This paper explores students' resistance when they were expected by their teacher to start learning mathematics through investigations, a pedagogy that emphasizes an active and agentic approach to learning in contrast to the traditional transmission-based teaching to which they were accustomed. This resistance is investigated from the perspectives…

Despite the increasing popularity of studies on teachers' national curriculum adaptations, there is no comparative study elucidating teachers' adaptations in centralized and decentralized educational contexts through sense-making theory lenses. This paper presents a comparative case study of Turkish and Swedish senior classroom teachers'…

In this case study, we explore pedagogical practices that could promote powerful knowledge in school history. We analyse teaching sessions conducted by two teachers. The cases were selected from an observation study that focused on historical literacy in Finnish schools. While Michael Young's ideas of powerful knowledge have gained considerable…

This paper focuses on a specific example of an all-too-rare phenomenon in education studies: the successful resistance by ordinary classroom teachers of policy change at the macro-level. Focusing on the withdrawal of the 2013 Draft National Curriculum for History in England, it considers the views of six teachers who were personally involved in…

In places where Islamic State (ISIS) took hold in Syria and Iraq between 2014 and 2017, its domination was followed by an elaborate educational system. As such, the terrorist organization's 'state program' is a unique case in recent history. Indeed, not only did it overturn the existing education system in Syria and Iraq, resulting in a hiatus in…

All over the world, educators and policy-makers are concerned about how best to prepare students to engage actively in an increasingly interconnected world. In this paper, I begin by arguing that twenty-first century education policies have largely been articulated in response to the exigencies of economic globalization. Further, a survey of the…

School-based curriculum innovations have been widely implemented in Chinese kindergartens since the turn of the new millennium. However, in the absence of professional guidance, Chinese kindergartens have been forced to "ride a blind horse" when developing curriculum. The aim of this study was to understand the nature of and mechanisms…

This study forms part of a wider comparative research project investigating the mechanisms and outcomes of school-based curriculum (SBC) development in kindergartens between the two neighbouring cities of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, under the umbrella of 'one country, two systems'. This comparison will help to clarify how sociocultural contexts may…

In this paper, we explore how "teaching communication" in the classroom is connected to school culture. In the age of accountability, the outcome focus force to the forefront, a "blame game" which either blames students' achievements on the teachers and teacher education, or the students and their socio-economic background. We…

This paper reports on a study that aims to address the challenges of UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all. The study focuses on school mathematics in particular. With regard to ensuring equitable access to quality education, it is argued that there is a need to consider the "epistemic…

As school education systems worldwide adopt standardized performance measures, teacher effectiveness frameworks have become more influential. This article draws on Australian mixed methods research that aimed to understand the processes behind quality arts pedagogy. Following an in-depth quantitative study, nine high-performing case study arts…

This paper uses the concept of stories of peoplehood to examine how the Singapore government has constructed a story of harmony and to consider how this story has influenced two important school subjects focused on civic education: Social Studies and Character and Citizenship Education. Stories of peoplehood, including constitutive, economic and…

This case study explored the institutional, programmatic, and classroom literacy curricula of a Canadian offshore school in Macau (school pseudonym: MCS). Undergirded by the conceptual tool of cosmopolitan literacies, this study specifically examined the network effects that influenced the forms of cosmopolitan literacies in MCS's three levels of…

This paper considers curriculum integration in the secondary school context and investigates the claims made that it can enhance learning outcomes for students. I argue that curriculum integration should be utilized not as a main means of curricular delivery but as a supplementary opportunity to put disciplinary knowledge to use in certain,…

Previous papers in this issue of "JCS" have presented case studies of the state-based curriculum commissions that developed the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 and Norway's "Laereplanverket 1997" ("L97") (1997). The studies were developed using as a framework a body of German research that sees…