Decentralization & Local Government

Criticism of the achievements of the Welfare State have led to more emphasis on the role of local government in providing new styles of welfare services. This has presented a challenge to Labour party authorities in Britain and can be seen as an aspect of conflict with Conservative party central government. The article analyses the effect of placing more emphasis on local service delivery to which much publicity has been given. Voluntary agencies have also been given an increased role, for a variety of motives. This raises questions about local democracy, answerability, and user-control, which go beyond mere party polemics and involves fresh discussion of the future role of local government.     

School Choice in London and Paris – A Comparison of Middle‐class Strategies

Education is one major public service in which quasi‐markets and other choice‐based mechanisms are now established methods of delivery. The types of school people choose, and the extent to which their choices are realized, have a fundamental impact on the outcomes of any mechanism of school choice. In this article, we provide a comparative analysis of the school choice strategies of middle‐class families in London and Paris. We draw on approximately 200 in‐depth interviews carried out across the two cities. This enables us to investigate the extent to which middle‐class school choice strategies transcend the institutional context provided by both the local (state and private) schools market and national education policy in England and France. We discuss these findings in the context of current school choice policy and consider their implications for future policy design.     

Safe Schools Policy for LGBTQ Students and commentaries

Two proposed U.S. federal laws would provide explicit protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) students in public schools. These federal laws follow actions by many states and school districts to define and implement laws or policies to protect the safety of LGBTQ students in schools. Research during the past decade has shown that LGBTQ youth are a vulnerable population, and that the negative school experiences of LGBTQ students often contribute to their vulnerability. This Social Policy Report reviews research relevant to these federal, state, and local laws and policies. Research on sexual orientation/identity development is reviewed, with attention to the growing numbers of youth that “come out” or disclose their LGBTQ identities to others during their school-age years. Schools are often hostile environments for LGBTQ students; this evidence is considered along with research on the consequences for compromised achievement and emotional and behavioral health. We then review strategies in education policy and practice that are associated with well-being for LGBTQ (and all) students.     

District Segregation,Race Legislation,and Black Enrollment in Charter Schools*

Objective. This article examines how segregation at the school level within districts and charter school legislation predict black enrollment levels at local charter schools. Methods. This study uses the Schools and Staffing Survey Charter School Data 1999–2000, Common Core of Data, and a unique data set of district test scores to estimate OLS regression models of black enrollment in charter schools on district racial segregation and race provisions in charter school legislation. Results. Findings suggest that segregated school districts, those districts where whites and blacks are more unevenly distributed among schools, have a larger percentage of blacks enrolled in local charter schools than districts where schools are integrated. In addition, charter schools in states that do not have a racial clause have a smaller percent of blacks in their charter schools. Conclusion. Findings suggest that black enrollment in charter schools is a function of district segregation and state policy.     

Rhetoric,reality and dissent: The Vietnam policy of the British labour government, 1964–1970

This article analyzes the interactions between Prime Minister Harold Wilson and the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary Labour party in the formulation of Britain's policy towards the Vietnam conflict.Two well-known theses about the structure and functioning of Britain's major political parties serve as the point of departure for this analysis. R.T. McKenzie (British Political Parties) contends that the distribution of power within the Labour and Conservative parties is fundamentally similar. In contrast, Samuel Beer (British Politics in the Collectivist Age) argues that there is greater intraparty democracy in the Labour party than in the Conservative party.The article concludes that by and large the Labour Government was a reluctant supporter of U.S. Vietnam policy. The Parliamentary Labour left consistently challenged the Government on this issue but stopped short of any attempt to oust the Government. Wilson took the opinions of the extra-parliamentary party into account but refused to be bound by them. Thus, while Labour's dissidents had a degree of influence over Britain's Vietnam policy from 1964–1970, they did not exercise veto power.     

