China's education response to COVID-19: A perspective of policy analysis

This study explores how China's education responses to COVID-19 from a perspective of policy analysis. Specifically, it involves building an educational policy system for COVID-19 to examine educational governance framework, school management and teaching, policies for teachers during the epidemic. The education policy during the epidemic has achieved positive results. Those results aim to ensure the physical and mental health of teachers and students, ensure the supply of epidemic prevention materials and educational resources, ensure the quality of students' learning, and enhance the application ability of teachers' teaching technology. The process of policy changes and effects of policy implementation have been examined to analyze how China's education responses to COVID-19. The characteristics and experience of China's education policy in response to the epidemic concentrate on forming a governance system under the centralized and unified leadership of the Communist Party of China, building a pattern in which families and schools cooperate closely to promote the smooth development of education and teaching, transforming from an emergency substitute during the crisis into an important motivation to promote the transformation of education paradigm, and paying great attention to remote and poor areas and disadvantaged student groups.

Ivory Tower or Tower of Babel? The challenge of multilingualism for the globally embedded university

Higher education organizations in countries where English is not the native tongue must function in a multilingual mode, using English as their primary language for scientific exchange and academic publication and relying on the native language for instruction and administration. When operating in a multilingual mode of communication and identity expression, a higher education organization runs the risk of becoming a "tower of Babel";however, by operating solely in single-language mode, it may become an "ivory tower." Investigating Israeli higher education organizations and focusing specifically on their mission statements, we analyzed the built-in tension of this multilingual self-identification through how they introduce themselves in the lingua franca of global academe, namely English, and in the local language, Hebrew. In our analysis, we found: (a) differences between the English- and Hebrew-language mission statements in length, style, and context;(b) differences in thematic emphases and thus in the narration of organizational identity;and (c) that such thematic differences patterned according to the three categories of state-mandated higher education organizations and, to some degree, time. We conclude that multilingualism serves both as an arena for the negotiation of organizational identity and as a state of being for higher education organizations in non-English-speaking countries. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Higher Education (00181560) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

The Role of Technology in Physical Education Teaching in the Wake of the Pandemic

Physical education is seen as an essential subject for the development of healthy habits and well-being, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 3. Furthermore, the impact of technology on all aspects of life is now an undeniable reality. The field of education is no exception, and digitalisation has undoubtedly been accelerated by the emergency situation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper aims to analyse the scientific production related to the field of physical education, technology, and the pandemic from a double perspective. From a search in Scopus, 86 articles were selected for analysis. A bibliometric approach was used to identify the variables of impact, collaboration, production, and dissemination. While the content analysis allowed us to delve deeper into the topics most frequently chosen by researchers, we found that the articles focused both on the circumstances experienced by practising teachers and on the adaptations made in the teaching/learning process with trainee teachers and students at different stages of education. Thus, technology has emerged as a fundamental tool in physical education during the pandemic, making it possible to develop or maintain better health and learning.

Teaching and learning during COVID-19: Perceptions of students, parents, and teachers in Egypt

Using a case study approach and an open-ended online questionnaire, this chapter describes the policy and resources that the Ministry of Education and Technical Education in Egypt made available for General High School Grade 12 students in response to COVID-19. It investigates the challenges these students, teachers, and parents describe during COVID-19 as they prepare for high-stakes General Secondary School leaving exams. In addition, it describes the teaching and learning solutions and innovations, as well as coping strategies, that these students, parents, and teachers employed to mitigate such a crisis. Our findings suggest that the following measures could help to mitigate the disparity of advantage caused by COVID-19. Other suggestions include that policies and practices should be introduced in order to offer free/subsidized Internet coverage and technological devices for students from poor backgrounds and rural contexts;to train teachers and students in using mobile learning techniques and technologies;to make online interactive teaching and learning modules available for all students in all subjects;to regulate how private school teachers and private tutors are releasing their own video-recorded sessions;and to conduct further empirical research on how COVID-19 affects examination outcomes in relation to previous years. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021. All rights reserved.

Rethinking future uncertainty in the shadow of COVID 19: Education, change, complexity and adaptability

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 threw the world into an unexpected turmoil;schools were closed, exams cancelled, and educational systems were forced to react to deep and unexpected changes. In educational policy, however, the idea that we should prepare for an unknown, uncontrollable and risky future has been widely accepted long before the outbreak. Building on insights from complexity theory and the study of dynamic systems, the article critically examines how the standard educational response to future unpredictability, which focuses on enhancing adaptability, fares in a time of crisis. It is argued that the emphasis on adaptability in response to a world that is increasingly becoming volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous is often uncritically embraced in educational policy. We suggest that furthering adaptability through education could be suited for tackling everyday uncertainty, yet is an ill-suited response to crisis situations because it hinders transformative change. The article also points to some additional difficulties with striving to further adaptability. Instead, it is argued that developing a vision might prove to be instrumental in guiding an adequate educational response. It is acknowledged that relying on a vision might raise some difficulties, but it is maintained that these can be, at least partially, avoided.

