This article concentrates on the policy reforms of schools in England, Germany, France and Italy, from 1988 to 2009, with a focus on the introduction of market accountability. Pressing demands for organisational change in schools, shaped by the objectives of "efficiency" and competition, which were introduced in England in the 1980s,…

This study examines the evolutionary function of children's pretence. The everyday, cultural environment that children engage with is of a highly complex structure. Human adaptation, thus, becomes, by analogy, an equally complex process that requires the development of life skills. Whilst in role play children engage in "mimesis" and…

In this Information Research Cadre, Teresa Blythe responds to the following research question: For those states that have residential schools for the Blind/VI and Deaf/HI students, have they developed policies and procedures for residential placement of these students? To develop this response Blythe conducted web research utilizing numerous…

This paper describes how teachers in Indonesia have implemented the Character Education policy. This policy required teachers to instil certain values in every lesson. Drawing on Durkheim's (1925) distinction between secular and religious morality, this paper considers how state schools promoted this 'rational/secular moral education', and how it…

A number of studies on teachers' organizational commitment based some findings of western context in Turkey. But some of the characteristics prove that organizational issues cannot be resulted with the terms in Western World. One of the new concepts in organizational issues for Eastern culture is loyalty to supervisor (in school context supervisor…

This contribution is an edited version of the "Alumni Lecture" organised by the Department of Education of the University of Oxford at Lady Margaret Hall on 15th September 2011. The article reviews the drift towards the centralisation of power in the way the schooling system is run, the conflict between a desire for equity in education…

As states and districts begin the work of turning common academic standards into curriculum and instruction, educators searching for teaching resources are often finding that process frustrating and fruitless. Teachers and curriculum developers who are trying to craft road maps that reflect the Common Core State Standards can find themselves in a…

A common history curriculum was introduced for the first time in Northern Ireland schools in 1991, which attempted to bridge the longstanding gap between Catholic and state schools in this field. This paper outlines the various aspects of the crucial role played by a number of historians from all the major universities in Ireland, North and South,…

Lynette Brown-Snow, vice president of marketing and government relations for the Community College of Philadelphia, is one of several community college leaders across the country who have taken up one of the challenges proffered by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in its 2012 report, "Reclaiming the American Dream:…

In this article, the author talks about the Common Core State Standards and what they mean to teachers and their students. The Common Core State Standards Initiative provides an opportunity for classroom practitioners across the nation to hone their skills, focus on student learning, and ensure that all the students they serve will be working…

Against a backdrop of the debates on religious education in public or state schools, we argue for the introduction of "spiritual ideals" into the public school curriculum. We distinguish our notion of spiritual ideals from "religious ideals" as conceptualised by De Ruyter and Merry. While we agree with De Ruyter and Merry that…

This instrumental case study reviews the 1994-2004 period of state financial oversight in East St. Louis, Illinois School District 189, with a secondary review of the initial years of NCLB implementation. Although the oversight panel's fiscal management did generate financial stability, case findings indicate that its accountability processes did…

Free school policy claims to partly decentralise to local proposers decisions over who provides a free school, where and for what reasons, within the constraints of a government approval process. This article analyses empirically the people and organisations doing the proposing and their interactions with the approval process. The article begins…

What happens when policymakers create statewide school districts to turn around their worst-performing public schools? In Louisiana and Tennessee, Recovery School Districts (RSDs) have made modest-to-strong progress for kids and serve as national models for what the future of education governance might hold. In the Great Lakes State, the story is…

"The SEA of the Future" is an education publication series examining how state education agencies can shift from a compliance to a performance-oriented organization through strategic planning and performance management tools to meet growing demands to support education reform while improving productivity. This volume, the third in the…