1928-1937年北平市小学教育探析

1928年北平特别市成立时,小学教育百废待兴。为普及义务教育,北平市政府在整顿公私立小学的同时,大力兴办短期小学及简易小学,实行二部制教学,以救济失学儿童;改善小学教职员的待遇,加强教职员的检定和培训,以提高师资水平。从小学课程设置上来看,最为显著的是在各小学校全面设置党义课,并十分注重学生的训育管理。通过以上实践,北平市小学教育有所发展,但总体来说,仍处于一个较低的水准。     

Decentring the NHS: A Case Study of Resource Allocation Decisions within a Health District

The aim of New Labour's health policy is to shift more of the balance of power and responsibility for services to the local level. But, while the government proclaims a new decentralized NHS, doubts exist about the extent to which the reality on the ground matches the tone of policy. This article reports empirical work examining the level of autonomy purchasers have over budgetary allocation. A case study analysis of purchasing within a single district was undertaken for the financial year 2001/2 which included semi‐structured interviews with key officers responsible for budget allocation. Purchasers approach a new financial year with a starting position that matches the previous year's allocation—the “baseline”, this is adjusted for inflation and, as has happened over the last few years, increased further in real terms by “growth funds” for service modernization and government initiatives. The analysis shows a clear dissonance between policy and practice; although purchasers have complete control over their “baseline budgets”, the study found that this does not “ring true” at the local level. Only about a fifth of growth funds were at the discretion of purchasers as most are taken by national priorities and pay and price inflation. Further decentralization is planned, which includes transferring more control of funds to primary care trusts by 2004, the extent to which these measures will change the perceptions of those working in the service remains to be seen—only then will the government be able to claim a truly decentred service.     

Not in My Schoolyard: Localism and Public Opposition to Funding Schools Equally

Objective . Public opinion on education has not been extensively studied, despite the important political dimensions of conflicts over education policies. This article seeks to understand the dynamics of public opposition to equal educational opportunity in the wake of state supreme court decisions mandating school finance reform. Methods . Exploring state level polls from Connecticut and New Jersey, the article analyzes attitudes toward equal educational opportunity through logistic and ordinary-least-squares regression. Results . Situating attitudes toward school funding within the contexts of attitudes toward educational equality, taxes, and school performance, this analysis finds support for both self-interest and symbolic opposition to equalization, but it also finds that localism has a strong and independent effect on respondents' views concerning the desirability of equal funding in schools. Conclusions . Despite respondents' strong support for the principle of funding schools equally, their support is significantly eroded if they perceive that equality threatens or diminishes local control of schools.     

政党统合的力量:党、政治资本与草根NGO的发展:基于Z省H市的多案例比较研究

本文旨在探讨转型时期党对于草根NGO的独特影响机制。在整合前人相关研究的基础上,通过对Z省H市两个草根环保NGO的多案例比较,本文发现党对于NGO的影响存在一条与政府不同的独特机制。与传统资源视角和合法性视角所认为的不同,本文认为,党在拓宽资源渠道、增强政治合法性方面对于NGO的影响与政府相比并不存在显著优势,然而唯独党可以通过统合手段,从制度层面给予NGO领导人以政治身份,从而增强其政治资本、扩展其社会网络,为NGO的发展提供更加宽松的制度环境。这一点单一的政府部门难以企及。本文不仅深化了学术界对于国家-社会关系层面更加细致的理解,而且在更广泛层面暗示了与国家的紧密联系并不必然意味着NGO自主性的缺失。未来的研究应当将关注点放在这种关系对于公共治理所造成的实际影响,而非NGO的独立性和自主性本身。     

北京市义务教育财政充足现状、缺口及对策

教育财政充足的内涵是在保证教育服务均衡和学生学业成就基础上的财政投入量,这与北京市优质义务教育均衡的政策目标基本一致.教育财政充足度的投入指标和产出指标显示,目前北京市义务教育财政投入在国内已经处于领先地位,但与国际发达国家相比仍旧存在不充足的问题.利用Odden-Picus指数计算北京市义务教育财政投入的充足性水平和实现充足的资金缺口,结果表明:小学的财政充足性低于初中,学校层次的财政充足性低于区级层次;实现区层次的义务教育财政充足还需增加投入180.97亿元.以朝阳区为例,实现学校层次的义务教育财政充足还需增加投入28.43亿元.面对财政投入缺口,北京市政府应筹划总量,优化结构,保证财政投入的绝对增长;细化规则,透明管理,绩效问责,实现财政投入相对增长.     

