This case study explores the politics and ethics surrounding a likely breach of school policy and possible breach of law. Students will be asked to identify key legal, ethical, and political issues in a unique scenario involving complex community issues, a split board, and unknown levels of support from superiors. At stake are employment status of…

Australia's indigenous population is made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who each have distinctly different cultures. The former can be found in cities and towns and across the vast reaches of rural and remote Australia. The latter generally inhabit the coastal islands off the northeast coast and adjacent mainland areas.…

This article discusses citizenship education, education policy and discourse to explore their relations with the exercise of power in society. Taking the case of 1990 and 1997 legislative debates on citizenship education policy in Hong Kong, it briefly surveys the substantive arguments favouring or opposing the retention of government controls…

The existing literature demonstrates that children who are referred by their teachers as presenting with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties in schools are least likely of all children with difficulties to be included in their community school. Two common obstacles to their inclusion have been identified and discussed in the literature: a…

"Educational Knowledge: Changing Relationships between the State, Civil Society, and the Educational Community," edited by Tom Popkewitz, is generally a collection of essays which emphasizes theoretical explications of the linkages between the state, society, and educationists. The author found that the book makes critically important…

Many policymakers are shedding essential tenets of modern statecraft. Few seek to sustain the monolithic one best system of schooling: herding students through large institutions, regulated by bureaucracy and guided by professionals under monopolistic conditions. Instead, distinctly unmodern forms of policy and institutional reformation are in…

Counseling psychology in South Africa is undergoing significant changes, much like the country itself. The authors examine the state of counseling psychology in South Africa through discussion of both its racial history and present-day positions. The history of psychology cannot be devoid of its politicized past, and remnants of its history are…

The academic and political arguments about teacher quality affect how secondary principals do their jobs. Educational research provides useful guidance about which teacher candidates may be most likely to increase student achievement, but it must be used critically and cautiously. When individuals with varying political agendas interpret the same…

This article offers video lessons that interweave visual and written materials in order to introduce university undergraduates (who may or may not be geography majors) to some recent shifts in geographic inquiry. What is often described as the "cultural turn" in human geography invites us to examine more closely the politics of representation,…

We provide an analysis of some recent widening participation literature concerning the barriers preventing non-traditional students accessing higher education. This literature criticizes higher education institutions and staff, opening up the academics' attitudes and skills to inquiry. We follow the genesis of four themes in the literature and…

The House of Lords' decision in "R. (on the application of Begum) v. The Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School" considered whether a particular school uniform policy infringed a student's right to manifest her religion under Article 9. This paper analyses the content of this decision, and explores how schools should approach…

The concept of inclusive education is a relatively new phenomenon within the Irish education system, with considerable developments in government policy only occurring since the early 1990s. These developments are aiming to advance special education provisions and legislation for individuals with disabilities and special educational needs (SEN).…

A number of countries, including Sweden and the UK, are considering the introduction of compulsory teacher training for higher education (HE) lecturers. This paper assesses whether such a policy is likely to achieve its aims, and the issues that may arise as the policy is implemented. The paper draws on experience with this policy in Norway,…

This article is concerned with the development of social scientific knowledge (exemplified by the case of sociology of education) and its relationship to education policy. It draws on and contrasts the experience of the author in working at the interface between theory and policy in two very different contexts: the United Kingdom in the 1970s and…

Since coming to power in 1997, New Labour has adopted area-based initiatives (ABIs) as a key strategy to combat economic, social and (especially) educational disadvantage. This paper briefly outlines the history of ABIs within the UK and explores the discontinuities and continuities between recent initiatives and their earlier counterparts. It…