The Future Ready Lab: Maintaining Students' Access to Internships during Times of Crisis

In this manuscript, we highlight the virtual Future Ready Lab as one example of an innovative internship concept designed to increase the quantity of meaningful paid internship experiences available for students to participate in, prepare for further education, and be able to compete in the 21st Century workforce. The Lab's premise is to provide access to student populations (e.g., economically disadvantaged, Black, and Latinx students) who oftentimes are not afforded the opportunity to hone their 21st Century skills in a high-impact internship experience. The virtual nature of the Future Ready Labs provided opportunities for high school students to participate, despite transportation limitations, social distancing, emerging safety precautions, and requirements based on the COVID-19 pandemic. In this manuscript, we help fill gaps in existing literature concerning how schools support students' work-based learning experiences during times of crisis, particularly for diverse and economically disadvantaged learners. We conclude with recommendations for practice, and a broader work-based learning framework for how partnerships can be forged and sustained in high schools across the nation, as well as implications for educational policy, practice, and research. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Education & Urban Society is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Qualitative Analysis of Psychological Framework of Online Classes during Covid-19 using NVIVO

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study on whether or not online teaching-learning is a viable option for ensuring the quality of education in the future. The pandemic situation has brought major challenges to the educational institutions and institutions have to ensure that learning continues uninterrupted through virtual platforms using current technologies and tools. The theoretical framework for the survey is derived from secondary sources such as research papers, newspaper articles, and magazine articles on the topic. ProQuest and EBSCO were used for this. The study combines exploratory and descriptive methods. The paper shows that the future of the online education is not sustainable;it is just a situational arrangement and soon will be replaced by the old, traditional offline pattern, if the situation allows. © 2023, Rajarambapu Institute Of Technology. All rights reserved.

Understanding individual experiences of COVID-19 to inform policy and practice in higher education: Helping students, staff, and faculty to thrive in times of crisis

Utilizing findings from more than 200 interviews with students, staff, and faculty at a US university, this volume explores the immediate and real-life impacts of COVID-19 on individuals to inform higher education policy and practice in times of crisis. Documenting the profound impacts that COVID-19 had on university operations and teaching, this book foregrounds a range of participant perspectives on key topics such as institutional leadership and loss of community, managing motivation and the move to online teaching and learning, and coping with the adverse mental health effects caused by the pandemic. Far from dwelling on the negative, the volume frames the lived experiences and implications of COVID-19 for higher education through a positive, progressive lens, and considers how institutions can best support individual and collective thriving during times of crisis. This book will benefit researchers, academics, and educators in higher education with an interest in the sociology of education, higher education management, and eLearning more broadly. Those specifically interested in student affairs practice, as well as the administration of higher education, will also benefit from this book. The chapters describe the experiences of students, staff, and faculty at the University of Utah as they adapted to the new COVID-19 reality in spring and summer 2020. The logistics of adjusting to online learning and working, the juggling act of managing their online learning and teaching while taking on responsibility for the learning of children in their homes, the reality of a struggling economy, and the social-political environment of a presidential election year and a burgeoning racial justice movement provide the backdrop for the experiences described in this monograph. This study has important implications for higher education leaders. It offers an in-depth and institutionally broad view of how different higher education stakeholders experienced the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Academic reading as a social practice in higher education

In this study, an undergraduate teacher education course is used to explore whether and how academic reading seminars reflect the theoretical notion of academic literacies and provide a learning environment for developing academic and professional learning and engagement. The data analyzed in this article are transcribed recordings of small group activities where students discuss scientific articles based on a template. First, our empirical analysis shows that the use of the template facilitated dialogical discussions and the development of a cognitive skillset and disciplinary categories when used in a social setting. Second, we found that the most challenging part of designing a reading practice related to the academic literacies tradition was fostering a dialogical environment for discussing the validity of findings across different contexts and provide for discussions encompassing complexity, nuances, and meaning making. We found traces of such discussions in all the transcripts;however, many examples were in a premature stage. The paper concludes with a discussion on, and some suggestions for, further development of the template used in the reading seminars. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Higher Education (00181560) is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

