The ways in which teachers perceive, interpret, and respond to curriculum reforms can make or break any potential for innovation in their curriculum implementation journey. This study explored the perceptions, interpretations, and actions of teachers at Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools with regard to implementing a recently embedded course plan for…

There is an ongoing concern regarding the alignment of textbooks with curriculum standards across different subjects. Such studies have emphasized the critical, yet complex, role of textbooks in bridging pedagogical practices with curricular reforms. The present research builds upon these discussions, by examining not only the alignment but also…

As China increasingly engages in global human rights mechanisms, it has demonstrated a commitment to reforming its national curriculum. Through examining textbooks published during Xi Jinping's tenure, this study investigates how China embeds human rights issues in the English language curriculum. The findings indicate that the human rights issues…

Teacher agency in Vietnam is an under-researched area, to the cost of recognising teacher professionalism, the role of teachers in curriculum reform and, consequently, the success of important curriculum improvements. This paper reports on a multiple-case study investigating teacher agency in primary schools implementing the national EFL…

Since Singapore became an independent republic, careful language-in-education planning that caters to the economic, social, and political development of the country has never been abated. A notable case in point is the constant reviews and reforms of the curriculum of Chinese language (CL), a school subject required of ethnic Chinese children, to…

The rise of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) threatens to upend traditional teaching and learning practices. Writing, speaking, and communication instruction will all need to evolve. This article presents a case study of one institution's efforts to design and implement a communication curriculum responsive to the unique demands of the EMI…

Teachers receive increasing attention as change agents within education reform policy discourses positioning their professionalism, identity, and agency as critical to implementation of reforms. However, identities either claimed by teachers or assigned by reform policies involve serious (re)negotiations on the part of teachers as they make…

This case study reports how three high-school teachers from two state schools in Colombia enacted the National English Suggested Curriculum by the Ministry of Education. The teachers' trajectories of action were analyzed through semi-structured interviews, teachers' narratives, and lesson observations. Using the ecological model of agency as a…

Curriculum material use is an agentive, reciprocal and innovative practice, involving multiple stakeholders such as teacher, students and assessments that mutually shape one another. While it is generally acknowledged that teachers' knowledge and skills deeply shape the way they use materials, little is known about how material use can possibly…

EFL curricula for primary and secondary education in Turkey were revised based on the 2012 educational reform, and issued to the institutions of primary and secondary education affiliated to the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) in 2017 to be put into practice the following academic year. This study was motivated to examine the revised primary…

National curriculum standards for different countries mean some International Baccalaureate (IB) schools must often balance IB and national standards. Literature on how schools find this balance is limited. Using a qualitative case study design, we examined the perspectives of teachers of English in a Chinese IB school that recently employed a…

In 2007, some curricular changes of teacher training system were initiated in Mozambique with teacher training course model 10+1. The changes included the teaching of English together with other new subjects that required the training of teachers capable of implementing them to meet the needs of primary education curriculum. In order to examine…

With the spread of English as a global lingua franca, many governments have developed and implemented new curricula and pedagogies, aiming to enhance English competence for personal and national participation in a globalised world. In Vietnam, the Government established Project 2020 (since relabelled Project 2025), a reform of the national English…

In recent years, "Decolonising the Curriculum (DtC)" has been widely discussed and advocated in the European educational landscape as part of inclusive education. However, few examples of its practice in Japanese language teaching have been reported. While discussions of DtC in Japan often focus on the context of Japan's former colonies,…

In the high-stakes accountability English educational system, decisions made by government and agencies about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment drive school planning and actions. This paper analyses the drivers for the recent change to French German and Spanish GCSEs and highlights particular areas of the new specification which may damage the…