Despite the potential magnitude of the influence of teacher educators on school curriculum, Ball et al. (2011). Policy actors: Doing policy work in schools. "Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32"(4), 625-639. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2011.601565) argue that teacher educators are frequently excluded from…

Background: A key research gap in current STEM education lies in the need for a more in-depth exploration of STEM teachers as curriculum designers, particularly in how they collaborate in designing STEM curricula and their roles within that process. This study selected two high-performing STEM teaching teams for investigation and employed a…

In a time of strong focus on school development, teachers' work is increasingly linked to a variety of actors, organisations and stakeholders with different agendas and suggestions for school improvements. This paper explores the different actor constellations that teachers engage with in collaborative knowledge work and the opportunities and…

We examined the possibilities of employing collaborative action research (CAR) to promote Mainland Chinese secondary school teachers' engagement with the recent curriculum reform. A brief background of the history of the examination culture and the curriculum reform is provided. We analysed key challenges leading to teachers' resistance to…

This small-scale exploratory study explores the practices and experiences of two experienced Hong Kong Education Bureau Advisory Teachers (ATs) engaged in school-based professional support (SBPS) of teachers during school closure caused the COVID-19 pandemic. It documents the ATs usual practices, conditions for effective SBPS, the effect the…

Research confirms what effective educators and policymakers know from practice: The implementation of a "high-quality" curriculum, aligned to rigorous state standards, leads to notable student learning gains. Yet less than half of teachers report they are using curricula that are "high-quality and well aligned to learning…

The present article investigates the construction of a 'global' teacher identity by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since the introduction of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) in 2008. We critically examine TALIS-related conceptual frameworks, survey questionnaires and statistically driven…

The main issue of this article is inclusive education for pupils with special educational needs (SEN). Inclusion in our study focuses on three core areas: the role of the school leaders, the role of teachers and the practice of curriculum planning. The results are based on interviews with school leaders and teachers in Norwegian primary and lower…

Teacher educators arguably fulfil several roles in their professional context: they can be seen as role models or teachers of teachers, and have additionally been characterised as researchers, mentors, gatekeepers, brokers, and curriculum developers. To address a perceived gap in the literature on the latter role, a quantitative and qualitative…

This article probes teacher responses to three curricular reform initiatives from a South African situated contextual perspective. It focuses on Life Sciences teachers who have initially reported feeling overwhelmed by this rapidly changing curriculum environment: adopting and re-adapting to the many expected shifts. The research question posed…

Geographical knowledge is powerful if it is critical and empowering. This article develops this argument with reference to the philosophy of knowledge and Laura Wheelahan's advocacy of critical realism as the philosophical strand of her social realist curriculum theory. While the GeoCapabilities Project has drawn on the sociological strand of that…

In this essay, I explore the idea that "academic" advisers are "academics" who play a major role in connecting the general education curriculum to the students' experience as well as connecting the faculty to the students' holistic experience of the curriculum. The National Academic Advising Association Concept of Academic…

This paper explores the challenges for teachers in positioning them as independent curriculum makers. History teachers in New Zealand have recently entered uncharted territory with the abandonment of prescribed topics for history and a new-found authority to determine the selection of historical knowledge taught to their senior secondary students.…

This essay examines the convergence between enduring ideals enshrined in the American tradition of general education that many faculty members endorse and the learning-centered approach to academic advising. In light of this convergence, and in response to the notion of "advising as teaching" advocated in the literature on academic…

"May you live in interesting times," goes the saying, attributed to the Chinese, although the provenance is unproven. It is widely understood to be a curse, for which a loose translation could be: "May you experience disorder and trouble in your life." In this essay Christine Woyshner raises the issue of the "interesting…