A tale of two pandemics: teachers' disproportionate views on student engagement in remote learning

PurposeThis study aims to use culturally responsive pedagogy as a model to examine teachers' views of the equity implications found within virtual instruction.Design/methodology/approachThe researchers used a descriptive methods design based on survey research employing both fixed (quantitative) and open response (qualitative) options to curate teachers' perceptions of their students' abilities to engage in online learning.FindingsTeachers articulated anxiety for student engagement based on access as well as concerns for student engagement and social emotional learning (SEL) connection. Data point to disparate views of students' abilities to engage in remote learning based on demographic markers. Teachers also noted their own limitations in providing engaging online instruction that was culturally responsive and included social emotional learning (SEL) learning.Originality/valueThis study provided a unique opportunity to explore teachers' perceptions of their students in online learning contexts as well as teachers' perceptions of their own abilities to support diverse students in remote learning. Teachers' responses indicated deficit views of their culturally and linguistically diverse students and signaled awareness of their own limitations in providing online instruction that was culturally responsive and student centered. Study findings point to a need to equip teachers with tools to mitigate systemic inequity in online contexts.

Evaluation on the Policy of Using the E-Learning System with Fully Online in the Pandemic-Covid-19 Period

The use of e-learning platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic and in the context of facing the era of the industrial revolution 4.0 is a must in almost all levels of education, especially in universities. Many efforts have been made and implemented in order to apply these demands, for example by developing applications that are expected to help organize the digital learning process. The method used in obtaining information is a quantitative method using an instrument, namely a questionnaire (distribution of questionnaires) through the Google form application. The subjects in this study were UNP students in the Fundamentals of Education course in the July-December 2020 semester. Based on the research results, information was obtained regarding the policy evaluation of the use of a full online (online) e-learning system that could be categorized as good and effective, but it needs to be improved in several parts, for example: effectiveness, content, interaction patterns, understanding of the material, network access, large/expensive data packets when using video conference collaborating with the platform e-learning. The element of effectiveness/efficiency of online learning as many as 23.5% of respondents considered it less effective / efficient, meaning that there were still gaps in the fully online policy implemented by universities in this case, namely UNP.

COVID-19 and the second exams fiasco across the UK: four nations trying to avoid immediate policy failure.

In 2021, the UK and devolved governments tried to avoid the school exams fiasco of 2020. Their immediate marker of success was to prevent a similar U-turn on their COVID-19 school exams replacement policies. They still cancelled the traditional exam format, and sought teacher assessments to determine their grades, but this time without using an algorithm to standardise the results. The outcomes produced some concerns about inequity, since the unequal exam results are similar to those experienced in 2020. However, we did not witness the same sense of acute political crisis. We explain these developments by explaining this year's 'windows of opportunity' overseen by four separate governments, in which the definition of the problem, feasibility of each solution, and motive of policymakers to select one, connects strongly to the previous U-turn. A policy solution that had been rejected during the first window became a lifeline during the second and a likely choice during the third. This action solved an immediate crisis despite exacerbating the problem that ministers had previously sought to avoid ('grade inflation'). It produced another year of stark education inequity, but also ensured that inequity went from part of an acute political crisis to its usual status as a chronic low-attention policy problem.

The International Education Index: A global approach to education policy analysis, performance and sustainable development

Before the COVID‐19 pandemic, the world struggled to address growing educational inequalities and fulfil the commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 4, which seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The pandemic has exacerbated these inequalities and changed how education functions, moving to online and hybrid methods. The challenges in global education highlighted and worsened by the pandemic make it necessary to re‐evaluate education systems and the policies in place to support access, quality and equal opportunity. This article focuses on analysing education policies at a national level. It tests a pilot policy analysis tool, the International Education Index (IEI), developed as a starting point to begin this reconsideration and create an accessible and comprehensive way to evaluate national education systems to inform decision‐making and policies in the new context. This research uses Ireland and Northern Ireland to test the IEI pilot tool. The IEI consists of 54 questions across nine indicators, including institutional frameworks, education strategies, digital skills and infrastructure, twenty‐first century skills, access to basic social services, adherence to international standards, legal frameworks, data gathering and availability and international partnerships. Countries can score 108 points to be categorised as having developed, emerging or nascent national education systems. Ireland scored 94 and Northern Ireland 81, indicating that they have developed national education systems.

