Conceptualising public-private partnerships: a critical appraisal of approaches to meanings and forms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to survey various meanings attached to a public-private partnership (PPP) and related aspects in Western literature, and identify commonalities and differences between them. Additionally, the article intends to critically assess conflicting and overlapping views on contractual and institutional PPPs, their forms and models, and draw insights for transitional economies. Design/methodology/approach – The article contrasts and compares views on PPP meanings, forms and models within Western PPP literature, and also draws comparisons with understanding of partnership aspects in the Russian language sources. The paper examines theories underpinning PPPs, builds connections to PPP advantages and drawbacks, and provides critical assessment of net benefits that PPPs may bring along to the society. Findings – The article concludes that future PPP research in transitional countries such as Kazakhstan and Russia, particularly in the area of organisational and power arrangements in partnerships, may delineate new concepts such as government as a guarantor of a PPP project, social significance of a PPP project, and risk management in a country’s contextual environment. Practical implications – In transitional countries, in which PPPs are in their infancy, clarification of theoretical positions, and identification of commonalities and differences between meanings attached to the PPP terminology may enable better decisions by researchers and practitioners in their selection and further development of partnerships and related concepts. Originality/value – Research in the field of PPPs in transitional countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan is in its infancy. The paper intends to contribute to the body of knowledge about PPPs by providing detailed account and categorisation of their principal meanings, forms, models, underpinning theories, and drawing insights for future research in transitional countries.

An integrated measure of student perceptions of feedback, engagement and school identification

Teacher feedback influences student learning, identity construction and trajectories. This study tests the measurement properties of a questionnaire designed to assess (a) student perceptions about teacher feedback; (b) student identification with school, and; (c) student engagement. 1089 students in grades 6 through 10 (mean age 13.4) participated in the study. Factor analyses yield dimensions of School Identification, Effective Feedback, Person-Centered Feedback, Engagement, and Social Acceptance. Internal consistency for principal dimensions varied between .77 and .89. The instrument is suitable for assessing student school identification, behavioral engagement, and perceptions of teacher feedback.

I film therefore I am: process and participation, networks and knowledge – examples from Scottish community media projects.

This chapter examines community media projects in Scotland as social processes that nurture knowledge through participation in production. A visual and media anthropology framework (Ginsburg, 2005) with an emphasis on the social context of media production informs the analysis of community media. Drawing on community media projects in the Govan area of Glasgow and the Isle of Bute, the techniques of production foreground “the relational aspects of filmmaking” (Grimshaw and Ravetz, 2005: 7) and act as a catalyst for knowledge and networks of relations embedded in time and place. Community media is defined here as a creative social process, characterised by an approach to production that is multi-authored, collaborative and informed by the lives of participants, and which recognises the relevance of networks of relations to that practice (Caines, 2007: 2). As a networked process, community media production is recognised as existing in collaboration between a director or producer, such as myself, and organisations, institutions and participants, who are connected through a range of identities, practices and place. These relations born of the production process reflect a complex area of practice and participation that brings together “parallel and overlapping public spheres” (Meadows et al., 2002: 3). This relates to broader concerns with networks (Carpentier, Servaes and Lie, 2003; Rodríguez, 2001), both revealed during the process of production and enhanced by it, and how they can be described with reference to the knowledge practice of community media.

Towards guidelines for curriculum design and development in English language teacher education in Cambodian higher education institutions

