Recent advances in conceptualizing structures of influence in education policymaking have emphasized the role of nongovernmental actors working in networks to promote their agendas. These useful insights have allowed researchers to consider the evolution from "government" to "governance" in education policymaking, broadening…

What responsibilities do researchers of learning have in the wake of Trump's election and the proliferation of far-right, populist nationalism across the globe? In this essay, we seek to prompt and engage a dialogue about the political role and responsibilities of our field at this historical moment. First, we situate the social hierarchies that…

This qualitative study sought to explore reasons why social studies teachers chose to teach controversial issues and counternarratives in their classroom in an era where doing so is dangerous for teachers and their job security, and how they go about doing so in their classrooms. The theoretical framework of this study encompassed the notion that…

Facing a declining K-12 student population and rising education costs, Vermont lawmakers approved Act 46 in 2015. This legislation has the potential to consolidate school districts that have fewer than 900 students. The law aims to significantly reduce the number of districts in the state by using tax incentives as a carrot and forced…

This paper outlines the basis of an alternative theoretical approach to the study of the globalisation of "education"--a Critical, Cultural Political Economy of Education (CCPEE) approach. Our purpose here is to bring this body of concepts--critical, cultural, political, economy--into our interrogation of globalising projects and…

This paper moves from a reading of processes that are transforming public services in ways that amount to a dismantling of the welfare state in the UK. In order to interrogate these processes, the paper focuses on "youth" and "youth services". Framed by an analysis of the aggressive disinvestment of "austerity", we…

A Special Issue of the "Journal of Philosophy of Education" in November 2012 explored key aspects of the relationship between philosophy of education and educational policy in the UK. The contributions were generally critical of policy developments in recent decades, highlighting important shortcomings and arguing for more…

This essay explores how print media conceals implicit hegemonic texts that common readers unsuspectingly tend to internalize. These geopolitically infused texts are set to appropriate the reader's worldviews by sublimating the kind of perceptions and notions they want to promote. This paper raises questions and awareness about how academia…

This essay is a reply to Brian Dotts's "Beyond the Schoolhouse Door," which focuses on the need of a system of general education in Jefferson's writings on educative reform. [For Dotts' "Beyond the Schoolhouse Door: Educating the Political Animal in Jefferson's Little Republics," see EJ1061579.]

The idea for this article proceeds from personal, practical, and emotional experience and reflections on holding the position of the Minister for Education and Science during the period of the economic crisis in Latvia (2007-2010). The article consists of three parts. The first part outlines the potential of a position in power with a particular…

Radical political activism in the 1970s and 1980s had a huge impact on documentary photography in Britain. Community organisations and photography collectives emerged and endeavoured to democratise the arts for those who would not otherwise have come into contact with them. Community photography used the technology to break down the barriers…

Public choice uses the tools of economics to analyze how the political process allocates resources and impacts economic activity. In this study, the authors examine twenty-three principles texts regarding coverage of public choice, market failure, and government failure. Approximately half the texts provide coverage of public choice and recognize…

In the last two decades, the Swedish welfare state has been radically transformed in a neo-liberal direction, including extensive decentralisation and marketisation of the education sector with significant consequences for the work and professional identities of its teachers. Teacher education has also been directly included in this…

In this essay, we provide a Marxist perspective in response to the surge of neoliberalism within the past few decades and its current assault on education at a global scale. We place particular emphasis on England and the United States. Drawing on Antonio Gramsci (1971), among other scholars, we provide a theoretical discussion of how ideology is…

In 2016 an important anniversary is coming up for "The Beutelsbach consensus". It will have its 40th birthday. This consensus is of vital significance for the German dispute and discussion on teaching civics. "The Beutelsbach consensus" contains, and describes three points: (1) Prohibition against overwhelming the student. It…