International student assessments have become the "lifeblood" of the accountability movement in educational policy contexts. Drawing upon Stuart Hall's concept of representation, I critically examined who comprises epistemic communities responsible for developing the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Assessment of…

Like schools, curricula are socially constructed and constituted within broader social, political, and historical relations of power, powerfully shaping students' beliefs and attitudes about themselves and their relationship toward the world. In light of this, the importance of literature selection cannot be overstated. School-sanctioned texts…

We explore the need for empathy in diverse groups, conceptualize the epistemology of empathy in relationship to "whole-person dialogue," and examine strategies for creating empathic space that take into consideration the "paradox of diversity." Two examples from our practice illustrate the role of empathic connection in…

Why do educated girls and women constitute a danger in some societies and for this face extreme danger in their educational endeavours? This article argues that historical and contemporary educational discrimination of girls and women is the hallmark of a violently patriarchal society, and this stubborn injustice is exacerbated under conditions of…

The purpose of the current comparative multiple-case study was to understand graduate students' perceptions of the collaborative construction of course assignments. Data were gathered from the graduate student interviews, class observations, and relevant student artifacts. With this collected data, six case studies were generated. The study…

This paper foregrounds pedagogy in the realisation of children's rights to non-discrimination and serving their best interests, as articulated in the UNCRC. Drawing on a mixed methodological study of teachers in 12 schools it does so through exploring teacher pedagogies in terms of how they "think", "do" and "talk"…

After the 1962 coup d'etat, Myanmar's education system plunged into a downward spiral of insolvency and isolation from internationally recognized education standards. In the years that followed, alternative education providers, including ethnic education service providers in Myanmar, and the refugee and migrant education systems in neighbouring…

Legitimation includes authorization of position occupants by external authority figures or their endorsement by members of task groups. Endorsed authority figures are more likely to direct interaction and influence the actions of group members than authorized authority figures. Interaction dynamics that lead to legitimation in groups are explored…

Research has shown that teaching gender theories tends to be an educational challenge and elicits student resistance. However, little is known about students' learning processes in social science. This study aims to explore these learning processes by drawing on feminist pedagogy and conceptual change theory. The results show that when students…

Scholars of curriculum and teaching have undertaken critical analyses of the myriad ways in which curricula--taught, planned, lived, and/or hidden--and pedagogical practices (re)produce social norms and bring into effect particular kinds of subjects. This article presents an engagement with curriculum and pedagogy that foregrounds the…

This policy study critically compares two different efforts to implement an accountability system in the New York City public schools. In 1971, the New York City Board of Education contracted with the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which created a lengthy accountability plan for the district. Fitful maneuvers to execute the ETS plan fizzled…

Bourdieu describes capital as the political building blocks of social order that give meaning to social accumulation and consumption. Through a combination of Bourdieu's sociology and critical race theory, this sojourn into Afro-Trinidadian boys' achievement seeks to elucidate an approach to understanding capital as inherently raced. This is…

Academic developers (ADs) often participate in the implementation of programmes or reforms in higher education. Sometimes they agree with these and sometimes they disagree. This paper discusses possible agentic positions during a genuine policy implementation--the National Qualification Framework at a Norwegian university. Through reflexive…

The focus of this paper is on a variety of practices associated with the transfer of educational policy and practice from one national education system to another--practices sometimes referred to as "policy borrowing". Its concern is with the ethical and political issues raised by these practices. In particular, it discusses concerns…

This article presents the results from an empirical qualitative study of the challenges faced by teacher leaders in their attempts to work directly with their colleagues to change instructional strategies and improve student success. Additionally, it offers a challenge to the utility of a naïvely espoused theory of distributed leadership, which…