Gray Peril or Loyal Support? The Effects of the Elderly on Educational Expenditures*

Objectives. Do large concentrations of elderly represent a “gray peril” to maintaining adequate educational expenditures? The gray peril hypothesis is based on an assumption of instrumental self‐interest in political behavior. In contrast, we argue that loyalty to community schools competes with economic self‐interest and that older citizens are heterogeneous in their preferences. Methods. We test these arguments and their implications for public school finance using a data set of more than 9,000 school districts. Results. The data show that longstanding older residents represent a source of support for educational expenditures while elderly migrants lower spending. Further, this divide among the elderly and their impact on policy outputs depends on how states finance local public education and on aspects of state and local tax policy. Conclusions. Elderly concentrations are a financial asset for a school district unless the senior community includes a large number of new arrivals. The design of tax policy can have enormous impact on the depth of political cleavages and their ultimate impact on public policy. The results are consistent with the idea that loyalty—an emotional bond between residents and their community's institutions—competes with and often trumps instrumental self interest.     

北京城市打工子弟学校的现状和问题

办学的艰难与条件的恶劣,使得打工子弟学校无法满足标准化的教学要求。本文试图通过相关的实际调查与经验总结,为改善打工子弟学校的困境提出一些看法,同时也建议政府出台相关的政策,解决好流动人口子女的就学问题。     

The Theory of Elementary Education

The vast perspectives of our country's development as outlined in the decisions of the 22nd Party Congress and the new Party Program envisage the education and development of the new man - the man of the communist future - as one of the basic tasks before us. The school is one of the channels for the communist education of the rising generation, and so it is no accident that the question of the organization of our schools holds the attention of the Party, the government, and wide scientific circles. This organization, as well as the content and methods of school work, are questions of interest not only to educators but also to wide circles of scientists in the most varied fields; they are discussed not only in the pages of pedagogical journals but also in the daily press, in magazines, even in books which at first sight do not seem to have any direct relation to education and instruction.     

民办学校财产权探析

民办学校应是指非政府和其他非国有性质的单位、个人利用非国有资产投资 ,形成前期固定资产的学校。目前 ,民办学校的财产权结构束缚了其发展。应建立类似于企业法人的财产权结构     

The Forgotten Anniversary? An Examination of the 1944 White Paper, “A National Health Service”

The 1944 Wartime Coalition White Paper, “A National Health Service”is unlikely to be celebrated among the spate of golden anniversaries of welfare reforms in the 1990s. However, a study of this document may be of interest for two main reasons. First, it has some parallels with the reformed National Health National Health Service of the 1990s and, second, there have been recent calls for a local government-based health service, as was envisaged in 1944. The White Paper is examined in the context of evolving plans for the NHS, and is compared with the actual shape of the NHS as introduced by the Labour Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan, in 1948. Four themes are drawn out. First, the White Paper should not be seen as the embodiment of a political consensus. Second, a Conservative Health Service would have differed from the NHS in fundamental aspects. Third, the conceptual advantages of a local government-based health service were out-weighed by practical politics. Fourth, although the Labour Party made a difference to the shape of the NHS, that shape did not simply follow from party policy. This implies that medical pressure was successful, to some extent, in defining the limits of the new service.     

Local autonomy,municipal size and local political participation in Europe

Local autonomy in Europe has, on average, increased since 1990 and has decreased (a little) since 2009. The average population size of a European municipality has increased continuously during the last two decades. European countries with larger municipalities do not have more local autonomy. Citizens of large municipalities are less interested in local political matters. Inhabitants of small municipalities tend to be more interested in local political matters when their municipalities have more local autonomy while a similar strong correlation between local autonomy and local political interest cannot be established for larger municipalities. Finally, a discrepancy exists between the stated policy objectives of many European countries that support both decentralization and (more) local political participation on the one hand and actual policy results on the other hand that are not necessarily in line with increasing local autonomy and stimulating local political participation.     

