The article aims to provide an analysis of Albanian legislation regarding children’s and parents’ participation in education, by taking into account their respective roles and duties as known in the ...legal framework, as well as their on-going functional role as participants in practice. This research will analyse Albanian legislation and policies as regards the educational system, shedding light on the steps needed to be taken towards achieving international standards regarding the promotion of the participation of children and parents in education. Albania was under a communist regime, in which parental participation in the educational system was extremely limited and information given to parents was only regarding the progress of their child. After the fall of this monist regime changes did not happen immediately in the Albanian education system. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was one of the first international instruments ratified by the Albanian government focusing on the sanctioning and protection of the rights of the child, in a time when these rights were considered non-existent. Sanctioning the right of the child to express freely his or her own views in various issues where the child’s opinion is necessary requires that Albanian legislation includes the participation of children in every field especially in education. A general principle of the Convention is that the child’s right to be heard be considered as one of the four principles needed for the interpretation of all other articles. Research also demonstrates that effective schools have high levels of children’s and parental involvement. Despite the fact that legal steps have been taken towards recognition of the involvement of children and parents in education creating bodies such as the pupils’ government, school boards, parental councils, and lately the national council of parents, there are still unclear legal ways to implement their participation in the Albanian education system. In order to make participation possible, first and foremost, it is important to provide information regarding school activities, processes and decisions which must be transmitted to the children and parents, by creating routes of communication. This can be achieved by setting up some useful mechanisms that promote children’s and parents’ participation in education.
Across OECD countries, almost one in every five students does not reach a basic minimum level of skills. In addition, students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds are twice as likely to be ...low performers. Lack of fairness and inclusion can lead to school failure and this means that one in every five young adults on average drop out before completing upper secondary education. Reducing school failure pays off for both society and individuals. The highest performing education systems across OECD countries combine quality with equity. This report presents policy recommendations for education systems to help all children succeed in their schooling.
In Beyond Answers: Exploring Mathematical Practices with Young Children, author Mike Flynn provides teachers with a clear and deep sense of the Standards for Mathematical Practice and shares ideas on ...how to best implement them in K-2 classrooms.
This paper delineates the conflicts that can arise between student participation and other rights and interests and presents a model that conceptualises these conflicts. It fills a gap in the ...developing literature on participation rights in education, which has yet to systematically address the possible ramifications of practices that implement these rights. The paper describes how students' participation may constrain various other children's rights: the right not to participate, not to be discriminated against, and to be protected from violence and abuse. In addition, it discusses possible clashes between the one-size-fits-all model of student participation and the rights of children and parents to culturally adaptable education. The paper also analyses how neoliberal practices of participation, such as high-stake student perception surveys, may undermine the social interest to empower teachers, which is intertwined with children's best interests and their right to education.
The authors share classroom vignettes, strategies, and resources for going public with literacy assessment through teacher collaboration with colleagues, with families, and with the ...community.Teachers want assessment tools and strategies that inform instruction, engage students in the process, and invite families and community members to enter into the conversation about student learning and progress. When teachers work collaboratively with one another, they align beliefs and practices to generate new ideas that reflect the questions they are asking about literacy and learning. When students, families, and the community are invited to be active, engaged participants in these discussions, all stakeholders have an opportunity to create a shared vision for literacy learning and to construct assessment tools and strategies that help everyone answer the important questions: How as teachers are we engaging with one another over our literacy assessment beliefs and practices? and How can we better bring families and communities into these conversations?In this volume of the Principles in Practice Literacy Assessment strand of books, veteran educators Kathryn Mitchell Pierce and Rosario Ordoez-Jasis share classroom vignettes, strategies, and resources for going public with literacy assessment through teacher collaboration with colleagues, with families, and with the community. Drawing from the IRANCTE Standards for the Assessment of Reading and Writing, Revised Edition, and their own extensive experience, the authors have compiled a set of collaborative assessment principles, as well as a model for teacher professional development around assessment, to guide teachers from assessment theory to practical implementation in the classroom.Teachers are at the heart of assessment conversations because they have up-close and personal experiences with how assessments impact their students. These experiences provide an invaluable perspective that is essential to all decision making about assessing student learning. But teachers dontor shouldntstand alone. Their critical expertise is strengthened by the experiences and expertise of others invested in the success of our studentscolleagues, families, communities, and students themselves.
