saving education, but also as instructions that promote the emotional growth of children while cultivating humanity.

Do State Boards of Education Offer an Avenue for Public Voice?

Digital technologies provide new opportunities for increased participation by the general public in state and federal governance. In this article, we examine opportunities for public engagement in one type of state-level governmental body: the State Board of Education (SBOE). Limited research has focused on SBOEs, particularly the extent to which these powerful policy actors are accessible to the public. Drawing on the Open Government Maturity Model (OGMM), we examine data on the accessibility and opportunities for public engagement offered by 47 SBOEs to interrogate the validity of the assumption that SBOEs are avenues for public voice. We considered each SBOE to be a unique study participant and their websites to be their “electronic public faces.” Data were collected from SBOE websites on 39 different variables related to SBOE accessibility and used to create an SBOE E-Accessibility Index. Findings suggest that while most SBOEs meet lower levels of the OGMM’s criteria, they do not support meaningful public engagement in SBOE work.

Wizytacje wyższych seminariów duchownych przez władze państwowe w Polsce w latach 1960–1971

Inspections of seminars by state authorities in Poland in 1960–1971In 1960–1971 the government conducted inspections of seminars, both diocesan seminars and those run by religious orders, all over Poland. The success of the authorities’ efforts depended on the seminar in question and the year. As early as in February 1950 the first attempts were made to subordinate some seminars to state control, specifically, the control of the Ministry of Education, on the basis of Articles 96–107 of the Decree 28 October 1947, which dealt with the organisation of schools and higher education institutions. The remaining seminars were to be controlled by the respective Boards of Education, in accordance with the Private Schools Act of 11 March 1932. Invoking these legislative acts, the authorities wanted to exercise the right to grant approval to statutes, curricula, appointment of teaching staff as well as supervise the implementation of the curricula in the seminars. Yet their efforts produced meagre results. This did not change until 1959, when the communist authorities realised that freedom of educating and forming future priests was extremely problematic for them and that the process was completely out of their control. A conviction that in its seminars the Church was educating future priests in an atmosphere that was hostile to the people’s republic and was promoting views hostile to the interests of society prompted the communist authorities to take action seeking to take control of seminars. The seminars were to abide by the provisions of the Act of 19 April 1950 on the Change of the Organisation State Authorities with Regard to Municipal and Public Administration, Private Schools Act of 11 March 1932, and then the Act of 15 July 1961 on the Development of the Education System as well as the Ordinance of the Minister of Education of 26 February 1965 on the Rules and Conditions of Running Non-State Schools and Other Education Institutions. They were also subordinated to the control of the state authorities. After more than a decade of battles between the government and the Polish Episcopate, the question of control over seminars was finally resolved in 1971, when the authorities ceased their inspections of seminars.Visitationen der höheren Priesterseminare durch staatliche Behörden in Polen in den Jahren 1960–1971In den Jahren 1960-1971 führten staatliche Behörden auf dem ganzen Gebiet Polens Visitationen in den höheren Seminaren der Diözesen und der Orden durch. Bereits im Februar 1950 versuchte man, einen Teil der Priesterseminare der Kontrolle des Staates, also des Ministeriums für Bildung und Erziehung auf Grund der Art. 96–107 des Dekretes vom 28. Oktober 1947, die die Organisation der Wissenschaft und des höheren Schulwesens betreffen, zu unterziehen. Die restlichen höheren und kleinen Seminare sollten der Kontrolle der Schulkuratorien gemäß dem Gesetz vom 11. März 1932 über Privatschulen und wissenschaftliche sowie erzieherische Einrichtungen unterliegen. Aufgrund dieser Rechtsakte wollten die Behörden über das Recht verfügen, die Satzungen, Programme und Unterrichtspläne zu bestätigen, das Lehrpersonal zu berufen und die Ausübung der Programme in den Seminaren ständig zu kontrollieren, was ihnen jedoch nicht gelang. Eine Änderung erfolgte erst im Jahre 1959, als die kommunistischen Behörden sich dessen bewusst wurden, dass die Freiheit des Unterrichtes und der Erziehung der Priesterkandidaten eine sehr heikle und durch den Staat nicht kontrollierte Angelegenheit blieb. Aufgrund der Überzeugung, dass die Ausbildung in den Seminaren in einer staatsfeindlichen Atmosphäre verläuft und dort Meinungen gefördert werden, die sozialfeindlich sind, haben die Volksbehörden Maßnahmen zur Kontrolle der höheren Priesterseminare getroffen. Die höheren Priesterseminare wurden damals dem Gesetz vom 19. April 1950 über die Änderung der Organisation der obersten Staatsbehörden im Bereich der kommunalen Wirtschaft und der öffentlichen Verwaltung, dem Gesetz vom 11. März 1932 über Privatschulen und weiterhin dem Gesetz vom 15. Juli 1961 über die Entwicklung des Bildungssystems und Erziehungswesens und der Verordnung des Kultusministers vom 26. Februar 1965 in Sachen der Grundsätze und Bedingungen der Führung nicht staatlicher Schulen und anderer schulischer und pädagogischer Zentren unterordnet sowie der Aufsicht staatlicher Behörden unterzogen. Nach mehr als zehn Jahren eines Kampfes zwischen den Staatsbehörden und dem Episkopat Polens wurde die Aufsicht über die höheren Priesterseminare endgültig im Jahre 1971 eingestellt.

State Boards of Education: Lesser Known Policy Actors

Few scholars have engaged in close examinations of state boards of education (SBOEs), their make-up, or the broader implications of their influence over time. SBOE membership, authority, and impact differ significantly across the 50 states. This article reports findings from an exploratory study of three SBOEs and their role as policy actors. Thinking about SBOEs as policy actors focuses attention not only on the power, authority, and policy-making functions of SBOEs, but also on the individuals who serve on SBOEs, their actions, and the discourses constructed through the performance of their policy work.

Conducting IPT-AST in Schools

This chapter discusses the delivery of Interpersonal Psychotherapy–Adolescent Skills Training (IPT-AST) in school settings. The literature on school-based mental health programs is reviewed. Advantages of delivering preventive interventions in schools and challenges to implementation are outlined. These challenges include obtaining agreement from school personnel and boards of education; identifying personnel who will take the lead in implementing IPT-AST; identifying adolescents who will be appropriate for these services; explaining IPT-AST to adolescents and parents to engage them in the program; and managing logistical and scheduling issues within the schools. The authors discuss strategies to address the challenges of implementing this depression prevention program in a school setting.

Gifted Education in Switzerland: Widely Acknowledged, but Obstacles Still Exist in Implementation

With its strong federalism and direct democracy, as well as the high level of autonomy of its cantons, Switzerland does not have mandatory national policies and regulations on gifted education. Responsibility for the promotion of high-end learners is in the hands of the cantonal boards of education, and depends largely on their current professional understanding and educational-political foresight, as well as on the political volition and priorities of the school authorities. Within this diversity, there are schools with excellent concepts and successful implementations regarding gifted education, while other schools have a poor understanding of individualisation and potential-oriented learning. The present article summarises the philosophy and key aspects of a contemporary realisation of local- or regional-based integrated gifted education that is related to supplementary arrangements for special needs. Strengths and weaknesses in the identification and promotion of the talented within the Swiss school system are outlined and discussed.