INCA thematic studies are comparative education reports, which combine cross-national factual information on a specific topic collated from the INCA website with in-depth analysis, additional research and practitioner opinion usually gathered at a linked international seminar. All studies published to date are available below as downloadable pdf files (file sizes are indicated):
Active Citizenship in INCA Countries: Definitions, Policies, Practices and Outcomes (520 KB). Published in November 2006, this report follows a linked international seminar held in March 2006. (See the 1999 INCA thematic study also - Citizenship Education: an International Comparison, below.)
International Trends in Primary Education (973 KB). Published in June 2003, this thematic study report contains many useful urls. These are not live links, but are provided for user information as live links from a pdf file of this length [128 pages] would unacceptably slow down access to the file. (See the 1997 INCA thematic study also - Primary Education: Expectations and Provision, below.)
Early Years Education: An International Perspective (465 KB). This report was written by Dr Tony Bertram and Professor Christine Pascal of the Centre for Research in Early Childhood, Birmingham, England.
International Developments in Upper Secondary Education: Context, provision and issues (1,076 KB). This report is published on the INCA website courtesy of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, in Ireland, which sponsored the thematic study.
The Arts, Creativity and Cultural Education: an International Perspective (446 KB)
Lower Secondary Education: an International Comparison (91 KB)
Citizenship Education: an International Comparison (121 KB)
Mathematics in the School Curriculum: an International Perspective (91 KB)
Values and Aims in Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks (96 KB)
Primary Education: Expectations and Provision (63 KB)
INCA is the International Review of Curriculum and Assessment Frameworks Internet Archive. It provides regularly updated descriptions of government policy on education in Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, South Africa (forthcoming), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the USA and Wales, and makes particular reference to the curriculum, assessment and initial teacher training frameworks in place.
Production of the website is funded by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in England and managed and updated by the Eurydice Unit for England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Eurydice at NFER) at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). The initial teacher training sections are funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).
The INCA website concentrates on education provided in schools and to the 3-19 age range.
Most of the INCA thematic probes undertaken to date have been funded by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in England. We welcome approaches from other organisations wishing to commission probes. Please contact QCA at inca@qca.org.uk