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This paper critically discusses the educational policy trajectories of Singapore and Cambodia in an era of globalization. Drawing upon David Johnson’s five metaphors to describe the historical and political forces that shape educational policy trajectories, the paper argues that Cambodia’s current educational policy trajectory is characterized by the ‘politics of compelling’ while Singapore’s situation is more akin to the ‘politics of selling’. In Singapore, the politics of selling intersects with the politics of gelling, in which various interest groups are encouraged to work together to strengthen the new economy of knowledge. The paper raises a common challenge for Singapore and Cambodia: to shift from a traditional teacher-centred and textbook-based approach to a more student-centred and [information and communication technology] ICT-based approach in a globalized world. The last section of this paper explores the possibility of addressing this challenge through gelling, by setting a new agenda for education, one that combines foreign and indigenous sources of knowledge from various interest groups.

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This paper examined the profile of Singaporean pre-service teachers in terms of their technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). A total of 1185 pre-service teachers were studied with a TPACK survey. An exploratory factor analysis found five distinctive constructs: technological knowledge, content knowledge, knowledge of pedagogy, knowledge of teaching with technology and knowledge from critical reflection. The participants of this study did not make conceptual distinctions between TPACK constructs such as technological content knowledge and technological pedagogical knowledge. There were some differences in their TPACK perceptions by gender. However, the influence of age and teaching level were not strong. The methodological and theoretical implications for the development of TPACK surveys were discussed.

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Purpose - This paper aims to compare the pre-service teachers from Singapore and the [United Kingdom] UK on their self-reported attitude towards computer use (ATCU) by employing the technology acceptance model (TAM) as the research framework. Design/methodology/approach - In total, 395 pre-service teachers completed a survey questionnaire measuring their responses to three constructs: perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU) and ATCU. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used as the technique for data analysis. Findings - The results of this paper show that there are full configural and metric invariance, and partial scalar invariance and factor variance. In addition, it is found that pre-service teachers' attitudes towards computer use in the UK are less affected by PU compared to their counterparts in Singapore. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the growing interest among technology acceptance researchers in expanding and extending the TAM to explain users' ATCU. Although much research has been conducted using the TAM, comparisons across different cultural users are few. This paper shows the similarities and differences of two culturally diverse technology users: Singapore and the UK. The use of multi-group invariance analysis as part of the SEM framework allows more complex analysis to be conducted, relative to the t-test that is commonly used to compare mean differences between two groups.

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Australian universities maintain almost 900 offshore programs delivered to more than 100 000 students, primarily in the nations of Singapore, Malaysia, China, and Hong Kong (Universities Australia, 2009; IDP, 2009a). Although offshore students comprise an estimated 30 per cent of international student enrolments at Australian universities (IDP, 2009b), there is evidence that many local institutions neither prepare academics to add value beyond their core teaching roles, nor create the environment in which academics become formally aware of their potential to serve as part-time marketers on behalf of their institutions (see, for example, Dunn & Wallace, 2006). Thus, the aim of this exploratory study was to determine the extent to which such international management deficiencies exist in a sample institution. The results of the study indicate that substantial potential exists for the more-active participation of academics in marketing processes while engaged in offshore teaching activities, and that deliberate strategies to achieve this outcome were both demanded and desired. Further research will be undertaken to confirm the validity of this conclusion.

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This guide provides access to over 300 Australian and international English language information resources related to research in the field of vocational education and training. The portal was decommissioned in September 2012.

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Based on a literature review from English language journals related to the field of human resource development (HRD), the conceptual framework for this study was derived from the models developed by American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) for HRD practice. This study compared and analyzed the similarities and differences in HRD roles, key work dimensions, and practitioner competencies through the competitive vision of different countries, including China, US, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Singapore, and Korea. This comparative study not only described the HRD position of Chinese enterprises under the international HRD coordinates but also indicated how these differences inspire HRD in China.

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HERDSA offers an annual international conference on topical teaching and learning issues with opportunities to meet colleagues with similar interests, exchange ideas about teaching and learning and learn about current developments from experienced researchers and practitioners.

