Research on policy borrowing is a well-established research area of comparative education. Over the past 20 years or so it gained prominence among globalization scholars. Of great interest is not so much the question of which reforms "travel" internationally, and which ones are homebound, but rather why traveling reforms resonate in a…

Community colleges have been in existence for over 100 years in the United States. They began by offering the first two years of undergraduate education for students in local communities. Over the decades they evolved into comprehensive institutions of higher education with a multi-faceted mission. Today, in an era of accountability and mistrust…

This article uses the theoretical framework of intersectionality to analyze a partially failed school reform measure in Hamburg, Germany and the political conflict over it between 2008 and 2010. The analysis focuses on "the extent to which" and the "mechanisms by which" the interests of marginalized members of the proreform…

This article draws out the materialist import of the turn towards universal design in learning. Bringing Brian Massumi's recent work on play together with disability studies, it identifies design as integral to the embodied dynamics of classrooms. Contrasting neo-Darwinist presumptions with materialist insights by thinkers like Tim Ingold, the…

The University of California, the nation's first multicampus system, is unique in its central organizing principle, known as the oneuniversity idea. Its premise is simple: that a large and decentralized system of campuses, which share the same mission but differ in size, interests, aspirations, and stage of development, can nevertheless be…

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore how institutional culture impacts women's political leadership efficacy development. By utilizing a constructivist design and a methodology rooted in feminine inquiry that included an interview and document (photo) analysis, a group of traditionally aged (18--24 year old) college women…

Over the past century, missionary educators, nation-state and academic planners, and literacy development workers have used alphabets for political ends for traditionally marginalized languages, and Native peoples have contested such planning with other alphabet proposals. Yet literacy work now often overlooks that there are multiple alphabets…

Environmental and sustainability programmes in higher education have gained traction over the last several decades. More-than-disciplinary epistemologies and innovative pedagogies promise transformational learning to grapple with contemporary environmental challenges. Environmental programmes thus have implicit messages of social change.…

The structure of the Australian national curriculum encompasses engagement with "intercultural education". Significantly, the context from which the curriculum was developed was heavily influenced by a multiculturalist ideology in which notions of cohesion and harmony were dominant. Therefore, those working with the curriculum need to…

The public/private distinction is central to higher education but there is no consensus on "public." In neo-classical economic theory, Samuelson distinguishes non-market goods (public) that cannot be produced for profit, from market-based activity (private). This provides a basis for identifying the minimum necessary public expenditure,…

The relatively limited consideration of ideology in mainstream theory and research of English language teaching (ELT) has arguably prevented the problematization of many taken-for-granted perceptions and practices in the field. This article brings part of this marginalised body of scholarship on issues of ideology in the area of ELT together to…

2018 marks the 50th anniversary of Enoch Powell's infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech, an intervention that is still viewed as one of the most incendiary statements of the perceived decay and violence likely to follow legislation intended to assure minoritised British citizens of equal rights regardless of their ethnic origin. In this…

This article addresses school principal agency in a context of political reform, in particular, communities of learning. As agents in reform, Principals can be pressured to respond to government change agendas. Far from merely implementing policy, Principals can demonstrate agency in their interpretation and recontextualisation. Drawing data from…

This essay introduces Walter Benjamin's historical materialism to illuminate how history teachers may invoke a critique of the past and present through democratizing the production of knowledge in the classroom. Historical materialism gives students access to the means of knowledge production and entrusts them with the task of generating a…

Action learning is extending its reach internationally and is increasingly used in distinct cultural settings. This paper explores action learning in an African context and examines how action learning as a cultural product is biased towards Western values and practices. We draw attention to the political, cultural and social encounters of…