International and Comparative Education Commons^™

A Needs-Based Early Childhood Care And Development Model

International Developments

ACER Indonesia is partnering with the William and Lily Foundation and Adaro Bangun Negeri Foundation on a two year project which promises to improve the learning and development outcomes of Indonesian children in early childhood and development centres. This project will focus on Early Childhood Education and Development (ECED) centres or Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini (PAUDs) in 12 villages. These villages have been selected because their teachers have not received mandatory training from the government and many children have delayed physical development, or stunting.

Acer And Unicef Partner In Assessment And Evaluation

International Developments

In 2020, ACER signed two significant Long-Term Agreements (LTA) with UNICEF. One involves design, implementation and reporting on large-scale national and regional learning assessments in the Asia-Pacific region and the other covers technical assistance in the evaluation of education programs and interventions in countries under UNICEF’s Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) and Regional Office for South Asia (ROSA).

Uncovering Learning Inequities In Southeast Asia

International Developments

Results released from the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEAPLM) 2019 show alarming inequities in learning outcomes for children. While some students are excelling, others are falling far behind and are unlikely to catch up. Without foundational skills in reading, mathematics and writing, these students are likely to be disadvantaged well into their adult lives.

Building Partnerships In Remote Education During Covid-19

International Developments

Australian Strategic Partnerships in Remote Education (ASPIRE) connects Australian experience and expertise in remote education with partners in the Indo-Pacific region to provide learning continuity, access and equity, in particular for disadvantaged students. Managed by ACER on behalf of the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), ASPIRE aims to contribute to immediate and long-term educational and economic benefits for the Indo-Pacific region.

Monitoring Progress Towards The Sdgs, Ursula Schwantner, Juliette F. Mendelovits, Maurice Walker

International Developments

Measuring where students are at in their learning is critical for determining whether the world is on track to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4. ACER’s contribution to SDG 4 is spearheaded through the work of the GEM Centre, a long-term partnership with the Australian Government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). At the core of the GEM Centre's contribution is the development of technically sound and internationally comparable learning metrics that enable education stakeholders to align assessment systems with global SDG monitoring and reporting.

International Developments (No.10) 2021

International Developments

This issue of International Developments summarises the research evidence gathered through the work of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and the impact of specific projects around the globe.

Student Mobility In The Wake Of Covid-19: The Mainland Chinese Parent Perspective, Anna Profatilova

Capstone Collection

This study explores the perspectives of mainland Chinese parents on outbound international student mobility (ISM) following the COVID-19 pandemic. A narrative study situated in the qualitative paradigm, this study is informed by the push-pull theory of international student mobility and employed a socio-cultural framework based on the traditional Confucian value system and recent developments in mainland Chinese education. Through semi-structured interviews, the following research questions were addressed: What are mainland Chinese parents’ perspectives on outbound student mobility post-COVID-19? How has the pandemic transformed their motivations, needs, and expectations of international education?

Findings revealed that parents have sustained interest in sending …

Study Abroad Program For The University Of Glasgow: A Short-Term Life Sciences Program To Indonesia, Shannon Tobin

Capstone Collection

The Life Sciences Indonesia Program (LSIP) is a two-week program for University of Glasgow students interested in the fields of Human and Animal Biology, Biomolecular Science, and Infection and Immunity. This study abroad program will provide students interested in these degree areas the opportunity to study at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Sieman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. LSIP is grounded in the theories of self-authorship and Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory, providing students with the opportunity to curate their own learning experience, learn through real-world experiences, and connect course material to real-life applications. The program is open to all students to apply, but …

In Search Of Kinship: Traveling Into New Worlds Through Conversation And The Impact On Building Community, Daniel E. Mcclary Ed.D

Education Doctorate Dissertations

This dissertation reports on qualitative research done with a phenomenological methodology on the topic of building community. This was explored through the voices of over 200 participants representing more than 30 countries. Surveys and in-depth interviews examined international experiences and cultural background of participants alongside many stakeholder voices from within higher education, including international and domestic students, faculty, and staff. Though the study and application is focused on a higher education context, the research has broader implications to society in looking at how intentional conversations across cultural symmetry impacts relationships and community building. The data touched on feelings of isolation …

Pathway Provider Programs: The International Student Experience, Aaron A. Mendez

Capstone Collection

As part of their commitment towards internationalization, many higher education institutions seek new recruitment practices to increase international student enrollment, to both enhance cultural diversity and increase the potential for revenue. Partnering with third-party pathway providers offers international students an opportunity to refine their English language skills, all while taking for-credit-bearing academic courses that ultimately prepare them for their second year upon matriculating into their degree-seeking programs. One difference between direct-entry international students and pathway program international students is the additional level of support for the latter.

This study explores the following research question: What are the experiences of international …

Recipients Of Major Scientific Awards A Descriptive And Predictive Analysis, Andrew Barbee

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

As a society, we desire, defend, and argue for equity in any and all areas. Sometimes the law attempts to mandate equity and provide some boundaries. Yet how does the law govern the thoughts, intentions, and actions of the heart? Thus, we need to broaden our understanding of equity. Equity is not an educational issue, nor is it a physiological issue; rather equity is a spiritual issue.

