Purpose: Drawing upon research into standards reform, and theorizing of professional and political capital, this article seeks to understand the development of and advocacy for the Next Generation Science Standards in the United States. As well as revealing how professional capital exists in three dimensions--human, social, and decisional--the…

Drawing upon interviews with key actors involved in the development of and support for the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in the United States, this article shows how a potentially controversial reform came to be actively supported by senior educators. We utilize Kingdon's (2003, "Agendas, alternatives, and public policies,"…

Drawing upon recent theorising of numbers and data, and applications to schooling, this paper reveals how tensions between more accountability-oriented logics, and more contextually-situated conceptions of engagement with data, played out in one school in a regional community in northern Queensland, Australia. The research reveals that at the same…

This paper analyses the nature of collaborative teacher learning as a form of 'public sphere', under current policy conditions. The research draws upon Habermas' notions of communicative action and public spheres, and literature on the nature of teachers' learning in the context of standardized curriculum and assessment reform, to analyse how…

This article explores policy enactment processes in relation to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4), particularly its emphasis upon ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education. Specifically, as part of SDG4 in Laos, the research reveals how medium-of-instruction policy was enacted in relation to ethnic minorities,…

This article reveals the multiple ways in which data are constituted as a vehicle for governing teachers' work and learning. Drawing on the concept of governance, including in relation to the sociology of numbers, and data from one school in Queensland, Australia, the research reveals how teachers' work and learning were constituted through…

This paper analyses reflections upon the nature of recent educational policymaking in Singapore. Drawing upon the authors' individual and collective autoethnographic analyses of a series of reflective notes jotted down after discussions with educators from private and public schools in Singapore, the Academy of Singapore Teachers, and FutureSkills…

This paper critiques recent practices in schooling, particularly efforts to enhance student learning outcomes for more performative purposes. Such practices have become increasingly prevalent as part of a broader trend towards results-oriented accountability practices, with concomitant pressures upon teachers and students to achieve particular…

This article examines evidence of teachers' work and learning in one school setting in the northern regions of Queensland, Australia, revealing how globalized performative practices that circulate around the collection and use of data in schooling settings are both confirmed and contested. Drawing upon the literature on the nature of…

This paper draws upon research into the nature of teachers' learning practices in the context of current policy conditions in the state of Queensland, Australia. The research explores how teachers in one school in the north of the state responded to policy pressure to adopt a specific standardised approach to "explicit teaching",…

This article presents research into Canadian elementary and secondary teachers' understandings of inclusion. The research investigates how a sample of 120 teachers in the southern part of Ontario defined inclusion, and the extent to which they believed an inclusive classroom is an effective way to teach all students. The article draws upon…

This paper examines how policy pressure for increased performance on standardised measures of student achievement influenced the teacher learning practices that arose in a school setting in Queensland, Australia. Drawing upon research and theorising of governing by numbers, and applications to the governance of education, and particularly…

This paper draws upon Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field to better understand and appreciate the conditions which encouraged the productive professional development (PD) practices of one very capable teacher working in a secondary school in the British Midlands. Rather than celebrating this teacher's practices and perspective as…

This paper draws upon the sociology of numbers, particularly work by Theodore Porter, to reveal the multifarious ways in which numbers actively constitute practices in schools. Drawing upon a case study of one low-performing school in a low-performing region in the state of Queensland, Australia, and theorising into the sociology of numbers, the…

The importance of leadership for improving educational outcomes in schools has been widely promoted. However, the nature of leadership practices, in context, has received less attention in the educational leadership literature. In this article, we present a case study of the specific leadership practices that developed in one school site serving…