The aim of this study was to explore the results of and conditions for systemic large-scale school improvement. Through a multi-level analysis and a theoretical framework inspired by organization- and sensemaking-oriented theories, the study examines how a Swedish large-scale school improvement program, "Collaboration for the Best School…

This paper develops a new, broader, and more realistic lens to study (lacking) linkages between government policy and school practices. Drawing on recent work in organization theory, we advance notions on cluster of organization routines and the logic of complementarities underlying organizational change. This lens allows looking at how schools do…

Globally, teacher professional development is heralded as a key mechanism for educational reform. With governments investing heavily in PD programs, the aim of these interventions is not only enhanced teacher knowledge and practice but, ultimately, improved student outcomes. A substantial body of research has attempted to identify characteristics…

This paper undertakes a critical analysis of a planned change, the Safe Learning Model (SLM), devised over time by Concern Worldwide, and implemented in 100 primary or elementary schools in a rural district of Sierra Leone. We situate the documentation pertaining to the SLM (micro) within its wider national (meso) and international (macro) context…

Using educational advisors to facilitate the implementation of innovations in schools is a widespread, yet still relatively little studied and understood strategy in reform policies. This article reports on an exploratory, multiple case study on the support provided by external advisors to secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium) on the…

This study compares the adoption and spread of an educational innovation--a project-based, interest-driven, science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics learning program--in two culturally distinct contexts: a large school district in the southeastern United States and the public schools in Helsinki, Finland. Using actor network…

Effective school leadership and ongoing teacher capacity-building are essential aspects of school reform and improving educational outcomes for students in developing countries. This paper examines a Timor-Leste curriculum reform and associated school leader capacity-building and the implementation processes for building sustainability, within the…

The Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) has become one of the most influential forces in global education. The growing influence has been accompanied by growing criticism. For nearly two decades since the first round of PISA was conducted in 2000, the global assessment program has been roundly scrutinized and criticized by…

This paper discusses the change of educational governance by developing and using a theory of policy instrumentality. It is based on the policy instruments approach in political studies and on the cultural-historical activity theory. It is used to study the relationships and changes of policy instruments and objectives of a major school…

This article re-examines the contents of Singapore's Thinking Schools Learning Nation (TSLN) and Teach Less Learn More (TLLM) educational initiatives, introduced and implemented to promote change and to prepare Singaporeans for a twenty-first century knowledge-based economy. Adopting a critical realist perspective that enables investigations into…

The being together intervention intends to raise teacher capacity in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions and promote social and emotional development in preschoolers by implementing an authoritative (warm and predictable) adult style in the institution. An authoritative adult balances between building up high quality…

Following the post-election violence in Kenya an attempt to bring about educational change through a peace education programme was launched by the MoE, UNICEF and UNHCR. The programme, which was aimed at building peace at the grassroots level, targeted the areas most affected by the post-election violence. Teaching plans were designed for all…

Many successful piloted programs fail when scaled up to a national level. In Kenya, which has a long history of particularly ineffective implementation after successful pilot programs, the Tusome national literacy program--which receives funding from the United States Agency for International Development--is a national-level scale-up of previous…

This paper pinpoints and discusses key aspects of the current approaches to school reform in the Arab world against the backdrop of what is accepted as the best practice in the international literature on effective school reform and educational change. The main goal of the paper is to highlight deeply ingrained assumptions and practices that are…

We report on a study of three school jurisdictions in the province of Alberta. The original premise for the research on which this report is based was to investigate the diverse ways that school districts had administered resources that were provided through a major initiative to improve learning in the province. This account is not centrally…