dinsdag 7 september 2010

Education at a glance 2010

Read this OECD report here.

Duitse kernenergietaks drie keer hoger

Lees het volledige artikel in De Standaard hier.

Responsabilisering voor leerachterstand?

Lees dit KUL rapport hier.

De sociale gelaagdheid van schoolse achterstand in GOK en niet-GOK scholen

Dit CSB-bericht behandelt de sociaal bepaalde ongelijkheid in het Vlaams lager onderwijs in relatie tot het GOK-beleid. We kijken in het bijzonder naar de sociale gelaagdheid van het oplopen van onderwijsachterstand in het lager onderwijs voor zowel GOK-scholen als niet-GOK-scholen.

Hierbij wordt gebruik gemaakt van data die verzameld werden in het kader van de Vlaamse survey “Gezinnen, Zorg en Opvang”, vertrekkend van een representatief staal van gezinnen met kinderen. Het oplopen van schoolachterstand in het Vlaams basisonderwijs is een zeer sterk sociaal gelaagd fenomeen. Er wordt ook vastgesteld dat de GOK-scholen minder dan verwacht verschillen van niet-GOK-scholen inzake het sociaal profiel en het welbevinden van hun leerlingen. Verder tonen de analyses ook aan dat het verband tussen sociale achtergrond en schoolse achterstand niet consequent sterker is in GOK-scholen dan in niet-GOK-scholen. Er zijn indicaties dat deze bevindingen minstens voor een deel verband houden met de criteria die gebruikt worden om de GOK-middelen toe te wijzen.
Lees die studie van Karen Van Aerden en Bea Cantillon hier.

Recession geopolitics

"How different the twenty-first century looks! It is as if China’s leaders were the star pupils in one of Kindleberger’s courses. Throughout the crisis, the Chinese economy continued to grow at an amazing pace, in part as a consequence of massive fiscal stimulus. When anyone wants an example of how effective a Keynesian counter-cyclical strategy can be, internationally as well as domestically, they need look no further than China’s four-trillion-renminbi stimulus of 2008-2009." Read Harold James' column on Project Syndicate here.

Feeding the NHS, Starving Its Patients

This article appeared in the Wall Street Journal of September 1st:

The latest indictment of Britain's single-payer health care.

Postcard from the National Health Service: In 2007, 239 patients died of malnutrition in British hospitals, the latest year for which figures are available. Age U.K., a charity that has campaigned to improve hospital feedings, says the "true figure may be much higher" due to under-reporting.

This latest indictment of British health care is nothing new; Age U.K.'s efforts have yielded results in terms of increased government awareness, screening, training, and inspection programs. But this flurry of activity has produced little by way of improvement. Monday's report noted that in 2007-2008, 148,946 Britons entered hospitals suffering from malnutrition and 157,175 left in that state, meaning that hospitals released 8,229 people worse-off nutritionally than when they entered. In 2008-2009, that worse-off figure was up to 10,443.

The problem is not insufficient food. Hospital malnutrition mostly affects the elderly or otherwise frail, who often need individualized mealtime assistance. Balanced against everything else that a nurse might be doing, spoon-feeding the elderly may not seem like the best use of time or resources, but for some it may literally be a matter of life and death. Yet the constant scarcities created by socialized medicine, along with the never-ending drive to cut costs, has led the NHS to give nurses additional responsibilities and powers in recent years. Inevitably, this leaves them with less time to make sure patients are getting fed.

Prime Minister David Cameron's new government was quick to remind Britons on Monday that these appalling outcomes reflect more than a decade of Labour rule. But an official also stressed that "local NHS trusts are responsible for developing their own nutritional care policies." The subtext is that you can't blame Westminster for local bureaucrats' failings. This excuse doesn't quite square with the government's strategy to improve British health, which boils down to more power and autonomy for local health providers and authorities. In any case, this is not a Labour problem or a Tory problem. It's a single-payer health-care problem.

Localizing decision-making can only accomplish so much when the local deciders have no control over their budgets. Allocations for local health budgets are made in London, using a single formula that factors in populations and local health-care needs. No matter how much latitude Mr. Cameron or Health Secretary Andrew Lansley grant local authorities and medical providers, they will never be truly free to focus on individuals' needs as long as they answer to politicians rather than patients.

Along with their promises of decentralization, Messrs. Cameron and Lansley are also upholding the one constant in British politics: to increase health spending, and thus to mitigate the horrors of inevitable rationing. But in a single-payer system, is any pot of money ever big enough? The NHS's budget doubled under Labour between 1997 and 2007—largesse that nonetheless brought us to Monday's dismal statistic. Can anyone still seriously believe that additional funding or a new organizational chart can prevent another discussion on starving patients in English hospitals, or worse, in a few years' time?

France: Retraites : ce que prévoit le projet de loi

Discuté à partir de mardi 7 septembre à l'Assemblée nationale, le projet de loi portant réforme des retraites prévoit une série de mesures visant à assurer l'équilibre du système de retraites en 2018. L'essentiel de l'effort devrait être assuré par les salariés, avec un allongement annoncé de la durée de cotisation.
Lisez l'article dans Le Monde ici.

Tax Cuts That Make a Difference

Republicans and President Obama are open to tax cuts. The question is what kind can put people back to work. Read the complete column by David Leonhardt on the NYTimes here.

In Europe, Fund-Raising Lessons From Americans

Universities across Europe are realizing that their dependence on government funding puts them at a disadvantage. Read the complete NYTimes article here.

La pension, pas la pression !

La pension n’est pas la fin d’une activité mais le commencement d’une autre. Celle-ci participe au renouvellement même de la vie sociale et économique. Une opinion de Maximilien Lebur, Laurent Lefils, Michel Recloux et Olivier Starquit pour le Collectif du Ressort.
Lisez cet article dans LLB ici.

Kernergie van de toekomst

Nu Duitsland na een geplande phase-out de levensduur van zijn kerncentrales toch verlengt, is kernenergie opnieuw een brandend actueel onderwerp. Op 26/08 verscheen in Trends/Cash een interview over kernfusie: ”De graal van de energiesector”. Hier kan u het opnieuw lezen. Lees de volledige post van Heleen Van Hoof op de Econoshock blog hier.

Nouveau "flop" des bons d’Etat

Moins de 36 millions d’euros ont été récoltés. Du jamais vu depuis 1996 !
Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.

La mixité sociale, vecteur de réussite ?

Le décret Inscriptions aura provoqué de nombreux remous et ce, même si l’un de ses principaux objectifs est d’assurer la mixité sociale dans les écoles.
Lisez l'article dans LLB ici.
Lisez l'étude d'Emmanuel Lenel (FUSL) intitulée "La mixité à l’école comme levier de réussite ? Ressources et limites de deux modèles bruxellois" ici.