Socio-legal protection of minorities -- a study of Indian educational cases

Many Muslim families do not enroll their children in school. This is so because material in school syllabi sometimes goes against Islamic beliefs or adversely affects the Muslim self-image, orthodox parents will not send their daughters to coeducational academic institutions, some adults do not realize the benefits of education with regard to the welfare of their children, and many Muslim localities remain resource-deficient slums. The government, local authorities, and Muslims should band together to encourage and enable backward Muslim minorities to uplift themselves academically. Steps to that end could include adding minority representation to the bodies which approve the syllabi in order to monitor the potential inclusion of offensive material, continuing to upgrade teachers in Muslim schools, optimizing available space in Muslim educational institutions, empowering minorities commissions in states to help backward minorities to garner education, eliminating the rules of discretion to avoid corruption and nepotism, simplifying the rules and procedures governing grants to educational institutions, conducting a scientific survey to obtain accurate baseline information for use in planning the education of Muslim minorities, giving special preference to localities populated predominantly with minorities when establishing educational institutions, and providing scholarship to bright and needy minority students. Additionally, the National Minorities Commission should be empowered by the central government to collect information and report on the educational, social, and economic conditions of minorities across the country. Autonomy in management must also be respected, with regulatory measures applicable to minority institutions being reasonable and appropriate.     

“一体多面”：中华帝制时期的国家—社会关系再研究

关于中华帝制时期国家与社会的关系特征国内外学术界提出了诸多理论概括,诸如“士绅自治”“吏民社会”“官民合作”,等等。本文从行政发包制理论的视角重新审视关于中华帝制时期国家—社会关系的现有理论概括,借助“行政外包”这一分析概念,强调特定的治理领域特征与行政外包的具体形态之间的对应关系,进而揭示国家与社会互动关系的运行机制和内在逻辑。本文试图提出“一体多面”的概念,重新概括中华帝制时期国家与社会关系的总体特征,为理解中华帝制的“权力一元性”与“治理多样性”的奇妙结合提供新的观察视角和分析框架。     

South Korea’s successful education system: lessons and policy implications for Peru

South Korea’s quality education system rests on four pillars: (1) putting education at the center of a long-term development strategy, (2) getting the right people to become teachers, (3) developing these people into effective instructors, and (4) prioritizing information and communications technology in education. In contrast, education policies in Peru change from government to government, official evaluations of teacher education institutes do not exist, teachers do not receive regular training, and the use of technology in education is limited. Taking into account South Korea’s successful experience, Peru could seek to improve its education system with initiatives to support a long-term education policy, which has to include a clear plan to improve the accreditation process of teacher education institutes, the current salaries of teachers, the training of teachers, and the use of technology in schools.     

Are Quasi‐markets in Education what the British Public Wants?

In the context of inconclusive evidence on the extrinsic successes of quasi‐markets, policy defences of school choice and competition in education have often discussed the intrinsic, empowering value of choice for consumers, arguing that school choice for parents is ‘what people want’. Discourses often imply that choice is desired for its own sake rather than merely as a means by which families can escape what are deemed to be poor quality schools. Support for an idealistic, abstract notion of ‘choice’ is also taken to imply support for quasi‐markets overall and is not considered alongside possible competing values that people may hold at the same time as they value choice. Additionally, views of parents are often examined without considering possible differences in views between parents and non‐parents. Contributing to debates about how far a public desire exists for quasi‐markets in education, this article draws on data from newly designed questions fielded as part of the 2010 British Social Attitudes survey. The article finds that while choice ‘in the abstract’ is supported widely by both parents and non‐parents (albeit slightly more so by parents), a valuing of choice among the British public appears to be more instrumental than intrinsic – potentially problematic given evidence on the extrinsic benefits of quasi‐markets is mixed. Support for choice is tempered among parents and non‐parents by clear opposition to vouchers, school diversity, government spending on transport costs to facilitate choice and by strong support for the idea of sending children to the ‘nearest state school’.