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In this paper, we connect with Martin Thrupp's calls for class-based analysis in education policy by problematising the absence of social class in the refreshed New Zealand curriculum, Te Mātaiaho (2023). To contextualise this absence, we locate this curriculum policy in a historical perspective and interpret its 'identity turn' as an expression of what philosopher Nancy Fraser calls 'progressive neoliberalism'. We conclude our contribution with a reflection on the reactionary neoliberal response of the current National-led government and a call for educational researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand to more seriously consider social class in their analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article’s theme is the meanings produced about child(ren) and childhood(s) in the processes of formulating curricular policies for the education of children aged 0 to 5 in Brazil. These processes are marked by colonizing perspectives based on the ideal of a global child and childhood and problematizing the norm by recognizing factors of heterogeneity that mark childhoods and children’s education. It starts with an empirical study that compares two mandatory national curricular policies in force, the National Curricular Guidelines for Early Childhood Education (2009) and the National Common Curricular Base (2017), and their impact on subnational policies in three cities in the South of Brazil, namely: Curitiba, Florianópolis and Porto Alegre. The analyses reverberate different local movements that confirm the idea of global children and childhood and oppose this perspective, revealing resistances and alignments, not without tensions, in formulating and implementing curricular policies for early childhood education. A common point is the absence of a decolonial perspective underpinning the educational projects in curricular documents.

The current scenario of attack on democracy and rupture with policies developed by popular governments (2003-2016) in Brazil has been producing reverberations in educational policies not without resistance. This article proposes to address the specific form of resistance that CONAPE (National Conference on Popular Education) held in May 2018. In the development of our argument, we first situate the coup and its consequences in the context of what we call a transnational conservative tsunami that operates in different dimensions and aspects of social life, in which we will deal with resistances in general, and CONAPE in particular, pointing that the struggle for a fair and solidarity world that does not allow itself to be paralyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the study of the construction of curricular knowledge in Portugal between 1970 and 2009, we argue that the practice of the established curriculum guidelines has a close relationship with the personal dimension of its actors. Therefore, it is not possible to separate the life history of each actor from the curricular policy measures they developed. This means that we sought not only to identify who the political actors were, but also how they built their knowledge and the relationship this has with their life story, by making their social and cognitive map. The sources that we used were laws, reports and interviews with political actors. We conclude that the choice of political leaders for education is not innocent or even indifferent to their life policies, since the knowledge built by each one is integrated into their educational proposals. Although the agenda for education is defined at the supranational level, national policies take different directions. Thus, the study also suggests the need to research the relation between the collective and the individual in educational policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

RESUMO: Busco entender as articulações que tornam possível que um conjunto de demandas localizadas, trazidas à cena pelo Escola sem Partido, um grupo sem óbvia representatividade na sociedade, ganhe espaço na recente política educacional no Brasil. Em um primeiro momento, são mapeadas articulações entre o movimento, grupos religiosos conservadores e a Rede Atlas, mobilizando a teoria do discurso de Laclau e Mouffe e a noção de redes globais utilizada por Ball. Defendo que tal articulação vem contribuindo para a hegemonização das posições do ESP. Em um segundo momento, em diálogo com a leitura do neoliberalismo como economização da vida, de Brown, levanto hipóteses para entender a relevância das demandas conservadoras para a normatividade neoliberal. Com Laclau, argumento que há uma luta pela representação do povo, que põe em oposição as políticas populistas dos governos do PT e a rede constituída pela articulação entre a Rede Atlas e o Escola sem Partido.

Human rights education (HRE), like the wider international human rights project, is a bold attempt to influence laws and state policies, while at the same time inspiring people to connect human rights to their everyday lives. In terms of incorporating HRE within the formal education sector, HRE is dependent upon the good will of state actors. To what extent are state actors deeply committed to HRE? As HRE is institutionalized within school and curriculum policies, is it able to retain its core emancipatory nature? As we examine the actual practice of HRE, we often see a gap between the theorists’ calling (back) for the emancipatory roots of HRE and the lived educational policies and practices of states and schools. This special issue explores this gap with examples from the Global South and Global North, reviewing recent theories, challenges, and solutions for enabling a transformative approach to HRE through and against the lens of state power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As mudanças que têm procurado instituirse no domínio educativo requerem, pelo menos ao nível dos normativos que as determinam, uma maior participação das escolas e dos agentes comunitários nas decisões educativas e na construção de um projeto pedagógico comum capaz de conciliar os propósitos de âmbito nacional com os anseios e as necessidades de cada comunidade. Procurase que a escola se assuma como uma instituição de referência, capaz de encontrar respostas favoráveis e garantir a diversidade formativa, o que implica a assunção de maiores margens de autonomia, uma (re)atualização constante e a inovação das práticas curriculares que se desenvolvem no seu interior. No entanto, muitas das mudanças que hoje se "exigem" às escolas dependem tanto de um conjunto de decisões oriundas do seu exterior, algumas delas sucessivamente adiadas, como daquilo que se passa no interior da instituição escolar. É sobre algumas dessas questões que refletimos ao longo do texto, indicando alguns caminhos que poderão, eventualmente, contribuir para essas mudanças.The changes that have been taking place in the educational domain require greater participation of schools and communities in educational decisions and in the construction of a common pedagogical project that will articulate national goals with the needs and expectations of each community. This is what happens at the level of normative discourse. The school is expected to become a model institution that will comply with normative demands and, at the same time, ensure curriculum diversity. This implies greater autonomy for schools, continuous updating, and innovation on curriculum practices that take place within those schools. However, many changes that are 'required' of schools nowadays are determined both by decisions that come from the outside - some of which constantly postponed - and by what happens inside schools. This text presents some reflections on these issues, pointing out some ways that might contribute to the expected changes.

