This paper explores student teachers' academic preparation to be teachers. Despite the fact that a persisting criticism is directed towards the 'academic' part of teacher education, we know little about student teachers' academic learning practice as learners in higher education. The paper reports on a Norwegian study of 24 student teachers and…

Considering the structural similarities between STEM education and architectural education, it is thought that architectural education, which has a deep-rooted history, may be useful for improving STEM education. This research was planned to gain useful inferences for STEM education by trying to get to know architectural education. In this study,…

This paper explores how the twin processes of neoliberalism and neoconservatism work together on, and through, curricula and their associated pedagogies. It bridges the gap between policy and classroom practice, focusing on the particular example of the school subject of mathematics and the notion of mastery, operationalised in the English…

In this piece the author provides a critical response to the new 'Looking at Our School' quality framework in Ireland and illustrates how policy overlooks critical scholarship. The author questions the claim that the updated policy reflects recent thinking and developments, and critiques the policy's stance on notions of both distributed…

Critical museological perspectives have in recent years opened up new conceptual spaces for emerging forms of art museum practice. This article addresses the theme of changing ideologies and methodologies in art museums by offering an anecdote shaped by art museum practices, then theorizing potential responses from object-based, visitor-centered,…

The OECD's PISA exercise has by now been widely critiqued. Whilst we agree with most concerns, we begin with the assumption that PISA will remain an enduring and powerful feature of the global educational landscape. Even if the PISA test itself were discontinued, a similar large-scale quantitative assessment exercise would soon arise to take its…

Criticality is an important means to negotiate uncertainty, which has become a characteristic of teaching and learning conditions in postmodern times. This paper draws from an empirical comparative case study conducted in the uncertain discipline of fine art visual practice, where critical judgement and meta-cognition are important for…

As a field, Teacher Education has lived with continued criticism from governmental and research bodies on the quality of professional preparation and the lack of a strong research base. We respond to such criticisms by considering possibilities for further exploration of the "research of practice" and the "practice of research"…

In this article the authors try to elaborate an explicit connection between social theories in relation to the role of intellectuals in social movements. These should view themselves as educational movements if they seek to be successful. By so doing they could avoid either inventing the wheel for the 2nd or 3rd time "afresh" or moving…

In Germany, the field-based element in the education/training of early childhood educators is given high priority in the development of professional competencies. Nevertheless, Germany lacks a firmly anchored regulatory and curricular framework for early childhood education and care settings as "workplace learning sites" ("Lernort…

There is a nascent movement towards evidence-based practice in education in Australia, evident in Federal and State education documents, if not in classrooms. Such a classroom-level outcome would require a number of conditions to be met. One of the critical requirements is that teachers be provided with knowledge and training in practices that…

This article examines the rapidly shifting relationship between teachers and the state and efforts to re-model teacher identities within the wider context of public sector modernization and the New Public Management. The construction and development of officially authorized and normative discursive practices relating to leadership and the…

Educational effectiveness research (EER) has accumulated much knowledge in the areas of school effectiveness research (SER), teacher effectiveness research (TER) and school/system improvement research (SSIR). Yet many schools and educational systems are not making enough use of the material and their insights. The article reviews evidence of…

The article "Getting lost in translation" by Harris, Chapman, Muijs and Reynolds addresses the engagement of policy-makers and educational practitioners with (the results of) educational effectiveness and improvement research. In this commentary the article is discussed from the perspectives of research utilisation, the solidity of the…

In this paper, we weave the auto-ethnographic narratives of the two authors with Bourdieu's key concepts of "habitus," "field" and "capital," as we seek to bring to a level of explicitness the reflexive lens which has shaped our scholarly work. In particular, we examine the process of becoming educational…