This qualitative case study explores how rural teachers in the Colombian periphery perceive and appropriate national bilingual policies. I drew theoretically on coloniality/decoloniality, bilingualism, and teacher agency and collected data through questionnaires and in-depth interviews from four self-contained rural elementary school teachers.…

Should teachers have complete autonomy over teaching methods and practices, or should some aspects of their practice be determined by school or government policy? We address this question using repeated (value-added) maths test scores linked to rich survey data from the TALIS video study. With the possible exception of inexperienced teachers, we…

In this article, F. Tony Carusi considers the politics of instrumentalism performed between educational policy and research that figures the teacher as the primary means to raise student achievement. By reducing teachers to a means toward an end, policy and research work together to collapse what teachers are into what teachers are for, and in…

International trends promoting school diversity and choice have reshaped education across Europe, leading towards a multiplicity in ownership structures and varied governance configurations. More recently, this can also be seen in European countries with a long history of state-owned and governed public schools, such as in the Nordic states. The…

Where does science and technology studies (STS) belong? In "A Place for Science and Technology Studies," Jane Calvert takes readers through eight different rooms--the laboratory, the conference room, the classroom, the coffee room, the art studio, the bioethics building, the policy room, and the ivory tower--investigating the…

In this paper, we address the work of teachers at the intersection of educational policy and professional discretion, by undertaking a conceptual reading of "Through Growth to Achievement: Report of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools," and examining how the report conceptualises teacher practice. Drawing…

Grouping by attainment is a relatively new and contested practice in Norway, where strong historical discourses of heterogeneous education are under pressure from international test comparisons, particularly in mathematics. At the same time, research indicates that Norwegian teachers have a high degree of autonomy in education policy enactment.…

Despite the divisions within Northern Ireland's education system along religious and academic lines, it has managed to maintain relative stability, or at least a functional inertia, over the past four decades. The full potential, however, of this system and in particular, the Northern Ireland Curriculum (NIC), has yet to be realised. This paper…

This article discusses the pedagogic practice of ability grouping in government schools in Delhi. Despite practical evidence against homogenous student settings, ability grouping is implemented as a policy solution to reduce the huge variance in students' learning levels within a classroom. Research data is drawn from interviews with 110…

This study examines how teacher leaders across the Central Valley support the implementation of the English Language Roadmap Policy (ELRP) utilizing a qualitative, multi-case study approach. Relying on semi-structured interviews and a series of project presentations, this study examines teacher leaders' perceptions and identifies the attributes of…

This publication examines the influence of learning outcomes on teaching practices in vocational education and training (VET) through data from case studies across 10 countries: Bulgaria, Ireland, France, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland. The research reveals that, while national policies across the…

The excessive academic burden that undermines students' well-being has become a matter of global concern. Drawing on Archer's social realist theory, this qualitative case study identified three forms of teacher agency in navigating academic burden under the 'Double Reduction' policy: methodological refinement that rendered the workload more…

There is at present much focus in ELT on describing and promoting teacher and learner agency. However, ELT as a professional field is concurrently characterised by an increasing orientation toward authoritative texts, particularly those imbued with authority at the transnational level. Global textbooks are a notable example, since they, along with…

This study examines the transformative potential of Freinet networks in Greece through the principles of commoning and critical action learning. Freinet networks, grassroots communities of educators, prioritize democratic, horizontal structures and participatory learning to challenge conventional hierarchical norms in education. Based on focus…

This paper, a critical examination of educational concepts, policies and practices, presents findings from research into the impact of accountability agendas on teacher professionalism and pedagogic practices. The study, theoretically framed through Halstead's notions of contractual and responsive accountability, and Gramsci's hegemonic practices,…