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This report reviews the use of loans for learning in 33 European countries and analyses the schemes in eight selected Member States: France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Finland, Sweden and the UK. The analysis shows that loan schemes vary considerably across Europe in terms of types and levels of learning covered, conditions of access, repayment and governance. Some loans aim to increase participation in learning in general, while others are designed to promote equity. The report attempts to assess the selected loans and discusses their strengths and weaknesses and determinants of performance, while considering if a given scheme operates on a large scale or targets niche groups. The evaluation results provide a basis for identifying good practice principles for designing and implementing loans. Policy recommendations are formulated based on these findings. Annexed are: (1) Methodology; (2) Key terms and definitions; (3) Information on countries/schemes selected for in-depth analysis; (4) Proposed typologies of VET loan schemes; (5) Tables and figures; (6) Tosmana truth tables; (7) Questionnaires; (8) Basic characteristics of non-European loan schemes. (Contains 37 tables, 5 figures, 20 boxes and 33 footnotes.)

Sabbatical leaves are viewed as being essential to the ongoing nature of a self-renewing community of scholars. This study was undertaken to provide data on current use of sabbatical leave plans in universities in several countries - Canada; the United States; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales; Australia, and New Zealand - to provide useful information for possible revision of leave plans. Sixty-six universities were surveyed by means of a questionnaire and the results revealed similarities among the four groups of countries regarding the length of service prior to leave (generally 6 years); differences among the four groups, including the use of retraining leaves as a form of sabbatical; salary paid during regular sabbatical leave; and travel expenses. The conclusions drawn from the data are that Canadian leave plans are not nearly as uniform as those in United States universities; Canadian plans have become more formalized and better documented since 1969; salary paid for full-year leaves in Canadian universities has improved since 1969 and is now substantially better than in the United States, but not as good as in Australia and New Zealand; and participation rates in all countries appear to be higher than those reported prior to 1965 by Ingraham. (JMF)

Paper and pencil tests rarely assess children's developing mathematical and scientific concepts validly. There are, however, a number of authentic and meaningful ways to assess these processes. Anecdotal notes--recorded observations of children that concern what they say and do--reveal a considerable amount about these developing concepts. Drawings, paintings, constructions, and dramatizations illustrate in creative ways what a child knows. Children's journal writing, field note reports, and demonstrations are also thoughtful approaches to embedding assessment in the curriculum. This paper presents the experiences of graduate students in a masters degree program in early childhood education with assessing children's learning using a combination of those strategies: anecdotal notes, drawings, paintings, constructions, and dramatizations; and children's journal writing, field note reports, and demonstrations. (ASK)

Despite increased immigration and families living in poverty, as well as relatively low teacher salaries, New Zealand has produced some of the highest literacy rates in the industrialized world. Its reputation as a nation of readers has intrigued North American theorists and educators alike. This led a group of 50 U.S. educators to visit New Zealand during the summer of 2000 to observe firsthand the literacy practices used in its primary classrooms. This paper offers some observations of literacy education in New Zealand. The paper describes the "literacy block," a mandated uninterrupted period of time in which students are focused on literacy development. It discusses the larger context of the primary classroom and notes that for those children who do not start out as successful readers, Reading Recovery is available. The paper proceeds through a Reading Recovery lesson and provides the history of the Reading Recovery Program, developed in the 1970s in New Zealand by Marie Clay. It points out that there are a number of other programs currently being implemented, including: the New Zealand Literacy (and Numeracy) Strategy which was established with the aim of improving literacy; programs funded through the reading, writing, and mathematics proposals pool (RWMP); and the Literacy Leadership Program for Primary Schools, developed by Learning Media along with a team of recognized literacy experts and practitioners. The paper also cites "Feed the Mind," a multi-media public campaign offering ideas on how to help young children learn. It discusses assessment and future challenges in New Zealand literacy education. Includes 6 notes. (NKA)

The challenge of funding a high quality higher education system, ensuring it has the capacity to help meet the increasing demand for high level skills in our economy and the aspirations of our students, has been an ongoing concern for successive Australian governments over many years. This paper reviews the findings and recommendations of significant reviews of Australia's higher education funding system from the 1988 Dawkins white paper through to the 2014 "Review of the Demand Driven Funding System." It summarises the challenges identified and responses proposed across that period as well as some recent international literature about higher education reform. What is clear from the survey of major reviews from 1988 to the present is the similarity of issues that were of concern to governments of the day. Successive governments have sought to build and fund a higher education system to meet the need for high level skills and innovative research for the Australian economy. The challenge for all governments has been how to enable greater numbers of students to access the benefits higher education offers--in terms of employment, earnings, social and cultural opportunities--while ensuring the system remains fair, high quality and affordable for both individuals and taxpayers. The number of domestic higher education students has more than doubled since 1989, reaching just over a million in 2014. International students comprised another 350,000 students in 2014. As student numbers have grown, they have come from more diverse social, economic and academic backgrounds. The number of providers and their diversity has also grown, with around 20 new public universities since the late 1980s and the emergence of significant numbers of non-university providers. The proportion of the Australian working age population with a bachelor degree or higher qualification has tripled since 1989 to just over 25 per cent. Direct Australian Government funding for teaching, learning and research has grown both in absolute and real terms, rising from $3.2 billion in 1989 to $15.4 billion in 2014, more than doubling when adjusted for inflation. Australia is not unique in facing this growth and higher education systems around the world are increasingly moving from elite to mass systems, and beyond to universal systems.

This publication is part of the study materials for the distance education course, Adults Learning: The Changing Workplace B, in the Open Campus Program at Deakin University. The first part of the document analyzes the relationship between technology, skill, and work within the context of the debates concerning deskilling and managerial control strategies and the significance of technology and the organization of work. The following topics are discussed: technology and the organization of work; the deskilling debate (the upgrading, deskilling, and social construction theses; the Touraine and mixed-effects hypotheses; and the agnostic position); the origins of technology; and the flexible specialization thesis (the relationship between the flexible specialization thesis and skills and the limits of flexibility). Contains 56 references. The following papers constitute approximately 85% of the document: "New Technologies, New Skills" (P. Adler); "Technology and Deskilling: The Case of Five Principal Trade Areas in New South Wales" (D. J. Davis); "Intersphere Automation--The 'Factory of the Future'" (R. Kaplinsky); "Information Technologies, the Service Sector and the Restructuring of Consumption" (P. Blackburn, R. Coombs, K. Green); and "The End of Mass Production?" (K. Williams, T. Cutler, J. Williams, C. Haslam). Concluding the document is a 79-item annotated bibliography. (MN)

Language and the telling of data stories have fundamental roles in advancing the GAISE agenda of shifting the emphasis in statistics education from the operation of sets of procedures towards conceptual understanding and communication. In this paper we discuss some of the major issues surrounding story telling in statistics, challenge current practices, open debates about what constitutes good verbalization of structure in graphical and numerical summaries, and attempt to clarify what underlying concepts should be brought to students' attention, and how. Narrowing in on the particular problem of comparing groups, we propose that instead of simply reading and interpreting coded information from graphs, students should engage in understanding and verbalizing the rich conceptual repertoire underpinning comparisons using plots. These essential data-dialogues include paying attention to language, invoking descriptive and inferential thoughts, and determining informally whether claims can be made about the underlying populations from the sample data. A detailed teacher guide on comparative reasoning is presented and discussed. (Contains 4 figures.)