Background: PISA results appear to have a large impact upon government policy. The phenomenon is growing, with more countries taking part in PISA testing and politicians pointing to PISA results as reasons for their reforms. Purpose: The aims of this research were to depict the policy reactions to PISA across a number of jurisdictions, to see…

Drawing on analytic heuristics from critical discourse analysis and cultural political economy (Jessop, 2010; Wodak, 2002), this article examines the temporal premises and "futures" embedded in a report and reform proposal created in a mid-sized, American city, Columbus, Ohio, in 2013. The product of a city-wide commission appointed in…

Traditional ties between "arts" education (that is, discipline-based arts subjects and activities in schools) and an emergent notion of "creativity" in educational discourses and policy documents are loosening, with implications for both. While creativity seems to be on the ascent, the arts may not be as fortunate; creative…

Conversation and discourse analyses were used to examine medical problem presentation in pediatric care. Healthcare visits involving children with ASD and typically developing children were analyzed. We examined how children's communicative and epistemic capabilities, and their opportunities to be socialized into a competent patient role are…

Background and purpose: The purpose of this article is to shed light on how the research projects of 140 PhD candidates in the National Research School for Teacher Education in Norway (NAFOL) respond to the challenges faced by Norwegian teacher education regarding the demand for higher competence and a stronger research base. The concept of NAFOL…

In this article, I draw on my experience as an instrumental tutor with a music program inspired by and explicitly linked to El Sistema, to explore new perspectives on Sistema-based pedagogy and management. Detailed ethnographic description of an orchestral session provides a first-hand account of the program's pedagogy, which I then contextualize…

The purpose of this study was threefold: to expand on existing reviews of 20 years of educational technology policy in the United States, to perform an empirical content analysis of the four National Education Technology Plan (NETP) documents issued by the Department of Education since 1996, and to provide a dialectic analysis of the evolution of…

We define epistemic order as the way in which the exchange and development of knowledge takes place in the classroom, breaking this down into a system of three components: epistemic initiative relating to who sets the agenda in classroom dialogue, and how; epistemic appraisal relating to who judges contributions to classroom dialogue, and how; and…

The present study explores a linguistic mechanism in which the identity of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) learners can be influenced online. Analyzing the discourse of ESOL chat room participants and how they uptake positioning statements through online conversations, we present two vignettes that illustrate the kind of discourse…

This article traces the evolution of the French policy PISA debate from 2001 to 2014 by analysing the results of two original qualitative researches. Theoretically, this debate is the outcome of specific policy configurations, which predetermine its scope, content and effectiveness. These configurations are themselves described through their…

Increasingly, studies are investigating the factors that influence student discourse in science courses, and specifically the mechanisms and discourse processes within small groups, to better understand the learning that takes place as students work together. This paper contributes to a growing body of research by analyzing how students engage in…

During the American Civil War and Reconstruction era, 1861-1876, formerly enslaved men and women demanded access to education. Aided by northern white missionaries, free blacks and some southern whites, freed men and women throughout the American South built schoolhouses, hired teachers and purchased textbooks. Some of these textbooks were…

Introduction: Recent educational research suggests that joint reflection can enhance student teachers' reflections on their own practice if they have adequate tutor support. This study aims to identify and characterize the assistance offered by college tutors in situations of joint reflection and analyses their contribution to the development of…

The paper brings into focus how Syed Manzoorul Islam, in his three-decade-long literary career, has mastered a narrative style that sets him apart from many of his Bengali contemporaries. It demonstrates all the traits unique to his storytelling: blurring of boundaries between dream and reality, self-reflexivity, irony, and humor. The research…

Affording children's agency is an important pedagogical underpinning of a high-quality early childhood program. Yet little is known about how teachers' interactions create spaces for children's agency. From the perspectives of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, this paper investigates how teachers and children navigate agency through…