Education

The punitive, zero tolerance strategies are not as effective as their popularity suggests. Anecdotal reports and statistical evidence reflect that tighter security does not always make schools safer in US. The metal detectors, more than 5,000 NYPD safety agents patroling the hallways or clothing bans sometimes transform the schoolhouse into a jailhouse (Fuentes 2011). The case study (carried out in November-December 2011) analyzes alternative approaches implemented by a transfer high-school where teachers consider that security individuals who patrol, control, do discipline, monitor do not have anything to do with teaching and learning. Amongst the 150 there are older drop-outs or gifted students, disengaged and over-aged. More than 60% receive free or reduced-price lunch, 29% are White, 34% African-American, 29% Hispanic, 3% Asian and other 3%. Despite academic, socio-economic, emotional and behavioral problems, students' outcomes exceed NY state's average. Attendance is 98%, dropout rate is 9.9%, compared with 19.3% in New York schools overall, 91% students are accepted into college compared with 63%. School grounds on social justice agenda, uses inquiry, project-based learning, performance-based assessment and encourages choices and responsibility within multigenerational resourceful contexts (mentoring and tutoring, college schedule, weekly community services and internships, field trips, whole-school projects, law suits, teens parenting etc.).

Ubiquitous learning and project approach are genuinely connected. Project work has strong potential to provide both powerful contextual learning experiences and serendipitous exploration and discovery of the connected nature of information in the real world. Such promising features could equally be seen as challenges. More specifically, teachers struggle with technology resources' accessibility and skills, lack of predictability in students learning endeavors, pressure of content-driven and standard-based instruction, mono-disciplinary curriculum and de-contextualized learning tradition, time as a limited resource, high stake testing and poor collaboration among teachers.

Articolul prezintă contextul, obiectivele şi strategia de evaluare a impactului programului PHARE Acces la educaţie pentru grupuri dezavantajate, derulat în ultimii şapte ani în România. Autoarea (coordonatoare a studiului de impact realizat în 2009) prezintă abordarea metodologică (scopurile cercetării, întrebările evaluative, strategia şi instrumentarul metodologic), precum şi principalele dificultăţi întâmpinate în demersul de evaluare a impactului.

Research evidence Barriers faced by Roma children Policy messages Communities organisation Research questions Data sources  Difficulties in finding valid and relevant data  Small scale initiatives -individual examples, not at a larger scale  No external evaluation for NGOs projects  Imbalance between quantitative and qualitative data  No longitudinal studies  Consistent amount of information repeated  Short-term reports and relatively few of these have data beyond the end of the program period  Same examples are presented both positive and negative in different reports or by different stakeholders (NGOs vs ministries) NB:

La întregul proces de iniåiere aei de validare a conåinutului documentului au participat numeroaei experåi aei reprezentanåi ai instituåiilor guvernamentale, nonguvernamentale, ai instituåiilor de cercetare, ai universitãåilor, precum aei experåi internaåionali.

MOOCs (massive open online courses) were reported as the buzzword of 2012. Inspired by FOMO syndrome, we investigate perceptions on MOOCs in University of Bucharest, Education Sciences faculty and students` perceptions. It focuses on students` motivation, course structure, types of assignments, sophistication of quantitative records on students` participation and quality of pedagogy. Through focus group interviews, online questionnaires, observation, interviews and content analysis (on forums, blogs, Moodle etc.) we reflect on perceptions and expectations regarding MOOCs. Main question will be how to convert a fashionable trend into a realistic and inspirational transformative area within the higher education pedagogy?

Paper grounds on empirical research carried out in three projects: MATRA project Roma educational inclusion through school improvement, jointly developed by SLO National Institute for Curriculum Development The Netherlands and Step by Step Bulgaria (2007- 2009) and two EU funded projects en Romania: Access to education for disadvantaged groups Phare RO 2003/005-551.01.02 (2005-2007) and Evaluation of the Impact and Dissemination of PHARE Programm 2006/018-147.0101.02 (2008-2009). Using the evaluation research results (collected since 2004 on primary schools), we address following intertwined topics and questions: • How it functions the communication between the macro/mezo/ micro level in abovementioned projects? • What does it feed the gaps between student’s and teacher’s perceptions on identity and diversity? • What makes teachers reluctant to value diversity as a learning resource in schools and classrooms? • How to use students’ drawings and teachers’ narratives in order to overc...

The study has two main components. The first is a compilation and analysis of existing research findings on young Roma children (birth to 7 years). The second is an analysis of best practices in supporting the early development of young Roma children, i.e. what works, and what is the evidence. A key objective of this study is to provide evidence of why significant resources from EU structural funds should be invested in the early development of young Roma children, and how this investment should be structured most effectively. The findings of the study will also inform and support the work of various stakeholders active in promoting equal access to quality care and education for young Roma children.

The impact study involved the collecting of qualitative and quantitative data from representative target groups. Questionnaires were applied to four types of respondents: 8th form pupils, teaching staff for the 4th and 8th forms, pre-primary school teachers and school managers. They come from schools that have benefited from programmes funded by the grant schemes of the programmes PHARE 2001, PHARE 2003, PHARE 2005. We received answers from 73 schools out of near 400 schools that have benefited from programmes funded by the mentioned grant schemes. Four other schools that have not benefitted from such programmes were also added. We had replies from 68 school managers, 1023 8th form pupils, 186 preprimary school teachers and 1281 teachers from the 4th and 8th forms. nstitutional analyses were carried out in 15 schools; 45 schools were visited by experts on the desegregation component, while in another 30 schools the experiences related to Educational Support and ‘Second Chance’ (SC) ...