The purpose of the current research is to investigate the arrangements addressing primary school children’s right to participation in education and the level of realization of the right to ...participate. To this end, the research conforms to the explanatory sequential design. The quantitative phase of the research was carried out with 2172 students enrolled in 77 primary schools whereas the qualitative phase was implemented with 4 teachers and 36 students. The research data yielded from the child’s right to participation-based classroom scale and teacher and student interview forms regarding the realization of the right to participate in education developed within the scope of the research were analysed through statistical, content, and descriptive analyses. The findings highlighted certain deficiencies in terms of the arrangements on children’s right to participation in schooling and the level of their participation in decision-making processes. In CHP (class with a high level of participation) and CLP (class with a low level of participation), 13 contexts concerning the children’s participation in decision-making processes were identified. In this respect, it was determined that children’s participation in the decision-making processes was ensured in both groups on some of the issues that may concern in their lives, while it was determined that the children in both groups were not included in decision-making processes in terms of participation in environmental protection and sustainable development. Besides, it was revealed that the children in CLP were not included in seven contexts including the processes of the election of class representatives of the student council and the establishment of classroom rules.
Resumen En el tema de la relación familia-escuela se ha estudiado más sus beneficios que las estrategias para fomentarla. Por ello este artículo tiene como propósito explorar la visión que tienen ...directores sobre la participación parental en la educación y describir las estrategias implementadas en sus escuelas, mediante la aplicación de entrevistas a directores de veintinueve escuelas públicas básicas de la Región Metropolitana, Chile. Los resultados muestran altas expectativas hacia las familias en la definición de participación, al mismo tiempo que una evaluación crítica del estado en la que ella se encuentra en sus escuelas. También se describen las estrategias implementadas, entre las que están: actividades festivas, de esparcimiento y de celebración de las familias; instancias formales de encuentro entre familias, profesores y directores; actividades de formación integral de padres; visitas domiciliarias de los trabajadores sociales a las familias; y el uso de tecnologías de información y comunicación como forma de acercamiento a las familias. Estas estrategias son discutidas a la luz del modelo de participación parental de Joyce Epstein (2011). Se concluye que las estrategias que las escuelas implementan para fomentar la relación con las familias son limitadas, tradicionales y no reconocen la pluralidad de estructuras familiares, por lo que no están de acuerdo a los cambios que ha experimentado la sociedad chilena. A diferencia de lo propuesto por el modelo de Epstein, en las escuelas estudiadas no se refirieron a prácticas relativas al ejercicio del voluntariado de padres y profesores, a estrategias de colaboración con la comunidad, ni tampoco a experiencias que se orientasen explícitamente a apoyar el aprendizaje en el hogar.
The present study is part of an exploratory research study conducted to understand the Learning experiences of adult learners in Higher Education Institutes in India. The primary aim of the present ...study was to examine the motivational orientations of adult learners for lifelong educational courses and hence, the Educational Participation Scale (EPS) by Boshier was used to examine the motivational orientations among adult learners enrolled in selected lifelong courses. In total, seven motivational factors were identified among the adult learners to enrol in the Programmes: Communication skills and Social contact, Professional advancement, Intellectual recreation, Cognitive interest, Family Togetherness, Children Relationship and Educational Compensation. Age, gender, type of course and educational background had varying influences on the motivational orientation of the adult learners. Though professional advancement was found to be higher, Communication skills, social contact and family togetherness was found to be significantly higher among older research participants aged 50 years and above.
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