The article argues that Donald Trump's unique and prolonged lame-duck period, coupled with domestic political pressures, makes him dangerously prone to international instability. Having exhausted major diplomatic gambits, Trump is expected to channel his energy into high-stakes, unilateral actions, primarily targeting adversaries such as Iran and Cuba. These potential actions—ranging from fresh strikes in the Persian Gulf to attempts at regime change—carry a significant risk of destabilizing regional security and triggering a global economic crisis. Policymakers must anticipate this pivot to high-risk foreign policy to mitigate potential international flare-ups.
Teaching at the Right Level is a ‘smart buy’ for learning, but we need to rethink how we support teachers
English Summary
While 'Teaching at the Right Level' (TaRL) is highly effective in theory, scaling it through government systems risks significant performance degradation due to systemic constraints. Evidence from Côte d’Ivoire shows that modest learning gains are undermined by rapid teacher knowledge decay, high and unsustainable training costs, and teacher burnout. For successful national implementation, policy must shift focus from expensive, one-off training to continuous, low-cost support, such as integrating reforms into preservice education and utilizing hybrid digital tools. Crucially, sustained impact requires redesigning the program to reduce, rather than add to, teacher workload, thereby improving fidelity and teacher well-being.
中文摘要
儘管「根據學生的實際能力教學」（TaRL）在理論上極具成效，但透過政府系統擴大規模實施，卻可能因系統性制約而導致顯著的效能衰退。來自科特迪瓦的證據顯示，即使學生的學習增益有限，也會受到教師知識快速衰退、高昂且不可持續的培訓成本，以及教師職業倦怠等因素的削弱。為成功推行國家層級的政策，政策重點必須從昂貴的一次性培訓，轉向持續且低成本的支持，例如將改革融入師資前期教育，並利用混合式的數位工具。關鍵在於，要實現持續的影響力，必須重新設計該計畫，目標是減少而非增加教師的工作量，從而提升執行度並改善教師福祉。
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