Performance-based accountability (PBA) has gained popularity worldwide due to its promise to strengthen the effectiveness and equity of educational systems. Nonetheless, its implementation does not always generate the expected reactions within schools. Through a configurative review, we systematically reviewed 133 empirical studies focusing on PBA…

Following calls to 'bewilder' (Snaza 2013) the pioneers of early education, this article positions Montessori pedagogy as a 'desire path' that acts as resistance to normative policy-driven pathways in early childhood education and care. Desire paths are alternative tracks made aside from officially established walking routes. In this paper I think…

Academic freedom constitutes an integral part of traditional university values that ensure the proper functioning of universities in pursuing truth and inculcating civic values. In a globalized world where Higher Education (HE) policy is the result of the interaction of local, national, and international levels, the positions of international…

Commercialization and commodification of higher education has been subjected to wide critique in academic literature. The relative privilege of academic professions seems to be on the decline, as universities are subjected to increasing competitive pressures -- pressures which these institutions pass on to academics. Academics experience a loss of…

School improvement and its associated policies aim at providing a quality education, a burdensome weight which rests largely on the shoulders of teachers. To achieve such ends, policy texts have been reformed with neoliberal underpinnings, which allow private organizations to enter a space that previously operated through public institutions. In…

This guide explores strategies to foster organizational well-being in educational settings, focusing on creating environments that promote educator success and resilience. It offers actionable insights into building a supportive culture that prioritizes staff well-being, reduces burnout, and enhances overall job satisfaction. With a blend of…

Societal, structural, value-based or economic changes and changes related to technological developments necessitate a continuous development process in the field of education. In responding to the changes, teacher agency becomes a key factor. This study explores when the context of reform provides the basis for the growth of agency and when it…

This paper examines recent reforms in English-language testing in Japan using a policy distraction framework. We identify the term 'washback (effect)' and other related discourses as major distractors and investigate how 'washback' discourses have functioned as political slogans or catchphrases in policy deliberation processes and how they have…

This paper aims at showing how a bottom-up approach of the study of educational policies can shed some light on how elementary school teachers deal with educational policies to make them work. This is a partial report on a larger focus group study conducted in Bogotá, Colombia, where a group of elementary school teachers shared their opinions…

Purpose: This study builds on research scrutinizing school autonomy in policy and school governance by shifting the focus from a formal structural view of autonomy to examining how principals negotiate autonomy in their daily work. Drawing on multiple dimensions of autonomy and street-level bureaucracy, this study examined how principals, as both…

This paper analyses the consequences of what are regarded as neoliberal developments within the Danish ECEC area. More specifically, it looks at how an increasing monitoring and regulation affects the ECEC educator's sense of professionalism. Drawing on a qualitative study of educators' interactionist accounts, a series of unintended consequences…

Purpose: This paper aims to introduce the concept of adaptive agency and illustrate its emergence in the field of English teaching in a number of countries using England over the past 30 years as a case study. It examines how the exceptional flexibility of English as school subject has brought many external impositions whilst its teachers have…

Shifts in schooling policy have had substantial impact upon the role of principals as well as the relationship that principals have with their teaching staff. In this paper we report on the initiatives 30 principals in a diverse range of devolved Australian government schools adopt to shape and support the local, school-level working conditions of…

Language policies and school practices in Pakistan continually perpetuate gaps between the traditionally less versus the traditionally more privileged languages. About 95% of students receive their primary and post-primary education in languages other than their L1. Drawing on the continua of biliteracy framework (Hornberger. 2003. "Continua…

One aspect of instructional leadership is the work principals undertake in supporting and developing teachers' skills and capabilities. This paper examines this aspect of school leadership within a climate characterised by increased principal workloads, heavy external accountabilities, pressure to improve student results, and heightened autonomy…