Two Years Later: How COVID-19 Has Shaped the Teacher Workforce

The unprecedented challenges of teaching during COVID-19 prompted fears of a mass exodus from the profession. We examine the extent to which these fears were realized using administrative records of Massachusetts teachers between 2015–2016 and 2021–2022. Relative to prepandemic levels, average turnover rates were similar going into the fall of 2020 but increased by 17% (from 15.0% to 17.5%) going into the fall of 2021. The fall 2021 increases were particularly high among newly hired teachers (31% increase) but were lower among Black and Hispanic/Latinx teachers (5% increases among both groups). Gaps in turnover rates between schools serving higher and lower concentrations of economically disadvantaged students narrowed during the first 18 months of the pandemic. The same holds true for gaps in turnover between schools serving higher and lower shares of Black and Hispanic/Latinx students. Together, these findings highlight important differences in teachers' responses to the pandemic across subgroups and the need to improve early-career retention to ensure long-term stability within the teacher workforce.

A critical analysis of education policy in turbulent times: A comparative study

This study is a qualitative investigation of education policies and decision making during COVID-19 pandemic in five Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA) countries: Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Qatar. It aims at scrutinizing how these countries responded to the education disruption caused by the pandemic between February 2020 and July 2021 and how they managed the resulting turbulence. We also investigate the extent to which these decisions were equitable and innovative. Data were collected from Ministerial notes, media content, and international organizations reports about the situation of education in the region. Walt and Gilson's (1994) policy analysis triangle and the Cynefin framework (Kurtz & Snowden, 2003) guided the objectives and the analysis of the data. Findings revealed that these countries muddled through the education policy at the beginning of the pandemic, centralized decision making, and faced difficulties to implement online and distance learning. In the second phase, most of these countries tried to save education, but were halted by structural challenges. Some differences were witnessed among these countries in how they have dealt with the evolving crisis. However, some similarities have also been noticed at the levels of context, process and actors. The decisions taken often lacked innovation and led to less equitable outcomes. The discussion of the findings has some implications for education policy and education management in turbulent times in the MENA region. © The Author(s) 2023.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on American Students' Willingness to Study Abroad

As an important extension of college education, study abroad has been consistently attracting American college students in the twenty-first century (for a review, see Institute of International Education, IIE open doors. Retrieved from https://opendoorsdata.org/annual-release/u-s-study-abroad/?tab=us-study-abroad, 2022), allowing students to cross geographic, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. However, the COVID-19 pandemic rerouted most American students back to the U.S. in spring 2020 and led to cancellations of most study abroad programs in the following summer and fall. The ongoing uncertainty of international travel and increasing concern about personal safety due to this pandemic has caused a decline in study abroad enrollments in the U.S. The pandemic has raised a need for reconceptualizing study abroad and reevaluating study abroad curricular requirements. The magnitude and duration of the impact of the pandemic on study abroad, including the current models that have been followed, cannot be properly evaluated without a nuanced understanding of students' willingness to study abroad in the coming years, their perceptions of the role of study abroad in their academic studies, and the impact of study abroad (or possible lack thereof) on their career prospects and life during a time full of uncertainties. This chapter used an online survey to examine 107 U.S. college students' willingness to study abroad and factors that can affect their decisions. Findings suggest that U.S. colleges need to cross boundaries between humanities/social sciences and STEM in curriculum design in order to meet the needs of the increased number of STEM majors who plan to study abroad after the pandemic. Moreover, the traditional Junior Year Abroad model (established in the early 1920s) needs to be modified in order to meet the emergent needs of freshmen and sophomores who are the majority of prospective study abroad students. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The influence of educational vendor programs on welfare recipients and its impact on long-term employment

