What is the impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the human condition? In order to address this question, in 2012 the European Commission organized a research project entitled The Onlife Initiative: concept reengineering for rethinking societal concerns in the digital transition. This volume collects the work of the Onlife Initiative. It explores how the development and…
The State, Business and Education contributes to the ongoing debates surrounding the effects of public funding of private entities by examining the ways in which they affect the quality and equity of those services, and the realization of human rights. Using case studies from both the developing and developed world this book illustrates the variety of ways in which private actors have expanded …
This global collection brings a new perspective to the field of comparative education by presenting trust, capacity and accountability as the three building blocks of education systems and education system reform. In exploring how these three factors relate to student learning outcomes across different international contexts, this book provides a powerful framework for a more equal system. Dr…
Looking at two smaller-scale systemic school improvement projects implemented in selected district circuits in the North West and Eastern Cape by partnerships between government, JET Education Services, and private sector organisations, this book captures and reflects on the experiences of the practitioners involved. The Systemic School Improvement Model developed by JET to address an identifie…
This book provides an analysis of the global monetary system and the necessary reforms that it should undergo to play an active role in the twenty-first century. As its title indicates, its basic diagnosis is that it is an ad hoc framework rather than a coherent system—a ‘non-system’—which evolved after the breakdown of the original Bretton Woods arrangement in the early 1970s. The book…
Providing a methodology for evaluating indoor thermal comfort with a focus on children, this book presents an in-depth examination of children’s perceptions of comfort. Divided into two sections, it first presents a history of thermal comfort, the human body and environmental parameters, common thermal comfort indexes, and guidelines for creating questionnaires to assess children’s percepti…
This unique book explores school improvement policy – from its translation into national contexts and school networks to its implementation in leader and teacher practices in individual schools and classrooms within this network of schools and its impact on students’ learning. It draws on multiple conceptual and theoretical resources to explore the complexities attached to a school improvem…
The book offers a broad overview of asset management processes for different utilities, with a special emphasis on energy and water. It provides readers with important practical considerations concerning the development of new competitive structures and procedures for guaranteeing a sufficient supply of energy and water in a regulated environment, using clearly defined technical and economic co…
This open access book includes a series of relevant policy research articles, elaborared in the framework of the “Quality in higher education: internationalisation and databases to enhance the Romanian education system” project, implemented by the Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI), together with the Ministry of Education. The proj…
Music and Democracy explores music as a resource for societal transformation processes. This book provides recent insights into how individuals and groups used and still use music to achieve social, cultural, and political participation and bring about social change. The contributors present outstanding perspectives on the topic: From the promise and myth of democratization through music techno…