In 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's landing in the Bahamas was simultaneously celebrated and denounced in the US. Damaging facts about Columbus and the impact of his voyages were aired along with demands for truth and change. This study analyzes the power relationships and political ideology of picturebooks about Columbus published…

There have been changes in the political economy since the 1980s, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has changed as well. Scholars have noted shifts in OECD discourse in some policy fields since that time: shifts away from what might be called classic neoliberal perspectives. This paper reflects on the changes in…

This paper reports on an experiment concerning the social construction of statistical definitions, where the first census of Higher Education Institutions in Europe has been developed. It conceptualizes the construction of indicators as a social process of definitions and boundaries' negotiation, involving value judgments, social and political…

The use of cartoons as illustrations in National Council of Educational Research and Training's (NCERT) Political Science textbooks has recently attracted attention from leaders across the political spectrum. Textbooks have been burnt and the government has set up a committee to inquire into the appropriateness of using cartoons in school…

In educational politics, Caroline Benn (1926-2000) played a leading role in the British comprehensive reform. Wife of one of the most prominent post-war socialists in Britain, the aim is to use Caroline's long campaign alongside teachers, trade unions, parents, progressive academics and activists as a starting point with which to explore a…

Through a sociological analysis of the knowledge and actors that have become central to international assessments, the paper focuses on the processes that influence the production of shared narratives and agendas, adopting the position that their existence is not organic, but rather the product of undertakings that often fabricate and manage,…

This paper analyses abstinence-only education programmes and discourses within the frame of theories of adult discrimination against children. To begin with, a definition of abstinence-only programmes and of the political context in which they were created will be provided. These programmes will then be analysed through the lens of children's…

In this article I examine whether Moral Foundations Theory can fulfil the promises that Haidt claims for the theory: that it will help in developing new approaches to moral education and to the moral conflicts that divide our diverse society. I argue that, first, the model that Haidt suggests for understanding the plurality of moralities--a shared…

In this article Binaya Subedi explores the multiple ways the idea of "global" is theorized within the school curriculum and suggests the utility of approaching the idea of global perspectives through decolonizing frameworks. In particular, she explores the deficit, accommodation, and decolonization approaches as offering three ways that…

Situated in a context of higher education policy, this article examines the institutionalization of "innovation" as a national neoliberal economic strategy. As neoliberal capital has become increasingly financialized, this innovation strategy has come to be woven through biotechnological innovation as an economic strategy, and oriented…

This paper presents a case for the importance of an application of Jean-Francois Lyotard's ideas to the analysis of educational leadership. Through exploring Lyotard's concepts of "language games", the "differend" and "performativity", this paper argues that the approach taken through the development of leadership…

Drawing on Kingdon's multiple streams framework, this study examines how teacher education policy has gained prominence on the federal decision agenda in recent years. (Contains 1 table.)

Michigan's Local Government and School District Accountability Act of 2011 empowers the governor to appoint emergency managers (EMs) in financially troubled school districts. EMs assume all powers of the superintendent and school board. They can reshape academic programs, nullify labor contracts, and open and close schools. This article analyzes…

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework for a comparative analysis of Higher Education policies that enables us to investigate the explanatory power of structural characteristics of politico-administrative systems. The policies that are studied aim at improving the efficiency and quality of institutional performance. The…

Worldwide, countries strive for effective ways to educate migrant children, and the United States is no exception. In this context, this qualitative study examines how a group of ESL teachers in U.S. elementary schools acted agentively and redesigned their work through "job crafting" (Wrzesniewskum & Dutton, 2001) so as to provide…