The devastating effects of the Novel Coronavirus and the impact that stay-at-home orders and mask mandates have placed on businesses have caused countries to plummet into economic recession. State quarantine measures and the fear of contracting the virus have led to structural change, resulting in more people enlisting on welfare rolls. The significance of this issue is the continual problem of helping individuals on welfare secure and maintain long-term employment. The purpose of this study was to understand clearly where the problem lies that contributes to the inability of large volumes of welfare recipients to maintain long-term employment. This study provided insight into why substantial amounts of recipients are inhibited in securing long-term employment after completing welfare educational programs. The major contribution of this work is filling the gaps in the literature by illuminating new revelations to understand why individuals completing welfare programs are unsuccessful in maintaining long-term employment. Utilizing a narrative inquiry research design of six participants from two northern New Jersey career technical schools, the researcher examined four welfare vendor instructors and two educational administrators on their varied experiences and classroom methodologies. From the rich text data given by each instructor, the researcher was able to gain insights from the coded responses of each respondent. The researcher utilized artifacts (i.e., syllabi, job requirements, lesson plans, record of training, and the student handbook) to identify trends in institutional practices. Finally, a thematic analysis of all coded data yielded three overarching themes: (1) pedagogy and limited teaching strategies;(2) efficacy of soft skills readiness, which was broken down further into the sub-themes of (a) andragogical instructional deployment, and (b) soft skills: conversations versus course within the curriculum;and (3) instructor readiness and the drawbacks of accelerated learning. The researcher observed snapshots of classroom methodological patterns of instruction that may have contributed to welfare recipients' inability to maintain long-term employment. Holistically, this study examined the effectiveness of welfare educational vendor programs and classroom methodologies that impact long-term employment outcomes. The concluding chapter provides recommendations for improvements to help welfare recipients obtain long-term employment. This study provided opportunities to mitigate existing conditions that hinder individuals from maintaining long-term employability. In addition, the saliency of this study contributes to improving classroom instructional methodologies that can help individuals maintain long-term employment outcomes, particularly by giving students the ability to obtain self-sufficiency in supporting their families within distressed communities in northern New Jersey. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Exploring digital transformation of teacher education in the Western Balkans: Case of Kosovo

BACKGROUND:The whole educational system from pre-university to university level has been challenged with the immediate pressure to transform during the lockdown period of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The question of how to ensure digital transformation in universities become topical at policy, institutional, and classroom practice dimensions. OBJECTIVE:The main objective of this study is to examine and explore how digital transformation in higher education in Kosovo is conceptualised in a changing context. The study focuses on teacher education as a pathway that links pre-university education with higher education system to ensure future teacher preparation. METHODS:The study used a qualitative research design. The data were collected through interviews with management staff (n = 3) and teacher educators (n = 7), and group interviews with student teachers (n = 15), at the University in Kosovo and teacher education institution. Following the principles of the hermeneutical circle, conceptualisations of digital transformation in teacher education were clustered into the following dimensions: (i) policy, (ii) organisation culture and management, and (iii) teaching and learning. RESULTS:The paper analyses the Western Balkans, specifically Kosovo, as the country faced the transition challenges including institutional building, limited administrative capabilities, and other challenges regarding educational process and digitalization. The paper contributes to the discussions with the emerging conceptualisations of digital transformation in teacher education by drawing from thematic areas concerning policy response mechanisms, teacher education policy as isolated from higher education framework, change management process, missing organisational culture, rigidity and resistance in teaching. CONCLUSIONS:The paper concludes that teacher education context should be reconceptualised within the higher education framework to better manage a transition and change settings for a shared conceptualisation and sustainable digital transformation.

Three policy problems: biocreep and the extension of biopolitical administration

This paper critiques recent developments in educational discourse through an analysis of two UK Government White Papers and three specific problems. We argue that the latter herald forms of ‘biocreep'. Echoing the analysis of such phenomena in the work of Michel Foucault, this gradual extension of ‘biopolitics' into the field of education is a tendency which has accelerated with the Coronavirus pandemic and raises many questions for policy analysis. First, we show how the White Papers' approach to life and its related assumptions embody an attempt to further entrench the techniques of biopolitical population management in secondary and further education settings. Second, our analysis of the two Papers shows not just a deepening discursive shift towards ways of instrumentalising educational processes, but also identifies a triple problem of political assemblage: primo, this shift relies on the assemblage of a ‘problematic subject';secondo, it simultaneously assembles the problem of value extraction;and tertio, it obscures the problem of desire or unruliness of the assemblages created. Just as discursive practices of instrumentation, administration and evacuation try to manage these assemblages, they remain unable to contain the three problems they enshrine. © 2023 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Shadow Education Policy in Korea During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: This study systematically reviews Korea's shadow education policies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for shadow education policy development in the future. Design/Approach/Methods: In terms of approach, this policy review analyzes selected documents using the analytical framework of shadow education policies. Selected documents comprise recently revised decrees, policies, and regulations issued by the Korean Ministry of Education, as well as policy notices issued by the Korea Association of Hagwon. Data are supplemented by triangulation with news media content. Findings: This study identifies tutoring policies at the legal level in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Government debate regarding shadow education largely centers on the closing of tutoring organizations and ensuring that online tuition fees adhere to government regulation. In respect to the expansion of the government-led shadow education partnership, the government's increasing role in education has served to restrict the shadow education market. Originality/Value: The Korean government has adjusted its shadow education policies in response to COVID-19, altering its legal and economic status. An examination of Korea's recent shadow education policies suggests future trends in the revision and development of shadow education in the country.