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Universities across the globe are considering how to effect meaningful change in their higher education (HE) delivery in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting student learning preferences. This paper reports on a descriptive case- study of whole-of-institution curriculum reform at one regional Australian university, where more traditional 13-week semesters have been replaced with a 6-week immersive block model known as the Southern Cross Model. Based on a synthesis of literature in best practice HE pedagogy and principles, the case study draws on both a review of policy and staff interviews (N = 5) to outline the key changes necessary for successful HE transformation. Analysis revealed themes related to the vital roles of leadership, capacity building, monitoring the transition, staff adoption, and adequate technical systems in implementing a radical, multifaceted institutional transformation. Implications for practice at institutions considering reforming their curriculum model are also discussed. The findings from this case study indicate that an institutional transformation to an immersive block model requires both a considered change in institutional policy and process, as well as the appropriate resourcing of roles, governance committees, technical solutions, and, importantly, communities of practice.

In this study, I explore the discourse surrounding parental rights in U.S. public schools, with Virginia as a focal point. Analyzing two sets of model policies regarding the treatment of transgender students--one established under a Democratic governor and another implemented following the election of a Republican candidate championing parental rights--this research employs qualitative content analysis to gain insight into the contemporary parental rights movement in educational settings. Five key themes emerged: 1. Reliance on expert opinions; 2. Variation in depth and breadth of information within policies; 3. Transgender student inclusion in policies; 4. Student and parent focus imbalance; and 5. Adherence to legal intent. The findings indicate a shift in emphasis from addressing gender identity concerns to prioritizing parental rights, with ramifications for the broader political landscape. This research enriches the ongoing dialogue on the role of parents in education and the consequences of the conservative parental rights movement for educational policy.

This article aims to serve as an introductory discussion of the European Continental tradition of pedagogics, specifically from a North American perspective. It begins with an overview of the Continental tradition and its main figures. Here, we find a philosophical and, thus, language-sensitive attitude toward the human, the child; and a specific pedagogical terminology, i.e., descriptions and interpretations about the reality of education, such as educational practices, goals, norms, and organizational forms of educational institutions. John Dewey's educational theories exemplify the North American perspective on Continental pedagogics and its study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Dewey's writings diverge notably from this tradition, as he integrated into his work American pragmatism and an interest in the scientific method, an interest that plays a role in today's policy trends in the United States and elsewhere. Then again, Dewey took a critical stand toward instrumentalizing pedagogics for political aims. On this point, the German-born political philosopher Hannah Arendt agreed with him. As Arendt can be seen as an example of a Continental perspective on philosophy that includes a strong warning to separate politics and education, she relates to Dewey's argument against instrumentalization. Thus, this article also features some of her work. The overall intention is to contribute to a renewal of a language for pedagogics by delineating a historical-philosophical perspective on this specific field of professional practice.

We employ a policy assemblage, mobilities, and mutations framework to analyze the geographies that constitute and reflect educational policy circulation at the regional or supranational level in trans-regional regimes and/or quasi-federal polities such as the European Union (EU) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). Recognizing that policies are mobile in a fragmentary fashion as they are re/dis/assembled in specific ways, places, and purposes, we move beyond methodological nationalism and pay attention to the make-up of policies as they are in motion and the places they affect. In other words, using the trans-regional and/or quasifederal level, we juxtapose the tensions between policy as fixed, territorial, or place-specific against the dynamic, regional, and relational policy elements. Methodologically, we use a comparative federalist lens to trace and examine the distillation, translation, and mobilization of education policy across and between quasi-federal polities. In this sense, epistemologically, we further explicate the manner in which such policy instruments move across the various interconnected units and sites composing these federal-type entities, while (re)territorializing and deterritorializing what we construe as complex educational assemblages. We show that contra to the extant literature, in Europe/EU and the Caribbean/CARICOM, movement, and mobility involves the connectivity between policymaking sites, and policies arrive at their destination in the same form as they appeared elsewhere, allowing for forms of discursive isomorphism.

Global policy mobilities have been studied predominantly at the national level of education, but their implications and effects at the subnational level have been disregarded. This paper analyzes Proyectá tu Futuro, the first social impact bond (SIB) for education and employability implemented in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since 2010, SIBs have become a booming type of policy, rapidly traveling and being adopted across countries and policy spheres. SIBs aim to align the incentives of the private sector--the third sector--and the public sector to obtain results while improving public-policy efficiency. However, often it is policy entrepreneurs' agendas and not results or efficiency goals that trigger SIBs' adoption. In this study, we analyze the diffusion of SIBs as policy mobilities and the processes of adoption and translation in the context of Buenos Aires. To this end, we draw on an analysis of policy documents, existing legal frameworks, and interviews with key actors. Our findings point to the role of "glocal" policy entrepreneurs as key agents for the adoption and translation of SIBs, as well as their capacity to advance their own agendas in the context of global policy mobilities in federal education systems.

