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This paper discusses one of Furlong's major areas of work, the theory and practice of teacher education. Taking up where our joint publication Teacher Education in Transition: Re-Forming Professionalism? (Open University Press 2000) left off, it examines how accelerated moves towards school-based teacher education, as well as increased school autonomy, are impacting upon notions of teacher professionalism and professional formation in England. It looks at how in this context a 'core' professionalism mandated by central government through its teaching standards is being supplemented or even replaced by a series of 'local' professionalisms and the 'branded' professionalisms of Teach First and Academy chains. The paper then considers the implications of these developments for the future of Education as a subject of study in universities and, in particular, for the vision set out in Furlong's recent book Education: an anatomy of the discipline (Routledge 2013).

New small autonomous schools initiatives are relatively recent educational change strategies that in some urban districts aim to remake how district central offices function as institutions. In this article, the author draws on theories of organizational innovation and learning to reveal how central office administrators participate in these change processes, what outcomes are associated with their efforts, and the conditions that help or hinder their work. The data came from a 3-year qualitative investigation of these dynamics in two districts. The results show that particular bridging and buffering activities by certain central office administrators were consistent with policy goals and linked to increasing district supports for implementation. Particular dimensions of the institutional environments of central offices shaped central office administrators' choices and actions.

Unlock the potential of public-private partnerships in education. This groundbreaking study offers fresh empirical evidence on the effectiveness and cost of various educational models in developing countries across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Delve into rigorous case studies examining voucher programs and faith-based schools, uncovering key insights into school performance, targeting, and cost-effectiveness. Discover how these partnerships impact student achievement, literacy, and numeracy, and learn what factors drive success or failure. Emerging Evidence on Vouchers and Faith-Based Providers in Education is essential reading for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners seeking innovative solutions to improve educational outcomes and promote social mobility in developing nations. Explore the challenges and opportunities of these partnerships and gain a deeper understanding of how to create more effective and equitable education systems.

The pursuit of equity in and through education is a proclaimed goal of the Gillard Government's national education agenda for schooling. However, it is intriguing that despite its visible presence in policy rhetoric, there is no articulated government view about the meaning of equity. In its absence, equity in education has been shaped, by default, by the discourse of the economy, the market and 'transparent accountability'. These discourses have given equity a very individualistic policy framing, involving an identification of which students are at risk, and the formulation of policies which ensure that these students in particular are the beneficiaries of choice and accountability in order to 'close the achievement gap'. Such policies have been borrowed from overseas and this article argues that just as they have manifestly failed in other parts of the world, so too will they fail in Australia. The article traces the genesis and outcomes of the accountability strategies borrowed from places like New York to show why they are more likely to impede than to enhance equity in education, and concludes by proposing alternative approaches designed to achieve more equitable educational outcomes. [Author abstract]

Developmental dyslexia is a complex reading and writing disorder with strong genetic components. In previous genetic studies about dyslexia, a number of candidate genes have been identified. These include DCDC2, which has repeatedly been associated with developmental dyslexia in various European and American populations. However, data regarding this relationship are varied according to population. The Uyghur people of China represent a Eurasian population with an interesting genetic profile. Thus, this group may provide useful information about the association between DCDC2 gene polymorphisms and dyslexia. In the current study, we examined genetic data from 392 Uyghur children aged 8–12 years old from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. Participants included 196 children with dyslexia and 196 grade-, age-, and gender-matched controls. DNA was isolated from oral mucosal cell samples and fourteen single nucleotide polymorphisms（rs6456593, rs1419228, rs34647318, rs9467075, rs793862, rs9295619, rs807701, rs807724, rs2274305, rs7765678, rs4599626, rs6922023, rs3765502, and rs1087266） in DCDC2 were screened via the SNPscan method. We compared SNP frequencies in five models（Codominant, Dominant, Recessive, Heterozygote advantage, and Allele） between the two groups by means of the chi-squared test. A single-locus analysis indicated that, with regard to the allele frequency of these polymorphisms, three SNPs（rs807724, rs2274305, and rs4599626） were associated with dyslexia. rs9467075 and rs2274305 displayed significant associations with developmental dyslexia under the dominant model. rs6456593 and rs6922023 were significantly associated with developmental dyslexia under the dominant model and in the heterozygous genotype. Additionally, we discovered that the T-G-C-T of the four-marker haplotype（rs9295619-rs807701-rs807724-rs2274305） and the T-A of the two-marker haplotype（rs3765502-1087266） were significantly different between cases and controls. Thus, we conclude that DCDC2 gene polymorphisms are associated with developmental dyslexia in Chinese Uyghur children.