Available papers from the conference are: International postgraduate students experience in a UK university: lessons for academic practice / Rodney Arambewela and Felix Maringe; Enhancing student outcomes: a communication skills centre approach / Craig Baird; Improving undergraduates' performance via an embedded generic skills program / Catherine J. Bamforth; What makes for a successful mentoring program for academics? / Amani Bell and Lesley Treleaven; Blended learning in higher education: how students perceive integration of face-to-face and online learning experiences in a foreign policy course / Ana-Maria Bliuc, Peter Goodyear and Robert Ellis; Voluntary peer review of face-to-face teaching in higher education / Susan Bolt and Douglas Atkinson.

Web-based lecture technologies (WBLT): contributing to learning and control / Mark Borman; Changing perceptions underpinning graduate attributes: a pilot study / Agnes Bosanquet, Theresa Winchester-Seeto and Anna Rowe; A database approach to feedback-driven teaching quality improvement / Roger Bourne and Peter Kench; A professional development framework for teaching in higher education / Natalie Brown, Matt Bower, Jane Skalicky, Leigh Wood, Diane Donovan, Birgit Loch, Walter Bloom and Nalini Joshi; The impact of assessment on learning achievement / Dennis Bryant and Felicia Zhang; The diversification of Australian higher education: is the academy prepared for the challenge? / Kylie Budge; Measuring student engagement: using 'flow' theory to guide question development / Rodney Carr, Pauline Hagel and Phil Hellier; Changing academic practice to prepare nursing undergraduates for an evidence-based approach / Moira Cordiner and Leigh Davis.

Academic practice and the purpose of higher education: what is the role of professional societies such as HERDSA? / Geoffrey Crisp; Teaching in student-centred learning environments / Jo Dane; Exploring critical conceptions of student-led evaluation in Australian higher education / Stephen Darwin; Leading research in an evolving world: implications for higher education development, policy and practice / Shelda Debowski; Gender equity in the professoriate: a cohort study of new women professors in Australia / Carmel M. Diezmann and Susan J. Grieshaber; Enabling academic engagement with graduate attributes through communities of practice / Robyn Donovan, Julie Fleming and Peter Reaburn; Questions of outcomes: generic skills and attributes and the transfer of learning / Stephanie Doyle.

Reshaping dominant stories: a poststructuralist approach to online role play / Mary Dracup; We're on a steep learning curve: the benefits and challenges of multi-campus university course delivery / Matthew Ebden; Reviewing action research: from impediments to implementation / Neville John Ellis, Ann Cheryl Armstrong and Susan Groundwater-Smith; Embedding notions of community in the teaching-research nexus: a case study / Mario Fernando and Peter McLean; Program design practice in a New Zealand polytechnic: caught in a language trap? / Elly Govers; Liaison staff in pre-service teacher education programs / Sandra Grace and Stephen Loftus; Approaches to learning and student self efficacy in project-based Marketing education / Chad Habel and Cullen Habel; Investigating business student engagement at an Australian university / Beverley Jackling and Riccardo Natoli.

Attitudes to assessment in university Science education / Elizabeth Johnson, Leone Maddox, Jamie Quinton and Karen Burke da Silva; Scoping a distributed leadership matrix for higher education / Sandra Jones, Ann Applebee, Marina Harvey and Geraldine Lefoe; Bringing down the silos to enhance student outcomes through interprofessional teaching / Sophie Karanicolas, Tracey Winning and Catherine Snelling; Generic skills: do capstone courses deliver? / Susan Keller, Caroline Chan and Craig Parker; Researchers of the future?: building research capacity among postgraduate students in English / Fran Kelly, Marcia Russell and Lee Wallace; Challenging student teachers in higher education to learn authentically: a Singapore case study / Lana Khong; Do collectivist cultures prepare students for teamwork? / Bernice Kotey; 'Research skills are vital in all facets of life': research perceptions, expectations and experiences of undergraduate students / Catherine Lang and Simone Buzwell.

Employing interdisciplinary collaborations to redefine academic practices in a university Nursing program / Jill Lawrence, Birgit Loch and Linda Galligan; Creative experiential collaborations in Communications courses for the net generation / Karen Le Rossignol; The unbundled academic: how academic life is being hollowed out / Bruce Macfarlane; Talking about research-led teaching: a discourse analysis / Susan Mayson and Jan Schapper; Redefining academic teaching practice in terms of research apprenticeship / Ursula McGowan; An investigation into unit design for developing undergraduate independent learning abilities / Matthew Mitchell, Samar Zutshi and Debbi Weaver; The relationships between the motivational beliefs, course experiences and achievement of postgraduate students / Munaza Nausheen and Paul W. Richardson.