In the current Cambodian higher education sector, there is little regulation of standards in curriculum design of undergraduate degrees in English language teacher education. The researcher, in the course of his professional work in the Curriculum and Policy Office at the Department of Higher Education, has seen evidence that most universities tend to copy their curriculum from one source, the curriculum of the Institute of Foreign Languages, the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Their programs fail to impose any entry standards, accepting students who pass the high school exam without any entrance examination. It is possible for a student to enter university with satisfactory scores in all subjects but English. Therefore, not many graduates are able to fulfil the professional requirements of the roles they are supposed to take. Neau (2010) claims that many Cambodian EFL teachers do not reach a high performance standard due to their low English language proficiency and poor background in teacher education. The main purpose of this study is to establish key guidelines for developing curricula for English language teacher education for all the universities across the country. It examines the content of the Bachelor‘s degree of Education in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (B Ed in TEFL) and Bachelor‘s degree of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (BA in TESOL) curricula adopted in Cambodian universities on the basis of criteria proposed in current curriculum research. It also investigates the perspectives of Cambodian EFL teachers on the areas of knowledge and skill they need in order to perform their English teaching duties in Cambodia today. The areas of knowledge and skill offered in the current curricula at Cambodian higher education institutions (HEIs), the framework of the knowledge base for EFL teacher education and general higher education, and the areas of knowledge and skill Cambodian EFL teachers perceive to be important, are compared so as to identify any gaps in the current English language teacher education curricula in the Cambodian HEIs. The existence of gaps show what domains of knowledge and skill need to be included in the English language teacher education curricula at Cambodian HEIs. These domains are those identified by previous curriculum researchers in both general and English language teacher education at tertiary level. Therefore, the present study provides useful insights into the importance of including appropriate content in English language teacher education curricula. Mixed methods are employed in this study. The course syllabi and the descriptions within the curricula in five Cambodian HEIs are analysed qualitatively based on the framework of knowledge and skills for EFL teachers, which is formed by looking at the knowledge base for second language teachers suggested by the methodologists and curriculum specialists whose work is elaborated on the review of literature. A quantitative method is applied to analyse the perspectives of 120 Cambodian EFL teachers on areas of knowledge and skills they should possess. The fieldwork was conducted between June and August, 2014. The analysis reveals that the following areas are included in the curricula at the five universities: communication skills, general knowledge, knowledge of teaching theories, teaching skills, pedagogical reasoning and decision making skills, subject matter knowledge, contextual knowledge, cognitive abilities, and knowledge of social issues. Additionally, research skills are included in three curricula while society and community involvement is in only one. Further, information and communication technology, which is outlined in the Education Strategies Plan (2006-2010), forms part of four curricula while leadership skills form part of two. This study demonstrates ultimately that most domains that are directly and indirectly related to language teaching competence are not sufficiently represented in the current curricula. On the basis of its findings, the study concludes with a set of guidelines that should inform the design and development of TESOL and TEFL curricula in Cambodia.

Education at last! Taiwanese grandmothers "go to school"

Language socialization is a life-long process in which individuals are continuously socialized into new roles, statuses, and practices. This process becomes more complex in multilingual contexts. However, we know little of the language socialization of older adults and we know even less of minority-speaking elders' experiences of linguistic marginalization in contemporary communicative milieus. In this ethnographic and discourse-analytic study, I examine the language socialization of non-Mandarin-speaking elderly Taiwanese women in senior adult education programs in a rural township in Taiwan. Through examining autobiographical narratives, master narratives about elders, and classroom discourses, this study explores the historical construction of their sociolinguistic marginalization and their negotiation and resistance of such marginalization. The majority of the elderly women were denied education when they were young. Some received Japanese education during the Japanese colonization period. While the uneducated and illiterate elders have a strong aspiration for learning, they are dismissed as "unable to learn" by their teachers, peer students, and community leaders. By contrast, the Japanese literate exhibit a strong learning identity associated with colonial modernity. These two groups, however, have to contend with the social stereotype associated with their non-Mandarin speaking status. Under a Mandarin-only ideology that links Mandarin with modernity, discourses that have actively mobilized the category of “illiterate” to reference the older population are part and parcel of Taiwan’s modern identity. By demonstrating how these women are treated, in official discourses and in classroom interactions, as children for their lack of Mandarin abilities, I argue that the literacy education that set out to “compensate” these women for their earlier lack of educational opportunity has paradoxically reinforced their marginalization. Further, in recent years, they have become even more marginalized as the government has prioritized the education of recent young female marriage immigrants from Southeast Asia, who are considered in charge of educating the “future sons and daughters of Taiwan.” This research demonstrates how language socialization is a contested and life-long process and calls attention to the effects of language ideologies on literacy and language education. The findings have policy implications for improving literacy and language education both within Taiwan and elsewhere in the world.

