Global educational reforms and policy trends suggest a growing convergence in educational systems worldwide, often attributed to the culturally embedded nature of nation-states and world-society models. However, in this article, we argue that these explanations are insufficient to fully account for the global diffusion of certain policies, as they…

This paper is a theoretical contribution to discussions about the emancipatory potential of citizenship education across four sites (i.e. Catalonia, Colombia, England, and Pakistan). By reflecting on policy and empirical data from our four contexts of study, we discuss whether citizenship education manifests different conditions of emancipatory…

Recent education reforms in Madagascar particularly highlight the need to reinforce Citizenship Education (CE) and align its curriculum to current global education policies, namely, Global Citizenship Education (GCE). The objective of this study is to explore school practices and perceptions of CE in rural Madagascar from the grassroots level to…

In the face of the rising tension between Hong Kong and mainland China, Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam blamed the city's education system for its inability to develop a sense of 'I am Chinese' national identity and vowed to step up 'national education' from preschool. This article explores how 188 young preschool teachers perceived their…

Educational governance is the focus of much discussion among both academics and development practitioners internationally. Decentralisation is seen as a core tool for promoting democracy, good governance and economic development. However, although education decentralisation and trust are interrelated dimensions of governance and democracy, they…

This article examines the process of China's borrowing of the Japanese vocational education model from 1895 to 1922 from the perspective of educational policy transfer. This study serves as a unique example in educational policy transfer research where historical sources offer the possibility of testing the applicability of the Contextual Map of…

This article performs a discourse analysis on the recent interest of the Israeli Ministry of Education in vocational education by examining governmental and organisational texts. This article addresses two key questions. What is the government's justification for its renewed interest in vocational education? What are its discursive practices to…

Responding to the observation that there has been limited policy research in the field of international education (Hayden and Thompson 2008; Lehman 2018), the current article presents a theoretically grounded discussion regarding how British policy actors in Council of International School (CIS)-accredited British international schools may be…

Leadership has been considered as an essential foundation for universities to flourish, more so in the context of emerging higher education systems. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, this paper reviews the challenges and prospects in the development of higher education leaders in selected countries of the Association of Southeast Asian…

Despite growing consensus around the need for a more holistic vision of development, realising the human development potential of educational interventions has proven a challenging task. This Forum grapples with how these tensions manifest in the international transfer of dual models of Vocational Education and Training (dVET) to low- and…

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study which analysed key documents, such as curricula, laws and technical/research reports that informed curriculum development for children with disabilities in the Republic of Cyprus, from 1979 to date. The thematic document analysis sought to make meaning and interpret these developments, which…

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is changing across Europe, reflecting multiple-policy intentions and assumptions about education in early years, and the role of the state in supporting, funding and regulating its institutions. In this article, we examine the evolution of ECEC comparatively in Finland and Sweden, and we explore the shifts…

There has been a transnational policy convergence in introducing professional standards for school leaders, and it constitutes a dominant discourse on school leadership. Focusing on the adoption of external references in policy transfer, this article presents a case in which the global leadership discourse was transferred to China, and the Chinese…

This study investigates the adoption process of a TVET policy, usually driven by the state, by private actors. Considering a Cultural Political Economy analytical approach, we use the adoption of Sector Skills Councils in three Chilean sectors (mining, wine, maintenance) to examine the different factors that explain the process. We draw on…

This paper investigates intersecting rights and ways of thinking in faith-based schools. It outlines current legislative attempts to manage anti-discrimination in Australian schools and proposes a dialogic model of reciprocal anti-discrimination for educational leaders and administrators. This paper proposes that reciprocal anti-discrimination…