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The intensities of the contemporary moment continue to prompt reflections on the strengths and limitations of approaches typically used to study education policy reform. The central contention of this essay is that policy sociology and its application within education offers needed vantage points on contemporary pressing global policy problems. Future studies would do well to keep the footprint of existing frameworks, which emphasize policy networks and mobilities, power dynamics within these flows, and the focus on doing research that speaks to concerns of stakeholders. The next generation of policy sociologists can further strengthen the relevance and rigor of the analytic scheme by leaning into methodologies that further attend empirically and descriptively to power asymmetries within policy networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers perspectives on the framing of citizenship education in recent education policy reform in Morocco. Against a background of shifting conceptions of citizenship and citizenship education occurring both globally and regionally in the Middle East and North Africa, the article focuses on Morocco's Strategic Vision for Reform 2015–2030, offering an analysis of the main section of the policy targeting citizenship education, referred to in the document as chapter 3 ('For a school that develops the individual and society'), lever 18 ('Enact a society of citizenship, democracy and equality'). Drawing on policy analysis of these sections of the reform documentation, we examine the various recommendations that reference national Moroccan citizenship education, concluding that the discourse surrounding citizenship education tends to emphasize a disciplined conception of citizen formation, framing the student as apathetic and passive. Moreover, the article analyzes these recommendations within the social, cultural, economic, and political context of Morocco, offering insights on potential challenges in its implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars and policymakers in the United States argue that developing global competence is essential to preparing K-12 students for the increasingly interconnected and interdependent world. Given this increased focus, considering implications for teachers is critical. This qualitative-interpretive study applies a sensemaking framework, drawing on interview data from teachers in the Washington, D.C. metro area to understand their cognitive interpretation of increasing calls to internationalize U.S. schooling. Findings present a multilayered picture of the ways in which a small group of invested teachers negotiate their own understandings, and grapple with policy and political messages related to internationalization and global education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, many European education systems have embarked on a process of education policy and curriculum reform related to citizenship education. This article explores citizenship education reform in the context of Spain. It considers how and to what extent Spain’s 2006 citizenship education addressed issues of national and global citizenship, as well as cultural diversity and immigration. Against a typology of four distinct approaches to national and global citizenship education, including traditional, skills-based, values-based, and reflexive approaches, the article draws on qualitative content analysis of Spain’s recent Education for Citizenship and Human Rights curriculum and associated textbooks. Findings focus on themes of human rights, national and global citizenship, and cultural diversity and co-existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) with particular emphasis on the European Union's (EU's) involvement in the regional portion. Using the ICCS, the EU actively combines hard measures with soft power, allowing the EU to define and steer cross-national rankings of values of EU citizenship. The authors contend that once hard measures of citizenship are produced, they become an efficient 'truth' that can be legitimated through evaluation and ranking. As measures are represented in comparative tables, the conversation shifts to 'Why are we ranked here?' rather than 'How/why were we ranked?' This shift requires critical discussion, one which is often difficult, given the politics of agreement and funding patterns underlying assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]