Perceptions of senior executive leadership behaviour and effectiveness in Malaysian public universities / Kwang Sing Ngui, Kian Sam Hong, Siew Ling Gan, Hasbee Haji Usop and Rujhan Mustafa; Informing academic practice about how podcasts are used by diverse groups of students / Jackie O'Flaherty, Sheila Scutter and Trenna Albrecht; Involving students in research decision making: developing a competency graduated descriptors tool / Susanne M. Owen, Ieva Stupans, Greg Ryan, Leigh M. McKauge and Jim Woulfe; Exploring the factors that influence the graduate work expectations of Human Resource Management students / Melissa A. Parris and Kerrie Saville; Utilising action research and enquiry processes to achieve sustainable academic development / Bettina Schwenger; Consistency in the application of a reflective tool designed to facilitate scholarly review and development of curricula / Sheila Scutter, Denise Wood and Jenny Sim.

The impact of economic policy on reshaping higher education in Malaysia / Jasvir Kaur Nachatar Singh, Jan Schapper and Susan Mayson; Developing leaders of sessional teachers in higher education / Terry Timberlake; Enhancing learning experiences to improve outcomes through sessional tutor conceptual expansion / Toomas Truuvert; Reshaping HDR supervisor writing advice through unpacking discourses / Lalitha Velautham and Michelle Picard; An international business study tour: a student perspective / Debbi Weaver and Mark Tucker; Assessing the research experience of postgraduate students at a Hong Kong university / Lily M. Zeng and Beverley J. Webster. Show less

With strong intention to enhance the global competitiveness of their university systems, both the Singapore and Malaysia governments have introduced reforms along the lines of ideas and practices embedded in neo-liberalism. In the last decade or so, we have witnessed reforms being introduced to the higher education sectors in these Asian states, particularly when corporatization and incorporation strategies are adopted to transform national/public universities. With particular reference to how academics evaluate the impact of the reforms on their academic life, this article reports and analyses findings generated from campus visits and field interviews conducted in Singapore and Malaysia from 2007 to 2009. Although the senior management of corporatized/incorporated universities in these Asian states has been given more discretion to decide how to operate their universities, most of the front line academics that we interviewed have not experienced major differences in university governance after the reforms took place. Instead of feeling 'emancipated' and 'empowered', many academics feel more pressures and control from the university administration and government ministries. Despite the fact that both the Singapore and Malaysia governments have tried to embrace the ideas and practices of 'neo-liberalism' to transform university governance, academics still see the state's reluctance in withdrawing from steering/controlling higher education development. Such observations clearly reflect the 'clash' of two major governance philosophies, namely, 'state centralism' and 'neo-liberalism'. In short, this article critically examines how far the proposed university governance reforms by adopting the corporatization/incorporation strategies have actually transformed university management and academic life style in Singapore and Malaysia.

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The overall aim of this literature review is 'to understand the contribution that teacher education can make to the quality and effectiveness of the educational experience and wider personal development of young people, drawing on effective practice in Scotland and elsewhere'. The review focuses on literature from, and about, a number of education systems which were identified in consultation with the Scottish Government. Education systems included are the four nations of the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, United States of America, Canada, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.

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Lifelong learning and professional development have been the focus of government organisations after the 21st century was declared the ‘learning century’, amidst the impact of globalisation and growth of knowledge-based economies. Although lifelong learning and professional development opportunities are available in most government organisations, the conditions for civil servants to take up such opportunities differ across organisations and, even more so, across countries. In addition, the expectations of learning and development from such opportunities also vary, with some organisations focusing on specific work-based competencies, others on formal education and qualifications. However, lifelong learning and professional development in government organisations seldom include informal learning, which forms a part of daily leisure time yet involves human capital enhancement that indirectly impacts work performance. Informal learning, which is facilitated by individual information literacy competencies that involve information search, retrieval, evaluation and use in varying contexts, is largely for personal development rather than economic efficiency, but is equally important in developing effective individuals and knowledge workers. In this exploratory study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 civil servants from six Asian countries to elicit their experiences with regard to lifelong learning policies and professional development opportunities in their respective government organisations, expectations of learning and development from such opportunities, as well as provisions for informal learning opportunities. Shared characteristics as well as distinct differences across the interviewees’ organisations and countries are discussed. Finally, recommendations based on these similarities and differences are made specifically to encourage government organisations to review existing lifelong education policies and professional development opportunies available to civil servants.

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