Integral to the global nature play movement, nature play programs have flourished over the last decade, both in Australia and internationally. Internationally, there are two prominent schools of thought in this movement, Danish Nature Kindergartens, and British Forest Schools. The underpinning philosophy of Danish Nature Kindergarten programs has…

This qualitative study explores the performance of teacher agency amidst national financial and professional deficits in education and sheds light on the growing utilization of Instagram in elementary school contexts. To better understand teachers' use of this social media platform, we examined the Instagram accounts of 12 highly popular and…

This article draws on a qualitative comparative research study of global citizenship education (GCE) in two primary schools, an international school in Singapore and an independent school in Australia. This paper focuses on the implementation of GCE within the two specific school contexts, Singapore and Australia, examining the tensions which…

This paper contributes to debates that shaped a special issue of "Discourse" in 2017 by taking the debate about "responsibilisation" in education into the realm of Foundations Skills in Australia. The difficulties that many Australian adults experience with low levels of language, literacy and numeracy skills (Foundation…

Internet access and the availability of digital devices in classrooms have been growing exponentially. This has led to the development of subscription-based online platforms for mathematics learning, available for purchase by schools and individuals. Currently, research in mathematics education tends to focus on the benefits to teaching and…

This paper explores the issue of how children come to be treated as workers in schools that are run as though they were businesses. It describes how the 'soft' form of human resource management provides a useful model for school reform, since it seeks to increase the productivity of the worker through 'humanistic' means, treating the worker as a…

This paper presents empirical evidence on kindergarten admission preparation services in Hong Kong. Parents increasingly turn to tutoring companies for a range of services, such as social skills training, portfolio editing, mock interviews, and parental consultation. We used qualitative methods to capture the views of parents, teachers, tutors,…

School systems are shifting towards forms of post-bureaucratic governance (PBG), implying higher levels of school autonomy, choice, and performance-based management. Under this governance approach, which combines forms of administrative and market accountability, schools face greater levels of competition and external pressure to perform. Schools…

Amid the increasing reliance on digital tools and services in education, this article examines the datafication and commodification of student life in Denmark. We analyse the web and app (iOS and Android) versions of 45 tools and services that teachers in Danish public primary schools use as part of their teaching, the types of data generated by…

In recent years, digital technologies for creating, curating, selling, and buying teaching materials have become a valuable part of many teachers' lives within and outside schools. Rather than apply textbook contents imposed from above, researchers and tech-pioneers have promoted digital teacher-to-teacher services as pathways to increase teacher…

The intensification of data collection practices in schooling -- often due to state accountability requirements -- has resulted in the widespread adoption of commercial student management systems (SMS) in schools. Drawing on a qualitative case study of a New Zealand primary school, this paper investigates its adoption of a commercial SMS, and the…

The purpose of this article was to offer guidance to educators in evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, and most effective uses of commercial reading assessment suites. We provide three resources to help educators who are responsible for making instructional decisions in reading using formal screening, benchmark, interim, and progress-monitoring…

This critical ethnography utilizes critical policy analysis and a theoretical understanding of neoliberal racism to examine the practiced reality of school choice in a public, under-resourced, and historically underperforming neighborhood elementary school attended predominantly by Latina/o/x students. Despite improvement initiatives that resulted…

This article uniquely employs Beverley Skeggs' 'hierarchies of personhood' as a means to explore the iconographies of teacherhood in neoliberal times. Drawing on the narratives of three male primary school teachers in England, it examines and critiques the neoliberal 'subject of value' that is acquisitional, performative and self-propelling.…

Purpose: Building on a qualitative case study of parents and tutors previously involved with a large commercial tutoring company, this article investigates experiences of private tutoring in Denmark. Design/Approach/Methods: The case study centers around an affective analysis of eight interviews--three parents and five tutors--centering on why and…