This article discusses how the call for families' active participation in school can be understood as a form of regulatory act producing neoliberal subjectivities based on responsibility, entrepreneurship and rational calculation. The analysis draws on the results of two projects aiming to improve the relationship between families of Spanish Roma…

This research reports upon the impact of two concurrent processes of Special Measures and academisation applied to a primary school in the north of England as a result of an unsatisfactory inspection by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). The aim of the study is to describe how the process of being placed in special measures, coupled…

This is the first in a series of articles which will examine the results of a qualitative, longitudinal study of school improvement initiatives from the perspective of school stakeholders. The article captures the responses of students from a low socio-economic status school in NSW, Australia to a school initiative that restructured the learning…

Free schools are new state-funded but privately-run schools set up under the academies legislation. Free schools represent the most overtly market-oriented policy within the Conservative-led Coalition government's school reform programme in England and have provoked intense controversy, centering on issues of pupil attainment, social equality,…

This paper describes an instance of a disadvantaged (urban) Australian government school that realized it had little alternative but to try new approaches; "old ways" were not working. The paper describes an ensemble of school reform practices, philosophies and strategies that give young adolescents genuine ownership of their learning.…

This report, the third annual report on the Restructuring and Collaboration Fund (R&CF) of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, summarizes the progress and projects being funded through the R&CF that had been approved before the end of December 2000. Section 1 is a summary table listing all projects and grant allocations…

Australia's National Schools Project tried to facilitate restructuring by abolishing, bending, or breaking the rules that prevented schools from improving student outcomes. Since 1992, the 50-school project has expanded to over 200 sites. An evaluation of three NSP schools identifies barriers (cultural resistance and structural complexity) and…

In December of 2004, media outlets across the country were abuzz with news of the just-released results of the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tests. Once again despite highly publicized efforts to reform American math education over the past two decades, the United States did little better than average. Taken…

The major focus of the research is to explore how the implementation stage of two local education authorities (LEA) reorganizations initiatives in England was managed at LEA and school levels. The focus is on what must be done at both of these levels to implement central-government-approved reorganization proposals so as to portray how groups at…

Provides an overview of Australia's National Schools Network (NSN), a commonwealth-state collaborative network providing support to over 200 schools (K-12) that are rethinking their work organizations and teaching and learning practices. A key component of the NSN is the linkage of teacher professional development with systemic research that…

In 1983 the Australian Commonwealth Government announced its new Participation and Equity Program (PEP). To allow schools to focus on new directions, substantial amounts of money were allocated to the states through the PEP so that they could develop programs that focus on nine major areas: (1) curriculum; (2) assessment, accreditation, and…

Presents profiles of the Parent-Teacher Action Research projects of seven schools in the national reform network, the League of Schools Reaching Out, and one in Spain. Each school is carrying out a family and community involvement project, and each has an action research team to collect information on program effects. (SLD)