This paper examines the use of linguistic devices in a Chairman's Statement to foreground a positive self-image and background references to financial shortcomings in times of financial distress. Drawing on impression management theory and critical discourse analysis, we reveal the systematic use of language to portray an organization as a…

In Latin America the development of early childhood education has been uneven and mixed. In some countries, the public education system includes kindergartens (for 4 to 6 year olds), early childhood schools (for children from birth to 5/6), nurseries (from birth to 3) schools and/or playschools. Working days vary in length, with daytime and…

Viewing science education as a site of biopolitical engagement--intervention into forces that seek to define, control, and exploit life (biopower)--requires that science educators ask after how individuals and populations are governed by technologies of power. In this paper, I argue that "microanalyses," the analysis of everyday…

Purpose: Throughout the world, the dominant discourse treats "financial literacy" as both necessary and sufficient to improve the well-being of individuals and society. Findings: This essay argues that financial literacy is neither, and that promoting financial literacy is a perverse way to address the inadequate retirement funding,…

Criticality is the ability to question current theories and practices in any sector to make them more receptive to social realities. Empathy is the ability to identify with what someone else is thinking or feeling. Empathy forms the foundation for welfare state and its liberal social welfare programmes. The state-led development strategies during…

In the wake of current world financial crisis serious efforts are being made to rethink the dominant economic assumptions. There is a growing movement in universities to make economics more relevant and to embrace an understanding of diverse models. Additionally, philosophical schools such as critical realism have provided new tools for thinking…

Iceland has a strong tradition of universal public early childhood education and care (ECEC) services for children. The traditional pedagogy is founded on play-based learning with the holistic view of the development of the child is central to practice. With increased interest in education following the 2008 financial crisis, there are signs that…

Due to social and political change the process of young citizens' political socialization was put on a new basis in West European democracies over the last decades. In this article we discuss some aspects of this development and show their consequences. We analyse empirical findings from Germany, focussing on the relevant social factors which…

Background: Teacher education is an area of concern both in the policy and practice domains in both international and national contexts. Internationally, there are a wide range teacher education programmes and there is also considerable diversity with reference to policy approaches that operationalise such provision. Purpose: This paper focuses on…

The aftermath of the international financial crisis of 2008/2009 and current economic downturn in the world economy has unsurprisingly put publicly-funded higher education (HE) systems under immense pressure in most parts of the world. Added to measures of the past 20 years, aiming at introducing cost effective management approaches imported from…

Around the mid-2000s a crisis discourse emerged in educational policy-making in the EU and in Sweden. Using the EU and Sweden as empirical references, this article explores how this crisis discourse has been and is employed by politicians and NGOs. Discourse Institutionalism is used as an overall theoretical framework focusing on how the crisis…