This article interrogates the affective, discursive, and material registers of academic precarization for Swiss and international Early Career Researchers (hereafter: ECRs), specifically in a three-step initiative put forward by a larger self-organised committee of ECRs institutionally regarded as promising scholars. First, in this…

Higher education (HE) in many countries has been characterized by increased marketization, external accountability, and managerialism. This article examines how academics feel about and respond to HE reforms in Cyprus, a country whose HE sector is heavily commercialized and affected by austerity measures. We analyzed interviews with twenty-three…

Drawing on life history interviews, this paper seeks to explore the lives of a group of eight teachers, all with working experience in England, who self-identify as committed to a more socially just education system. Drawing on Levitas' "Utopia as method," this article examines these teachers' perspectives on and practices around social…

According to Government guidance in the UK, improving attendance is everyone's business. This article sets out the work of one local authority to develop their own multi-agency approach to reduce rates of emotionally based school non-attendance. The Research and Development in Organisations model provided a structure for the action research…

This study aims to explore Chinese secondary teachers' emotional patterns and regulation strategies from the perspective of social construction in the context of education reform, known as the new "Gaokao" in Zhejiang province. Through the analysis of qualitative data collected from nine participants' interviews and reflective journals,…

The years 2020-2022 witnessed rapid socio-political changes in Hong Kong, including measures taken in response to COVID-19 and the implementation of the National Security Law. These changes significantly influenced the role of kindergarten teachers and necessitated a redefinition of their identity. Utilising a tripartite model that considers…

Our aim with this study was to gain a better understanding of the emotional landscape of curriculum making by exploring the variety of emotions embedded in shared sense-making about the national curriculum reform implementation at the district level. Focus group interview data were collected from 12 curriculum reform steering groups around…

This article is based on the author's autoethnographical research on leading practices of Steiner school principals over a period of major change and crisis in a Steiner school's life. This research included the use of the theory of practice architectures to uncover unsustainable contradictions in Steiner schools which constrain the full promise…

Chile is undertaking an ambitious public education reform, re-centralising the administration of municipal schools in larger territories. This reform is unprecedented, both for the size of the new intermediate-level services ("Servicios Locales de Educación Pública") and the escalation of their bureaucratic complexity, facing widespread…

Despite over two decades of research, initial teacher education (ITE) partnerships remain problematic. Our study explores the development of a mandated ITE university-school partnership in Wales amidst significant educational reform. Through qualitative research, involving focus groups with 47 teacher educators from a university and 15 schools, we…

The employee-organisation relationship between academics and universities is a critical issue in higher education (HE) human resource management. Previous studies have mainly investigated the segmentation between full-time and part-time academics, or academics working in different countries. However, few studies have explored academics'…

Drawing on our empirical study engaging focus groups of highly experienced educators and stakeholders (n = 12) in Ontario, Canada, we examine the cruel refiguration of educational worker care under neoliberalism in public education. Austerity policies have degraded conditions in the schools such that educators are unable to fulfill their…

Research is at the core of universities' raison d'être and is an integral aspect of academic work, yet the ever-changing parameters around research are problematic. While studies have examined changes brought about through research assessment exercises and issues of academic identity in the twenty-first century, fewer studies have used…

The "Children's School Lives" (CSL) study provides a unique opportunity to learn first-hand from school principals as part of a large national study about their sensemaking as they led in a time of crisis and change in terms of teaching and learning. Major interconnected findings include: (1) the centrality of relationships and…

This paper examines the formation of the teachers' movement in South Korea, focusing on the publication of the short-lived magazine "Minjung Gyoyuk" (People's Education) in 1985. Progressive teachers published this magazine to systematically critique the education practises of the time and seek a new direction for education under…