Discusses the main advances in epistemological perspectives and meta-theoretical frameworks within which recent research and academic work in the field of educational administration in Australia has been articulated and developed. Arising from work currently undertaken by the OECD and considerations of developments in educational policy and administration throughout Australia, puts forward a proposal for a new set of agenda for research and professional advancement in the field.

Autonomous Vehicle technology is quickly expanding its market and has found in Silicon Valley, California, a strong foothold for preliminary testing on public roads. In an effort to promote safety and transparency to consumers, the California Department of Motor Vehicles has mandated that reports of accidents involving autonomous vehicles be drafted and made available to the public. The present work shows an in-depth analysis of the accident reports filed by different manufacturers that are testing autonomous vehicles in California (testing data from September 2014 to March 2017). The data provides important information on autonomous vehicles accidents' dynamics, related to the most frequent types of collisions and impacts, accident frequencies, and other contributing factors. The study also explores important implications related to future testing and validation of semi-autonomous vehicles, tracing the investigation back to current literature as well as to the current regulatory panorama.

This paper studied the prescribed-time platooning control problem for connected autonomous vehicles subject to unknown dynamics and stochastic actuator faults. Precisely, to compensate for the effect of unknown dynamic behaviour, the radial basis function-based adaptive observer design was developed that incorporates into the closed-loop control system, which enhances the robustness of the proposed control algorithm. In addition, physical actuator fault factors are also taken into account, which are denoted in terms of a Bernoulli-distributed stochastic variable. Lyapunov stability theory and the stochastic analysis method is used to derive the stability of the addressed control system. Finally, a numerical example with detailed simulation results is provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control design.

The trans-contextual model outlines the processes by which autonomous motivation toward activities in a physical education context predicts autonomous motivation toward physical activity outside of school, and beliefs about, intentions toward, and actual engagement in, out-of-school physical activity. In the present article, we clarify the fundamental propositions of the model and resolve some outstanding conceptual issues, including its generalizability across multiple educational domains, criteria for its rejection or failed replication, the role of belief-based antecedents of intentions, and the causal ordering of its constructs. We also evaluate the consistency of model relationships in previous tests of the model using path-analytic meta-analysis. The analysis supported model hypotheses but identified substantial heterogeneity in the hypothesized relationships across studies unattributed to sampling and measurement error. Based on our meta-analysis, future research needs to provide further replications of the model in diverse educational settings beyond physical education and test model hypotheses using experimental methods.

Advances in technology in recent years have changed the learning behaviors of learners and reshaped teaching methods. This had resulted in several challenges faced by current educational systems, such as an increased focus on informal learning, a growing gap of prior knowledge among students in classrooms and a mismatch between individual career choices and the development of the work force. This paper looks at these challenges with a view towards revolutionizing current learning environments to smart learning environments and provides new suggestions for technological solutions. Furthermore, this paper argues for a transformation from the current learning environments to smart learning environments. This is to be achieved by reengineering the fundamental structure and operations of current educational systems to better integrate these new technologies with the required pedagogical shift. The future perspectives of smart learning environments are reviewed and shared, through examples of emerging innovations such as the flipped classroom, game based learning, gesture based learning, along with pedagogical shifts, such as life-long learning portfolio maintenance, team teaching, and separation of learning and competency assessment.