Looking back, the author sees that she misjudged how one becomes an educational expert. She thought it had something to do with thoughtful experience, deep thinking, reflective practice, and the study of theory and research. And maybe there was a time when that was true. But today it seems that the less one has studied education, the less one has…

In Meiji Japan (1868?1912) and the German "Kaiserreich" (1871-1918), the educational system assisted the state in the definition of the notions of national identity. They developed, it is broadly claimed, within a similar vision of a state, which culminated in similar patterns of nationalism towards the end of the Second World War. In this article…

Academic engagement with higher education research policy in Australia, and with education policy more generally, is in crisis. This time around, it is not just that our theoretical tools are blunt and irrelevant (Ball 1990), so are our politics. It seems our attention has been so consumed by "what is policy" (Ball 1994a) and with…

Some journeys that the author and his colleagues take are by choice and others are forced upon them. Some they take because their hearts, minds, and spirits are drawn to the "rightness" of what lies ahead. Others are done out of obligation and still others rest in their compliance to the demands of others. This article is actually about…

The aim of this article is to analyse political rationales for promoting student mobility in Europe and discuss these in the light of individual experiences of mobile students. Since the creation of the ERASMUS programme in 1987, student mobility in Europe has been the subject of unusual political promotion. More recently, in the context of the…

The federal government has responded to criticism of the No Child Left Behind Act by giving states greater flexibility in how to comply. Analysts worry that the law's purpose is being lost along the way. Since U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced that she would take a "common sense" approach to carrying out the No…

A bill that has been sent to the floor of the California Senate would require textbooks used in public schools to include information on the roles and contributions of gay people throughout history, a move that could affect the content of instructional materials throughout much of the country. The measure would help build tolerance of diverse…

The interactive nature of the Internet is seen by some as a technological innovation that might boost participation in politics and civic affairs. That potential, however, is clouded by imprecise definitions of interactivity found among scholars and practitioners alike. Evaluation of state legislature Web sites found them to not be very…

This paper begins by rehearsing some commonly heard conservative and radical objections to the idea of citizenship education. I then explore another potentially radical objection, implicit in the tenets of character education and socio-emotional learning but rarely stated explicitly. According to this objection, citizenship education, with its…

This article reports that at the 2006 ACTE National Policy Seminar, nearly 500 career and technical educators gathered in Washington, DC, in March to learn about what is happening with Perkins, receive tips on working with the media, and voice their opinions with their federal representatives. Attendees left this session armed with the statistics…

Drawing partial contrasts with Deweyan and poststructuralist approaches, this essay develops an account of democratic participation based upon the work of Stanley Cavell. In particular it explores Cavell's reading of the celebrated treatment of the theme of the body politic in Shakespeare's Coriolanus. The discussion examines what it is that…

In this reaction, the author concentrates on evaluating the study's broader interpretive claims. He states that the articles reviewed have the following three purposes: (1) to explore the ways in which a variety of factors shape school change over time; (2) to show how the five factors combine at key points in the story to create what Ivor…

Iris M. Young, Chantal Mouffe, and Ernesto Laclau are known for their political perspective on the politics of difference. The politics of difference concerns the fundamental question of political subjectivity. They argue against the essentialist belief that there is a fixed identity, instead promote the celebration of multiple and diverse values…

This article examines the "politics of difference," a phrase now almost synonymous with postmodernism and the critique of the Enlightenment. The article provides a post-structuralist take on this critique arguing that a critique of Enlightenment values can lead to a deepening of democracy and using Foucault's notion of governmentality to elucidate…

In this article, the author profiles Jacques Derrida, whose teaching activity made an invaluable and indelible contribution to the intellectual life of the University of California, Irvine (UCI). The question of pedagogy is central for Derrida, not only in terms of teaching people to read and write differently, but as a means for appreciating the…