In recent years, several states have engaged in significant action surrounding a key policy area-- teacher policy reform. In Florida, for example, the passage of Senate Bill (SB) 736, the Student Success Act, heralded substantial shifts in the boundaries defining the profession of teaching in the state. Through SB 736 and its unsuccessful…

The chapter that John Dewey dedicates to consideration of play and work in the curriculum in "Democracy and Education" echoes his thoughts on the same subject in "How We Think," which preceded "Democracy and Education" by six years. Dewey closes "How We Think" with a more expansive treatment of the topic and…

Washington, D.C., has looked to school choice as one way to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged students. School choice attempts to "level the playing field" between students of different backgrounds by making it possible for all families to have access to a city's high-quality public schools--whether students live near these…

I argue that instructional coaches face inherent systemic conflicts when supporting standards-based reform. I interpret the politics of coaching as the local intermediation of broader debates about teacher accountability and teacher professionalism. Drawing on qualitative case study analysis, I examine the effects of macro-level ideological shifts…

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the cultivation of anti-racist practices with pre- and in-service teachers in post-secondary contexts, and the tensions of engaging in this work for equity and justice in urban teacher education. Design/methodology/approach: The paper relies on critical race theory (CRT) and critical whiteness studies (CWS), as…

The Rohingya is a stateless minority group in Myanmar, suffering from ethnic and religious armed conflicts, state persecution, and displacement. Since the escalation of violent conflicts in the early 2010s, they have fled the country and sought refuge in neighbouring countries, and in the biggest numbers, in Bangladesh. Living in densely populated…

This Libraries and Policy essay explores the interrelationships between the public library goals of supporting democracy and remaining an apolitical institution and the expectations for demonstration of value and economic contribution at a time in which public discourse emphasizes austerity from public institutions. Libraries' positions on…

Neoliberalism is a loosely knit bricolage from economics, politics, and various forms of reactionary populism that can be envisioned as a kind of epistemic frame in which largely counterrevolutionary forces engage in the "creative destruction" of institutional frameworks and powers, forging divisions across society that include labor and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a preliminary analysis to evaluate the implications of political stability for educational quality, evident in the survival rate measure. Design/methodology/approach: Secondary analyses were conducted for data drawn from the Political Risk Service Report, the World Bank Report, the United Nations…

Politics, as in many spheres of life in the Philippines, is still very much a male enclave. From the smallest government unit up to the national level, men dominate (Gemba, 2001). The study aimed to find out the factors that facilitates or restrains women candidates from participating in the political arena. This study was conducted among Lady…

Since 2008, secondary school English teachers have been at the receiving end of contradictory advice on how to best prepare their students for the literacy component of the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). On the one hand, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) asserts that the 'best…

The history of Scandinavian social welfare services is a well-established field of research. Numerous studies have examined the principles and consequences of poor laws and criminal legislation with respect to various social groups, the emergence of child-rescue institutions and their activities. The socio-political function of education…

This paper examines emerging far-right movements and xenophobia, and the challenges they pose for justice in education in Japan. It illustrates discourses on nationalism and cultural diversity in both education and wider society from the perspective of critical race theory. It explores the voice of educators, particularly about their concerns and…

Inequality in adult learning and education (ALE) participation has been reported by previous comparative studies. In doing so, however, most of efforts have been made to understand such patterns of inequality in ALE participation at the micro-level using a conceptual approach based on human capital theory. While the micro-level approach offers an…

This paper critiques international trends towards certain school practices aimed at promoting equity and social justice by closing gaps in specific learning outcomes among students. It argues that even though some of these practices (e.g. individualised student support, data-driven leadership) improve learning outcomes for certain groups…