This paper addresses an issue of increasing significance in the context of taught educational doctorates and argues that this may have wider applicability for doctoral students across a range of social science disciplines. It identifies the need to engage with policy analysis as a key element of such programmes and attempts to address students'…

Over the past decade amidst the development and implementation of new official curriculum texts and associated assessment requirements, there has been considerable international interest in senior physical education. Arnold's three dimensions of movement have been prominent in curriculum developments and academic debates. In the state of Victoria,…

This article explores the role of the Deaf child as peer educator. In schools where sign languages were banned, Deaf children became the educators of their Deaf peers in a number of contexts worldwide. This paper analyses how this peer education of sign language worked in context by drawing on two examples from boarding schools for the deaf in…

This article reviews research on changes in teachers' workplace relations in a policy context that increasingly emphasizes accountability. The findings indicate that a greater focus on testing and student performance often leads to less attention to the caring and relational aspects of teachers' work. Prevailing and enduring ideas about teachers'…

Instrumental variables (IV) methods allow for consistent estimation of causal effects, but suffer from poor finite-sample properties and data availability constraints. IV estimates also tend to have relatively large standard errors, often inhibiting the interpretability of differences between IV and non-IV point estimates. Lastly, instrumental…

Despite major changes in the governance of universities overtly intended to transform them into authoritatively integrated collectivities, the extent of their organisational actorhood remains quite limited and varied between OECD countries. This is because of inherent limitations to the managerial direction and control of research and teaching…

Knowledge of the history and development of early childhood development in Uganda is paramount if we are to know how far we have come and where we are going. This article explores the introduction of early childhood development in Ugandan policy and government interventions from 1960 to 2011. Data was obtained from a review of available early…

Body image is an individual's emotional response to one's appearance including size and shape; this response may not be helpful in the pursuit of overall health and well-being. This policy analysis examines the treatment of body image in Canadian Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum policies using a body image analysis framework…

Many of the nation's colleges and universities are not sure what the proposed DREAM Act would mean for their institutions--and a number of them are operating amid confusion in trying to serve undocumented students legally in light of the defeat of the measure in the Senate last year to pass the legislation. It would have allowed some immigrants…

Critical thought is a necessary element for proficient practice in social work at both the micro and macro levels. For this reason, social work educators must seek to integrate critical thought in BSW and MSW curricula. This article provides a method for achieving this integration in the social welfare policy course. The method includes the four…

This article analyses the progression of education policy by the Workers' Party (PT) in Brazil from its experience of municipal administration to national government. The first section presents this development, noting its progression from a participatory, social(ist) project to a more reformist, elite-directed model. The second section accounts…

This paper has two main objectives. First, it aims to analyse the connections between education and poverty established by the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), a central policy tool for the articulation of the Post Washington Consensus. Second, it intends to study how the PRSPs have been consolidated and expanded through different…

In many countries, current research policy is dominated by managerialism and excellence, manifesting the aim of making universities into national strategic assets in the globally competitive knowledge economy. This article discusses these policy trends and their mirror in recent developments in public funding for academic research, with special…

This paper explores the various meanings embedded in the notion of quality when it is used in reference to the teaching and managing of post-compulsory education and training. Based on a study, which explored the views of practitioners working in further and adult education colleges graded as good or outstanding during their most recent office for…

In the United States (US), an increase in standardization, quantification, competition, and large-scale comparison--cornerstones of neoliberal accountability--have been accompanied by devices of transparency, through which various forms of school data are made available to the public. Such public reporting, we are told by politicians and education…