Electronic booklet: vision of teachers and guardians of Basic School Students of Galicia

This research here described explores the first phase of a research project whose aim is to introduce a new form of collaboration and communication among the Family and School through an Electronic Booklet (EB), in Spain, in the Galician schools. The EB appears to meet the growing needs of collaboration between the school and the family, promoting the teaching learning process and educational success, supported by the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Through a questionnaire we sought to obtain the perceptions of teachers and parents regarding the adoption of an EB. Both groups stressed the importance of communication between the school and the family and expressed interest in EB, as bidirectional communication tool.

No crisol das lógicas de territorialização educativa nas escolas portuguesas se frágua a ação do poder político local e das parcerias

Abordamos hermenêuticamente a descentralização e a territorialização educativa em Portugal, numa tríade de relações: ‘escola-comunidade educativa’, parceria socioeducativa e política educativa local. A intervenção do poder local na educação processa-se numa perspetiva instrumental virada para o desenvolvimento e coesão social. As autarquias são os parceiros responsáveis pela educação e os professores valorizam a relação escola-comunidade educativa, principalmente na promoção da qualidade. A relação ’escola-poder local’ efetua-se numa interação participativa dos laços redutores e promotores da administração e gestão escolar, com lógicas de ação e racionalização das parcerias.

ALIANZAS ESTRATÉGICAS ENTRE LA BIBLIOTECA PÚBLICA DE PURISCAL Y LA BIBLIOTECA DARÍO FLORES HERNÁNDEZ

Con la premisa de que las bibliotecas públicas y escolares son pilares fundamentales en la sociedad costarricense, que cumplen una función primordial, especialmente en las últimas décadas y considerando que su importancia se ha enfatizado, en el desarrollo del campo educativo, formal e informal, social y cultural; esta práctica pretende identificar procesos, recursos y servicios que pueden compartir las bibliotecas de la Escuela Darío Flores y la Biblioteca Pública de Puriscal, y utilizar esta información como un caso de estudio.La práctica consistirá proponer y ejecutar actividades claves por medio de una alianza estratégica entre ambas instituciones, para facilitar la coordinación de actividades conjuntas, evitar la duplicidad de esfuerzos y mejorar la calidad en los servicios de información que se ofrecen a la comunidad de Puriscal.

Proposal for the creation of a Center for Learning Resources (CRA) in the School of San Lorenzo de Tarrazu

Education is the basis for economic and social development, but there are great inequalities in education and access to documentary resources, audiovisual and technology, a situation that affects school performance. The Organization of the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) found a correlation between levels of inequality in a country and performance: the greater the inequality, the worse the performance. Investment in education affects human development and benefit is obtained for the individual and society, which is necessary to ensure social equity, so that there is quality education for all. One of the fundamental purposes of the educational process is to train Costa Rican human thinking, analytical and critical of their environment. The purpose of that is acquired through various methods of academic achievement, learning, participation and constant communication of knowledge between the administrative staff, faculty and students. It is appropriate for schools and colleges have a school library or Resource Center for Learning, it is the gathering, analysis and work of the educational community, working with the intellectual growth of students, faculty, staff and community through access to different services and learning resources provided by the library or CRA.