Considerando a organização do Congresso Nacional instituída a partir da Constituição Federal de 1988, este trabalho tem o objetivo de investigar o papel do Poder Legislativo na formulação das políticas curriculares no Brasil, destacando e discutindo a agenda proposta no âmbito desse Poder para as matérias sobre esse tema. Para consecução desse objetivo, foram identificadas todas as proposições sobre educação apresentadas e concluídas no processo legislativo durante as 50ª, 51ª e 52ª legislaturas (1995-2007), analisando-se, entre estas, aquelas que tomam como objeto o currículo escolar. Dessa maneira, o trabalho analisa o processo legislativo de 29 proposições sobre currículo escolar, 3 das quais transformadas em norma jurídica. Conclui-se que o Poder Legislativo apresenta um fraco poder de agenda em relação às políticas curriculares, limitando suas propostas à criação ou à modificação de disciplinas escolares. Na concepção de política curricular expressa por meio das proposições apresentadas, é como se o currículo escolar se instituísse de fora para dentro das escolas, pelo somatório desarticulado de disciplinas pretensamente importantes para a minimização das mazelas sociais. Não são preocupações de tais projetos os objetivos precípuos da instituição escolar, mas as próprias problemáticas sociais que os inspiraram. Desconsideram o contexto da prática, revelando procedimentos para os quais o texto da política curricular parece fazer sentido em si mesmo, fora dos processos de recontextualização e hibridismo fundamentais para o entendimento das políticas curriculares como políticas culturais.Considering the organization of the National Congress established since the 1988 Federal Constitution, the present work has as its purpose to investigate the role of the Legislative Power in the formulation of curriculum policies in Brazil, highlighting and discussing the agenda proposed within the sphere of that Power for the matters concerning this issue. To such end, all proposals about education presented and concluded in their legislative process during the 50th, 51st, and 52nd legislatures (1995-2007) were identified and, among these, those that took school curricula as their subject matter. In this way, the work analyzes the legislative process followed by 29 proposals about school curriculum, three of which eventually became legal norms. The conclusion was that the Legislative exerts little power to set the agenda for curriculum policies, limiting its proposals to the creation or modification of school disciplines. In the conception of curriculum policy expressed in the proposals presented it is as if the school curriculum was formed from the outside of the schools through the incongruous summation of disciplines supposedly relevant to minimize social flaws. The proposals do not seem to derive inspiration from the objectives germane to the school institution, but from the social problems themselves. They disregard the context of the practice, revealing procedures in which the text of the curriculum policy seems to make sense in itself, outside the processes of recontextualization and hybridism that are fundamental to understand curriculum policies as cultural policies.

No período da reforma das décadas de 1980 e 1990, a idéia das políticas curriculares descentralizadas tornou-se central no discurso educacional. O Estado poderá usar o discurso da descentralização para defender mais autonomia e responsabilidade, tal como as forças de mercado poderão empregá-lo para orientar os seus objetivos em relação às escolas. Neste artigo pretendemos identificar uma série de diferentes significados para a palavra descentralização, argumentando que o currículo é um processo intencional e prático em que os principais atores são os professores e os alunos. O ponto central é como caminharmos fora das linhas. A provável resposta introduz a centralidade da escola sem minimizar a importância das questões curriculares.The idea of decentralization became central to educational discourse during the period of reform of the late 1980s and the 1990s. The State can use the discourse of decentralization to argue in favor of greater autonomy and responsibility, just as market forces can use it to attain their objectives in regard to schools. In this article our purpose is to identify a number of different meanings of the term decentralization, arguing that decisions regarding curricula are intentional and practical processes in which students and teachers are the main actors. The key question is how to move ahead off the beaten path. The probable answer will be based on the centrality of the school without minimizing the importance of curriculum-related issues.

This paper undertakes a critical analysis of recent education and curriculum policies in Portugal, focusing on the relationship between globalization, international agencies, and the curriculum. It aims to highlight not only changes in the organization of schools, but also the setting of a agenda structured at a global level for education in which the ability of supranational and transnational institutional forces to cross or go beyond national borders and the configuration of relationships between nations are all implicit. The paper contends that education and curriculum policies should be understood as a product of multiple influences and interdependencies; they are the result of a process of bricolage which reveals the interests, values, principles, and rules that, at any given moment, are dominant or not. Drawing upon this approach, the aim is to show, on the one hand, how the results of the large OECD research projects influence educational and curriculum policy-making in Portugal, and, on the other hand, how these policies are affected by the 'Europeanization' process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores middle-level administrators' perceptions of the implementation of English as a foreign language curriculum policies in the Chinese tertiary context. Drawing on data collected from interviews with the department heads of six universities in a north-western city in China, the article examines their perspectives on the national language policies and their roles in ensuring the implementation of these policies. The findings revealed a discrepancy between policy-makers' intentions and administrators' implementation. Policy-makers designed general, open-ended and abstract policies to offer local universities some flexibility and autonomy in their delivery. However, administrators as intermediary individuals interpreted the open-endedness of the curriculum policies in a different way than the policy-makers had intended. Instead of using the built-in flexibility to tailor methods of helping students to gain proficiency, they placed their emphasis on only one outcome - students' good scores on the national English test. The findings of this study point to the critical role that the department heads as middle-level administrators must play in translating policies into practice, as well as underscoring the need for them to provide the necessary motivation and resources for the implementation to occur. These findings are relevant not only in the Chinese context, but also in other educational systems, as language curricula share commonalities in other ESL and EFL countries, which can learn useful lessons from the current study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]