Teaching experience has been identified as an important factor in pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development. However, little is known about "how" experienced teachers may draw on their previous experience to facilitate their PCK development. This study examined how two experienced high school biology teachers approached the…

Liberal Studies was initially introduced as a non-statutory subject in Hong Kong in 1992. It then confronted intense opposition and a bumpy implementation path before securing mandatory status in the new senior secondary curriculum introduced in 2009. Recently, this core subject has been under review. Whilst it is considered to promote students'…

What do young people believe sexuality education ought to be about? It is within the absence of a sustained and critical consideration of the possibilities and politics of engaging in research with rather than for young people in the reimagining of sexuality education that this paper is positioned. Data were generated as part of an 18-month Youth…

At the start of the 21st century, STEM education was a new priority in many schools as the focus shifted from separate disciplines to integrative STEM education. Unfortunately, there was limited research to offer guidance to practitioners (Brown, 2012; Honey, Pearson & Schweingruber, 2014). This qualitative, multiple case study explored the…

In this study, we explored the relationships between teachers' self-articulated professional learning goals and their teaching experience. Although those relationships seem self-evident, in programmes for teachers' professional development years of teaching experience are hardly taken into account. Sixteen teachers with varying years of experience…

This paper describes research on how curriculum reform provides novel conditions for influencing teacher professionalism. It draws on Bernstein's theories of the 'classification and framing' of curriculum and theories of teacher professionalism to investigate the impact of curriculum reform on teacher professionalism. The research was conducted in…

Drawing upon Bernstein's writings on the pedagogic device, this article examines how critical thinking is regulated in Singapore through the process of pedagogic recontextualization. The potential of critical thinking to speak to alternative possibilities and notions of individual autonomy as well as its assumptions of a liberal arrangement of…

The main objective of this study is to compare the process of the senior secondary school mathematics curricula development in Ethiopia and Australia. The study was investigated qualitatively with document analysis and semi-structured interview research methods. The documents were collected from Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of…

This study reveals the perceptions of over one hundred Hong Kong teachers who were asked to reflect upon the implementation of Liberal Studies in secondary schools in response to the latest government review of the subject's curriculum. Questionnaire-based surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted to probe the participating teachers'…

While there are numerous pedagogical innovations and varying forms of professional learning to support change, teachers rarely move beyond the initial implementation of new ideas and policies and few innovations reach the institutionalized stage. Building on both site ontologies and situated learning in communities of practice perspectives, this…

Policy enactment is a dynamic process, which invites agents to uniquely create and recreate policy as an ongoing process. Few policies arrive in school fully formed and the process of policy enactment involves teachers navigating policy frameworks in a way that provides success for each individual pupil. This research examines the complexities…

At first glance, the introduction of a national curriculum for Australian schools suggested a new era of revival for school geography. Since the late 1980s, the development and introduction of more integrated conceptions of curriculum design and implementation has seen the decline of Geography as a distinct subject in Australian schools, with…

Despite many music classrooms welcoming popular musics in striving towards an inclusive and democratic education, there has been relatively little research into teachers' decisions regarding which popular musics are included and which are excluded from classroom activities. This is of particular interest taking into account arguments that the…

As instructional leadership involves attempts to understand and improve complex systems, this study explored principals' perceptions regarding possible contributions of systems thinking to instructional leadership. Based on a qualitative analysis, systems thinking was perceived by middle and high school principals to contribute to the following…

This paper prompts us to consider "representation" with respect to a committee structure "managing" the development of the Irish senior cycle physical education framework. The paper is timely due to the national interest in the senior cycle subject development in Ireland and complements work undertaken on the development of…