This article, updated and expanded from one written for "The Times Educational Supplement", 10 December 2010, asks whether politicians are right to quote the country's performance in international tests in support of such policies as re-introducing O levels. It finds reasons to doubt that the tests give an adequate picture of children's…

In a world where governments increasingly attempt to impose regulation on all professional activities, this paper advocates that professional standards for teachers be developed "by the profession for the profession". Foucauldian archaeology is applied to two teacher standards documents recently published in Australia, one developed at…

This article examines the trend toward centralization in American education policy over the last century through a variety of lenses. The overall picture that emerges is one of a continuous tug-of-war, with national and local policymakers stumbling together toward incrementally more standardized and centralized policies. There is a center of power…

This viewpoint begins by exploring whether the global phenomenon of the 2011 "SlutWalks" constitutes a feminist politics of re-signification. We then look at some qualitative, focus group data with teen girls who participated in a UK SlutWalk. We suggest girls are not only negotiating a schizoid double pull towards performing knowing…

Changes in political, social and educational curriculum policies over the past four decades have created discursive shifts in writing theory and practice for New Zealand primary teachers. While these policies have historically privileged a particular view of writing over others, very little is known as to how teachers engage with experienced…

The National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN)--is conducted through standardized tests that are administered to all Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9. It was implemented in 2008 by the same Labor government that introduced My School (www.myschool.edu.au). Enjoying bipartisan political support and popular with the public…

This article examines the micropolitics of implementing New York City's Schoolwide Performance Bonus Program and school governance bodies (Compensation Committees) that determined distribution of school-level rewards among personnel. Drawing on a two-year, mixed-methods study, the author finds that although most participants surveyed described a…

This study of 12 introductory American government and politics textbooks shows that their main narratives still focus largely on men's experiences as political actors and pay little attention to women's experiences. While on average just 9% of pages included in-text references to women, 28% of images and 17% of sidebars, tables, figures, and…

This study aims to explore the relationships between the third sector and the educational system in Israel in light of their current increasing involvement with one another. This was investigated along four stages of the policy process ranging from initial agenda-setting to final implementation. The stage of policy these relationships reached was…

One of the most vexing questions about charter schools--when low-performing ones should be shut down--is receiving new attention, amid concerns that lax and inconsistent standards for closing them will undermine the public's confidence in the sector. Over the past few years, a growing number of researchers, policymakers, and charter school backers…

This article begins by outlining the UK Government policy context, offering a brief critique before moving on to summarise recent research into "quality" in the early years. The main body of the article locates the perspectives of early years practitioners within this context, drawing on data from an Economic and Social Research…

Amid the cacophony of special interests fighting to be heard in statehouses and on Capitol Hill, a cadre of current and former chief state school officers is elbowing its way into the nation's education debate at a time when states are taking more control of K-12 education. A little more than a year old, Chiefs for Change is an invitation-only…

In this article, the author talks about a life with the sociology of education. He begins by describing the "old" and "new" sociologies of education. Then, he discusses the sociology of education policy and the relevance of Basil Bernstein, who remained the dominant presence within the sociology of education in the UK until his…

As the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, Mitt Romney championed aggressive education policies later embraced by the Obama administration and by other states. But for most of his second run at the Republican presidential nomination, voters have heard little about his education record in Massachusetts or initiatives that Mr. Romney was…

This article presents the author's review of three books: (1) "The irregular school: exclusion, schooling and inclusive education," by Roger Slee; (2) "Confronting obstacles to inclusion: international responses to developing inclusive education," edited by Richard Rose; and (3) ""Hanging in with the kids" in tough times: engagement in contexts of…