Challenge and Change in the Euro-Mediterranean Region

Contents: Ronald G. Sultana: Educational Innovation in the Context of Challenge and Change: a Euro-Mediterranean Perspective - George Pasias/George Flouris: Innovations in Greece at the End of the 20 th Century: Problems, Challenges and Prospects - Marco Todeschini: Facing the High Tide of Immigration: a Challenge for Education in Italy - Deborah Chetcuti: Meeting the Challenge of Equity: the Introduction of Differentiated Examination Papers in Malta - Gertrudes Amaro: Curriculum Innovation in Portugal - The Área-Escola Initiative - Xavier Bonal: Critical Action-Research for Democratic Education in Spain: an Assessment of Teacher's Cultural Change - Mohamed Miliani: Pre-School Education in Algeria: a New Deal? - Nagwa Youssef Gamal El-Din: In-Service Teacher Training at a Distance: The Egyptian Experience - Suleiman Khoja/Frank Ventura: Curriculum Innovation in Libya: Physics at the Basic Education Level - Zakia Belhachmi: The Moroccan University and Innovation in Feminist Knowledge: Challenges and Alternatives - Gisela Baumgratz: North-South Issues in Educational Reform - a Tunisian Case-Study - Helen Phtiaka: Meeting the Challenge: Integration, Inclusive Education and Children with Special Educational Needs in Cyprus - Devorah Kalekin-Fishman: School Computerization as a National Task in Israel - Muhammad Raji Zughoul: The Language of Higher Education in Jordan: Conflict, Challenges and Innovative Accomodation - Nemer Frayha: Curricular Innovation in Lebanon: an Uneasy Experience - Maher Hashweh/Ismail Njoum: A Case-based Approach to Education in Palestine - Ronald G. Sultana: Syria's Global Education Initiative - Hasan Simsek/Ali Yildirim: The Reform of Pre-Service Teacher Education in Turkey - Bardhyl Musai: Reforming Teacher Education in Albania: Innovations in Partnership and Mentoring - Mirjam M. Hladnik: Educational Innovation and the Panacea of School Reform - the Slovenian Case.

The Editor: Ronald G. Sultana holds a Ph.D. in educational sociology and was Fulbright Scholar at Stanford University. He presently directs the Comparative Education Program in Euro-Mediterranean Studies of the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta, where is also past Dean. He is the author or editor of eight volumes and has published over seventy articles and chapters in journals and books. He is the founding editor of the Mediterranean Journal of Educational Studies and represents the region on the editorial boards of several international journals.

"Culturally and educationally all [the Mediterranean states] are heirs to rich and prestigious 'humanist' and intellectual traditions - Greek, Roman, Arabic, and Hebraic. Some of them have chosen to enter - while others have been drawn into - the vortex of the contemporary world of late modernity, and even postmodernity, with all that these worlds denote and connote... Globalized economies and cultures, for one, make certain demands on nation-states and national systems of education... How are the Mediterranean nation-states and societies grappling with these challenges and demands? Given the Mediterranean knowledge and cultural traditions...how do the several states, for example, react to the 'dehumanization' of knowledge...that is apparent in this epoch of late modernity? What sacrifices and/or compromises are they forced to make? Students of comparative education, in particular, should find the texts that are included in this collection quite enlightening on these and other related Mediterranean dilemmas and problematics." (From the Foreword by Andreas M. Kazamias, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Emeritus Professor, University of Athens)
"This pioneering new work provides a unique analysis of education in the Mediterranean - from Portugal to Algeria and Turkey. Incorporating diverse studies on curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher training and across phases and countries, this volume combines impressive scope with a penetrating focus on issues of educational innovation. Above all, this represents a major contribution to the underdeveloped area of regional studies in education, deftly capturing both the essential diversity and unity of education and culture in the Mediterranean region. Both original and highly readable, this should prove a standard reference work on the subject for years to come." (Andy Green, Professor, University of London, Institute of Education, United Kingdom)