Educational researchers need to pay more attention to understanding the perspectives of implementers as a means to preventing future implementation failures. In an attempt to elucidate the reasons for resistance to the implementation of the 2013 education reform in Mexico, qualitative methods were used to explore the lived experiences of…

Much attention has been given to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and its effects in different education systems, including the United States. This paper begins to address a major gap in this literature by focusing on the costs of participation in PISA. The…

This article focuses on the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the USA's broad sweeping federal education policy, in a persistently low-achieving school in which the majority of students are refugees and immigrants. Drawing on a 26-month ethnography, I reveal the ways in which a NCLB-guided school turnaround plan is enacted variably,…

Teacher-led initiatives built upon relationships, moral purpose, and a commitment to act have the potential to bring about change in twenty-first century schools. In order to implement and sustain change, teachers must collaborate with diverse colleagues and members of the school community. Intergroup communication across cultural and linguistic…

This paper investigates influential discourses embedded within policy documents and policy-makers' accounts to trace special education development in Malaysia. With a heavy reliance on the medical model, the distinction of the "educable" and "ineducable" based on self-care abilities is incongruent with inclusive ideals that…

This paper considers the policy "roles" adopted by teachers enacting policy in a department. It draws on a longitudinal study of two secondary mathematics departments endeavouring to make deep change aligned with a demanding curriculum policy. The study validates aspects of an existing typology, demonstrates the existence of a variety of…

Quality practices in higher education involve more than mere compliance with standards and technical mandates; given the complexity of the decisions involved in quality in higher education, this concept, quality, can be analyzed as symbol and performance. This paper utilizes translation as heuristic to analyze the implementation of US…

This study comprises a comprehensive attempt to reveal the power relations and conflicting interests within the local-global nexus of the Israeli public education system. The perceptions of different stakeholders were explored, in regard to the implementation of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program as an example of a globally oriented…

This article is offered as a counterpoint and complement to the symposium on policy enactment in a previous issue of "Discourse" by Stephen Ball, Meg Maguire and colleagues. Although their focus was largely on the discursive, and policy actors and policy subjects, this article is concerned with researching the emergent materiality of…

A review of education policy and practice indicates a paradox in policy implementation. Policy outcomes most often differ significantly from intended purposes and provisions enacted. This paper re-conceptualises this policy phenomenon, drawing on the post-modernist conception of policy as both "text" and "discourse" as an approach for…