In Australia, education think tanks have become increasingly influential in policy circles through "reports" to government, and in public debate through the mainstream media. Invariably think-tanks draw on educational research to lend authority and legitimacy to their work. This is desirable if the research deepens understandings about…

On the one hand, the relevance of this problem is primarily determined by a growing gap of rural territorial entities in socioeconomic development, and on the other hand, due to their significance in such prominent aspects for the country as food security, maintaining the existing land, industrial, ecological, demographic and human potential. The…

Pupil well-being has been an important topic in educational research for some time. Differences between schools in their influence on the well-being of their pupils are attributed to the policy-making capacities of the school. Little is known about schools' policy-making capacities with regard to pupil well-being, and the impact of school culture…

This paper evaluates Michigan's recently implemented job-embedded professional development policy using criteria of relevance, focus, goal orientation and social scope. The authors assert that while Michigan's policy does address all four criteria detailing effective professional development, there are limitations in the policy that may impact the…

Over the last decade and a half, during a period defined in the public consciousness by political partisanship, the legislative and executive branches have quietly forged a bipartisan consensus around the need to build evidence of effectiveness that would ensure high rates of return on investment for the nation's social programs. The establishment…

For over a decade, Mainland China has been embarking on an ambitious nation-wide education reform ("New Curriculum Reform") for its basic education. The reform reflects China's propensity to borrow selected educational policies from elsewhere, particularly North America and Europe. Chinese scholars have used a local proverb "the…

The construction of European education policy builds on a widely shared goal of transparency in qualifications, upheld by the popular narrative of mobile students endowed with scholarships from the EU Erasmus programme, which allow them to transfer credit points between universities and across national borders. EU education policy is increasingly…

Two hundred years ago in 1814 in Australia, Governor Lachlan Macquarie developed a 15 point plan for the provision of education services to Indigenous children. Using the tools of policy ethnography, this paper will examine the administration of Indigenous Education from the establishment of the first Native Institution in NSW in 1814 up to the…

Criticality is the ability to question current theories and practices in any sector to make them more receptive to social realities. Empathy is the ability to identify with what someone else is thinking or feeling. Empathy forms the foundation for welfare state and its liberal social welfare programmes. The state-led development strategies during…

Introducing a new concept, skill or method to public affairs students always involves a decision about the most effective pedagogical approach that will achieve the instructor's objectives. In public affairs, education concepts are often abstract, complex and contested. One of the approaches that can be effective in introducing public affairs…

This article promulgates a conceptual framework for researching various roles of educational assessment emphasised in governments' assessment policies as a basis for comparing policy-making related to national testing in primary and lower secondary education in Norway and Sweden from 2000-2017. The study analyses policy documents and expert…

In the twenty-first century, internationalisation of higher education (HE) has multiple dimensions--contents of curriculum, mobility of students and faculty, technology and programmes, which are all more or less related to English-medium instruction (EMI) policies. Like many other non-English-speaking countries, China's EMI policies are crucial…

This paper examines the influence of Tanzania's higher education policy (HEP) context on promoting research within Tanzanian universities. It focuses both on the prescribed mission of universities and the way in which the government provides funding for the universities in the country. Data were obtained through document analysis and interviews…

This article presents findings from a qualitative study of social work students who participated in an intensive block placement in a state legislature. Findings explore what students perceive as the central learning outcomes from field placements in political settings and how they navigate aspects of practice that may differ in critical ways from…

Australia's schooling systems, like many around the globe, are currently pursuing a 'school improvement' policy agenda. Schools, and school leaders, are under pressure to improve student achievement as measured through high-stakes testing, the results of which are often publicised with little contextual information attached. Research has…