This paper draws on theoretical insights from Michel de Certeau to formulate a response to questions of whether, and in what ways, poststructural policy analysis can "transcend critique to offer potential grounds for alternative social and political strategies in education". The paper offers a discussion of how Certeau's concern with how…

This article draws on a larger research project that questions the impacts of '21st century learning' on teachers and leaders. Implicit is an evaluation of the promise of futures pedagogies to deepen teacher reflective practice. Critical theoretic and critical hermeneutic approaches underpin this research. It therefore analyses policy and…

With the development of technology in the 21st Century, education systems attempt to integrate technology-based tools to improve experiences in pedagogy and administration. It is becoming increasingly prominent to build human and ICT infrastructure capacities at universities from policy to implementation level. Using a critical discourse analysis,…

This article critically examines the relationship between recent educational policy and the advancement of second-level subject hierarchies in Ireland. The paradox of promoting an individual subject by means of the matriculation system, while also calling for a broad and balanced curriculum, is questioned. The apparent retreat from a commitment to…

The article explores education for sustainable development (ESD) as a policy concept in different spaces and how it is re-articulated as part of a process of globalisation. The objective is to explore empirically an alternative set of logics in order to conceive of this process of globalisation. With this objective in mind, the article…

As one of the most prominent cases of high performing education systems in Asia, Shanghai has received widespread attention in recent years. The existing literature has shown that the formation of a high performing education system in Shanghai is closely associated with the high-quality teaching force. The purpose of this paper is to explore the…

This paper discusses the significance of international and transnational developments for education policy research, with a focus on the European Union. The rise of policy projects at the EU level since 2000, has altered the relationships between the state, EU institutions and education policy, in terms of the definition of values, purposes, and…

Looking to conflicting constitutions of education systems through the terms equality and excellence, this paper examines the discursive formation of two political rationalities in the contemporary German education system. While early childhood and primary education discourses are dominated by a terminology of equality, tertiary education…

The ethos of vulnerability has come to play an increasingly central role in shaping cross-sectoral transition policies and practices related to young people outside of education and working life. Yet the wider effects of this ethos in policies and practices are still rarely analysed. In this article, we draw our data from five separate studies.…

Most public school teachers in the United States are enrolled in defined benefit (DB) pension plans. Using administrative micro data from four states, combined with national pension funding data, we show these plans have accumulated substantial unfunded liabilities -- effectively debt -- owing to previous plan operations. On average across 49…

This article highlights a rarely utilized but effective technique for identifying intended and unintended consequences of past or current policy or policy change. The author guides the reader through the process of identifying potential participants, contacting participants, developing the policy Delphi instrument, and analyzing the findings by…

The Pupil Premium policy was introduced in 2010 by the UK coalition government to tackle the attainment gap disproportionately affecting children from low-income families. Semi-structured interviews and policy documents are examined for the way the policy has been enacted in a single comprehensive secondary school in England. In 2014, this school…

The intersection of development in family and school settings has been well established and education policies have begun to promote ways to bridge the two contexts (i.e. teacher evaluations). For this manuscript, authors focus on how teachers and principals used a state educator evaluation policy to position parents as authorities on education.…

The age pattern of school entry reflects a complex social and empirical reality that is inadequately captured by a single number. Recognising these complexities in national and international research and policy discourse raises important but neglected questions around the identification of vulnerable groups, the relative value of pre-primary and…

In a recent volume published by Harvard Education Press, "The Convergence of K-12 and Higher Education: Policies and Programs in a Changing Era" (see ED568824), Christopher Loss and Patrick McGuinn gathered a group of researchers to explore the "convergence" of US education policy fifty years after the passage of the Elementary…