A CSR and communication strategy for Worten

Field lab in marketing

A REPORT ON THE MITEP PROGRAM AND ITS IMPACT ON MY TEACHING

This report has two major objectives. First, the results of an action research project conducted at my high school concerning the use of graphic organizers and their effects on students' written expression abilities. The findings from this action research project indicate that the use of graphic organizers can prove beneficial to students. The second major objective of this report is to provide a reflection and evaluation of my experiences as a participant in the Michigan Teacher Excellence Program (MiTEP). This program provided middle and high school science teachers with an opportunity to develop research based pedagogy techniques and develop the skill necessary to serve as leaders within the public school science community. The action research project described in the first chapter of this report was a collaborative project I participated in during my enrollment in ED 5705 at Michigan Technological University. I worked closely with two other teachers in my building - Brytt Ergang and James Wright. We met several times to develop a research question, and a procedure for testing our question. Each of us investigated how the use of graphic organizers by students in our classroom might impact their performance on writing assessments. We each collected data from several of our classes. In my case I collected data from 2 different classes over 2 different assignments. Our data was collected and the results analyzed separately from classroom to classroom. After the individual classroom data and corresponding analysis was compiled my fellow collaborators and I got together to discuss our findings. We worked together to write a conclusion based on our combined results in all of our classes.

Of Taffeta and Soil

OF TAFFETA AND SOIL is a collection of poetry unified through images of Argentinean and Floridian soil, flora, and fauna, and by themes of geographic and emotional dislocation, memory, and the quest for home. These images are brought forth in lyrical poems that question the growth and settling of a romantic partnership, domestic turmoil and resolution, and the constant tension between self and community. Mostly written in free verse, the collection also utilizes forms such as prose poem, haiku, and sonnet, for more formal unity. Section one chronicles and explores a romantic relationship through attraction, passion, disappointment, and self-awareness. Section two is a long poem that centers on the speaker’s continuous struggle to come to terms with her present adult life while still remembering and idealizing a homeland. Finally, the collection ends with two sections that work toward self-acceptance, forgiveness, and evolution via community, family, travel and nature.

Reading Between the Lines of Teaching and Learning

Some students lack reading skills due to biological or environmental factors. Accordingly, in my role as an educator, I would like to know if Dialogic Reading Strategies can help Spanish speaking caregivers to facilitate an interactive reading routine at home with their child.

Giving Voice to Voiceless: Engaging Urban Youth for Possibilities

This symposium will discuss the expansion of The Education Effect – Booker T. Washington, as a university community school partnership designed to engage urban youth for college and career readiness. The partnership is focused on developing collective impact and capacity for academic achievement, social success and college completion. The partnership aligns university expertise, resources and evidenced based strategies to address educational needs through the improvement of teaching and learning; increase graduation rate and parental involvement.

Tocqueville in Miami : political culture and political organizing in Miami's Cuban community

This study examines the effectiveness of civic organizations focusing on leadership and the role of culture in politics. The study is based on a quasi-experimental research design and relies primarily on qualitative data. The study focuses on Miami's Cuban community in order to examine the role of public initiative in grassroots civic and community organizations. The Miami Cuban community is a large, institutionally complex and cohesive ethnic community with dense networks of community organizations. The political and economic success of the community makes it an opportune setting for a study of civic organizing. The sheer number of civic organizations to be found in Miami's Cuban community suggests that the community's civic organizations have something to do with the considerable vibrancy and civic capacity of the community. How have the organizations managed to be so successful over so many years and what can be learned about successful civic organizing from their experience? Civic organizations in Miami's Cuban community are overwhelmingly ethnic-based organizations. The organizations recreate collective symbols that come from community members' memories of and attachments to the place of origin they hold dear as ethnic Cubans. They recreate a collective Cuban past that community members remember and that is the very basis of the community to which they belong. Cuban Miami's ethnically based civic organizations have generally performed better than the literature on civic organizations says they should. They gained greater access to community ties and social capital, and they exhibited greater organizational longevity. The fit between the political culture of civic organizations and that of the broader political community helps to explain this success. Yet they do not perform in the same way or in support of the same social purposes. Some stress individual agency rather than community agency, and some pursue an externally-oriented social purpose, whereas others focus on building an internal community.