The BEC/BTEC National Diploma in Business and Finance was, from the late 1970s to the mid 1990s, a major vocational award in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Although the majority of BEC/BTEC students were located in the further education colleges within the somewhat marginalised postcompulsory sector, the BEC/BTEC National level curriculum was directly experienced by hundreds of thousands of students as well as their lecturers, and indirectly by a range of educational stakeholders including employers and university tutors coming into contact with former BEC/BTEC students. Having transformed the rhetoric and substantially altered pedagogic practices within further education the BTEC National Diploma was beginning to establish an identity when it was, in effect, superceded by the Advanced GNVQ in Business. Notwithstanding the significance of BEC/BTEC as a major awarding body the associated curriculum attracted relatively little interest from researchers, receiving only a fraction of the attention which has been attracted by the more recent NVQs and GNVQs. This study is primarily a curriculum history which aims to provide an account of a curriculum which was conceived and implemented at a time before policy makers had come to recognise the value of the post-compulsory sector as an engine for potentially improving national economic performance, and as a catalyst for the creation of a culture of life-long learning. The study attempts to theoretically contextualise the BEC/BTEC curriculum as an important instance of vocationalism. Ideas drawn from Gramsci, Althusser, Foucault and Lyotard are utilised in order to provide a critical but multi-perspectival analytical framework. The study incorporates an outline discussion of vocationalism in England; an account of the genesis and development of BEC/BTEC as an institution; an overview of various versions (or "generations") of the BEC/BTEC National curriculum as well as those which have superceded it (using course specifications and associated documents); and presents perceptions of the BEC/BTEC National curriculum drawn from a questionnaire survey and interviews. The BEC/BTEC National curriculum is seen as an innovatory curriculum which, for many students, presented important opportunities to progress. It is suggested, however, that ideological assumptions implicit in the model of vocationalism as operationalised in late Twentieth Century capitalism have necessarily emasculated the critical potential and intellectual integrity of vocational education and training in England.

Parent involvement in political activities is a rare form of parent participation. Most parents who take an interest in schools become involved with their child's classroom, attend school functions and activities, assist with fundraisers, attend PTA meetings. As the process for funding public school education has become more difficult and as decisions about education become more political, some parents have reacted to that trend and have become involved in the politics themselves. Changes in laws and education funding formulas in Massachusetts over the last decade has caused parents to become more protective, more vigilant of the school budget process, and of the way politicians position themselves on school issues. This is the case study of six parents who have been involved in schools and community politics over a decade in Millville, a community in western Massachusetts. The population of Millville is mainly elderly and White, while the school population is more than seventy percent minority, the majority of whom are Puerto Ricans. This has caused a clash of culture, age, and priorities. The schools have become a political battleground, and with parents no strangers to those battles as they fight to protect the rights of children to an equitable education. The involvement of these parents has been directly influenced by the enactment of a tax limitation proposal known as Proposition 2 1/2. A document review reveals the nature of the political climate of the Commonwealth during the last decade as it influenced local and state decision making about public schools and the funding of them. This study explores for what reasons parents participate in parent involvement through governance activities; how the climate of the last decade has influenced the types of activities in which parents engage; why parents make governance activities their priority; how their earlier experiences in parent involvement were similar to or different from the types of activities they find themselves engaged in now; how their earlier impressions of their involvement different from the current climate for parental involvement; and what types of parent involvement, given the current political climate of the Commonwealth, are most important now.

This research study draws on the experience of twenty newly appointed head teachers, those in year one and two of their headship role in secondary schools in Tanzania. The study gathered the head teachers’ experience, perceptions, and suggestions about their own continuing professional development and that of others in schools. It strived to understand how and when these new heads of schools are trained, and whether they receive sufficient training before taking on a headship role. It further sought to understand the significance of mandatory leadership qualifications in enhancing the head teachers’ knowledge, skills and abilities to lead schools. In particular, it argues that despite the rhetoric on better education management at district, regional and ministry level at present, there is still a widespread need for education leaders, researchers and all other education providers to emphasise the importance of school leadership development programs for school leaders. The research findings indicate that head teachers can gain the required knowledge and skills to lead their schools through short and long term leadership training programs and also through accession to headship in schools. Consequently, the majority participants commented on mentoring and coaching, as significant programs in head teacher development. Moreover, the study recommends that there is a need for the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training to increase budgets for school leadership development programs and to ensure that clear policies and directives shape leadership development in schools, and those directives demarcate how formal training for newly appointed head teachers can be achieved.

This study compares the financial knowledge of Korean (N = 1006) and German (N = 1346) university students. The country-specific adaptations of the US-American Test of Financial Literacy was used to assess financial knowledge. Financial knowledge can be divided into three areas (everyday money management; banking; insurance). German students show a slightly higher knowledge of everyday money management and insurance. Korean students tend to be stronger in the area banking. The paper examines the impact of gender on financial knowledge and the role of financial information gathering. A gender difference is determined in Germany, but not in Korea. Male students in Germany score higher than female students. An analysis of variance shows that Korean as well as German students who inform themselves more frequently about financial topics achieve a higher financial knowledge score. The article shows that it is possible to validly measure financial knowledge in Germany and Korea, which have different economic systems.

The purpose of this study was to examine parental actions to finance higher education. Data were analyzed from the 1995-96 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS: 96). Results of this study indicated that gender, race, housing status, and attendance status of students were factors in the amount of loans that was assumed by parents. Further results indicated that parent'9s marital status, total parent contribution, parent income, the cost of attending, and institutional control were also factors in the amount of loans that were assumed by parents. The age of students and the amount of parent savings did not effect the percentage of parents who assumed loans nor did it effect the amount of loans that were assumed by parents. Recommendations for future research include a continued focus on how families, as a whole, are financing higher education, repayment practices and default rates of parents who assumed loans to pay for higher education, specific types of loans that parents use to fund higher education, parental debt and what ratio of their debt is due to educational loans. / Master of Arts

Despite the raise in per-pupil expenditures, the achievement gap between economically advantaged and disadvantaged students continues to increase. Education proponents are scrambling to understand the complexities of local school funding. The No Child Left behind deadline stipulated that all students must be proficient in language arts and mathematics by 2014. The constructivist theory served as the conceptual framework for the study. Performance data were obtained from the State of New Jersey Department of Education and the United States Department of Education. This quantitative study determined whether a significant relationship exists between the allocation of fiscal resources and students' test scores. Improvement District Survey data were obtained from the New Jersey school district. District test results for Grades 6, 7, and 8 in language arts and mathematics from the 2011-2012 school year were used. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed no significant relationship between the allocation of fiscal resources and student achievement other than a significant relationship (25%) between mathematics achievement and educational media services/school library. The Improvement District Survey results revealed that the New Jersey district is capable of aligning their improvement efforts with the barriers and challenges of teachers. These findings have implications for positive social change for education officials by informing their allocation of fiscal resources. This informed approach will support increased student achievement and will add to the current research of allocation patterns and student performance.