Approaches To Narrative Instruction For Second Language Learners, Mathew Peters

MA TESOL Collection

Narratives have reemerged as a dominant form of rhetoric over the last fifty years. This dominant use of narrative discourse has only increased with the rise of social media. Walther Fisher (1987) proposed the narrative paradigm as a unifying theory of human communication. His major claim is that people are inherently storytellers and that people use a narrative rationality and a logic of good reasons to inform their beliefs, values, and actions. This paper utilizes his theories, along with recent findings in neuroscience, to establish an argument for greater inclusion of narratives into second language teaching. Narratives can have a …

Reflections On The Development Of The Iea Civic And Citizenship Education Studies, Wolfram Schulz

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

This chapter discusses the content, design, and methods of the three IEA studies of civic and citizenship education. It focuses on the changes made between each of these studies and the contexts for this learning area. The IEA Civic Education Study (CIVED) in 1999 was developed soon after the transition to democracy in many participating countries; threats to civil society in the early 2000s such as terrorism influenced the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) in 2009. The design of ICCS in 2016 responded to the increasing importance of social media in civic engagement, the growth in awareness of …

Australia's Investment In Teacher Development In Lao Pdr: Baseline Results, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Education Analytics Service

Student dropouts, grade repetition and low levels of learning achievement are major challenges in education in Lao PDR. This infographic presents key results of data collected from primary schools across Lao PDR in April 2019. This data acts as a baseline before the introduction of a new primary education curriculum supported by Australia's flagship program in Lao PDR - the Basic Education Access in Lao PDR program (BEQUAL). Further data will be collected in 2021 and 2022 to determine the impact of Australia's investments in teacher development through the BEQUAL program on improving teaching and student learning.

Timss 2019 Australia. Volume Ii: School And Classroom Contexts For Learning, Sue Thomson, Nicole Wernert, Sarah Buckley, Sima Rodrigues, Elizabeth O'Grady, Marina Schmid

TIMSS 2019

This is the second of two reports that look at the results of TIMSS 2019 and Australia’s performance. Volume I focuses specifically on the achievement results, detailing Australia’s results within the international context, and presents results for the Australian jurisdictions, and for the different demographic groups within Australia, including male and female students. This report, Volume II, presents the results from the contextual questionnaires, and examines the contexts in which learning and achievement occur, including home, school, and classroom contexts, as well as student attitudes. Each chapter focuses on different indicators that cover the school community, the school learning environment, …

Re-Centering Racial Justice In White-Dominated School Settings, Brian A. Davis

Master's Projects and Capstones

Any institution that does not give students the critical and theoretical frameworks to understand White supremacy in the United States is an active contributor in the proliferation of this hegemonic force. White supremacy is a system that produces violence educationally, socially, politically, environmentally, ontologically, and epistemologically. The study of Whiteness and White supremacy has been discounted in high school settings for various reasons. This project seeks to solve this critical issue within the field of secondary education through the implementation of a course that unpacks White supremacy while center Black history. This course will provide students with a historical framework …

An Examination Of Chinese Private College Students’ Intercultural Competence, Li Li

Education (PhD) Dissertations

With globalization being a focus of the 21st century, the primary approach for responding to global challenges for higher education institutions is to adopt an internationalization strategy and accelerate the internationalization pace. To cultivate “global-ready” graduates, developing students’ intercultural competence (IC) has become one of the core missions of international and Chinese higher education institutions. Given the scarcity of quantitative studies on Chinese private college students’ IC and inconsistent findings on the relationships between foreign language capability, international experience, and IC in the extant literature, a quantitative study was conducted in a Chinese private college to explore 1,983 undergraduate students’ …

The Ceibalitas In Uruguay: How Digital Educational Technology Affects Social Cohesion, William Bradford

Honors Theses

Digital Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become a focal point in improving worldwide education. There have been many studies on the effects of ICT in schools on grades and careers after graduation, but not many have studied the social impact. This study focuses on the Plan Ceibal in Uruguay to see the impact of ICT in schools on social cohesion. The Plan Ceibal was the first Nation-wide one-laptop-per-child (OLPC) program in the world. For this reason, Uruguay can provide a look into the future for other nations as they implement OLPC programs of their own. This study uses data …

From Barriers To Success: How Elementary School Principals Strategically Lead Schools To Become 21st Century Learning Exemplar Schools, Heather Gold

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the barriers and support systems elementary principals describe, through the lens of Activity Theory, they experienced while leading their schools to achieve 21st century learning exemplar status.

Methodology: This phenomenological study examined the perceptions of 15 elementary and K-8 principals and their respective assistant principals regarding the barriers and support systems they experienced while leading their schools to achieve 21st century learning exemplar status. Participants were selected based on the criteria that they had been identified as exemplary by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21); were public, non-private, …

"You Taught Me Language:" Using Shakespeare To Teach English To Speakers Of Other Languages, Sarah Blake

Honors Projects

This thesis explores how to use Shakespeare effectively in English language education. By considering cultural backgrounds and different translations, ESOL educators can assess what areas students need more guidance in, and how Shakespearean texts can help scaffold those areas. These texts can be used to teach grammar and mechanics as well as literary devices. The most effective teaching methods are also explored: examples of appropriate visuals, classroom activities, and discussion topics are given.