This contribution takes up and discusses topology as a relational approach to better understand and empirically trace policy mobilities in federal education systems. While topology echoes other relational approaches in its simultaneous focus on ongoing change and the "making" of stabilized forms (e.g., policy scales), it also brings attention to facets of policy mobility research that other approaches have, at least so far, considered to a much lesser extent. Such facets include the systematic integration of a "temporal dimension" (e.g., rhythms of scale- or policy-making) as well as the consideration of "digital/data space-times." Equally, topology reminds us that policy itself is increasingly becoming "topological"--that is to say, policy-making is increasingly ruled by movement spaces, logics of connectedness, and capacities for change, instead of formal authority, position, or transmission. Integrating these different dimensions into a heuristic framework, we illuminate what we see differently when applying a topological lens to policy mobility analysis in federal education systems, using the example of German education policies since the 2000s, particularly transformations induced by the ongoing pandemic, as a case study.

School choice policies have become a prominent feature of K-12 education in recent decades, reflecting the broader institutionalization of market-based political ideology in education. In this qualitative multiple case study, we draw on framing theory and interviews with 57 state-level education policy actors to explore the nature of the continued debate over school choice in five U.S. states. We find five patterns of framing choice as beneficial, centering around five purported goals-- quality, equity, liberty, plurality, and innovation--along with critiques of these frames. Our findings illustrate that despite the contested nature of these policies, the broad appeal and flexibility of "choice"' helps to explain its durability.

This study aims to illustrate how states include an improvement science approach to educational improvement in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) state plan. Through a qualitative content analysis of 52 state ESSA plans, we propose an introductory organizational typology to categorize states based on their explicit inclusion of improvement science-related terminology in their plan. Our typology included three categories: Non-Presence, Emergent Presence, and Presence. Our findings suggest that states varied in how much improvement science language was included in their state plans. Findings also show there is little evidence of geographic diffusion of improvement science policy. This research connects a practice to policy gap highlighting educational stakeholders including educational professionals are increasingly using improvement science to address pressing problems of practice in their contexts in service of making the educational system more equitable; however, improvement science language is rarely included through the formalized state ESSA plans.

Education reform in the United States has unwisely focused attention on standards and accountability to the state as determined by standardized testing (Berliner & Biddle, 1995; Mehta, 2013). Stemming from the emphasis on standards-based accountability are the ideas of rapid school "turnaround" and the state's role in this process (Peck & Reitzug, 2014; VanGronigen & Meyers, 2019). The current study employed critical policy discourse analysis to examine the media's portrayal of the 2019 determination to continue or terminate state control of the Little Rock School District. The analysis highlights two argumentative frames--one that emphasized neoliberal values in support of continued state control of the district and another that focused on systemic racism as the basis for advocating for local control of the district. These frames, along with their implications for future actions within the educational policy making process, guide the discussion. Our findings suggest sustained community and media participation is needed to bring attention to education policy issues while underscoring the importance of taking a critical stance to assess media coverage.

The three terms comprising the Obama and Trump presidencies provide an opportunity to understand the evolution of race-conscious education policy in an increasingly multiracial, unequal, and divided society. Through document review and interviews with civil rights lawyers, government officials, congressional staffers, and intermediary organization personnel, we sought to understand how Obama officials envisioned and changed the role of the federal government in fostering K-12 race-conscious educational policies and what mechanisms they used to advance priorities. We also explored changes Trump administration officials made to federal civil rights policies and through which institutional means. Our findings reveal through-lines between past and present political agendas and the methods for enactment. Obama's interagency efforts to reinvigorate civil rights oversight and enforcement in education harkened back to the mid-1960s era of bipartisan cooperation around school desegregation. Yet the decades-long legal and policy retrenchment against civil rights advances made in the 1960s constrained further progress. Trump's administration advocated for the privatization of public education through increased choice and opposed race-consciousness in education law and policy. The reshaping of the federal judiciary under Trump presents challenges for race-consciousness in the law for years to come. Recognizing these consistent through-lines and constraints will be essential for advocates and policymakers going forward.

Policy change is an integral part of the modern education policymaking process. Policy changes can be done with different tools, one of which lies in policy transfer. The cons and pros of the education policy change and transfer can be seen comprehensively in post-socialist states, as the education system changed fundamentally in line with transferring policies and its aims, content, and instruments. The article deals with the process of education policy transfer and change based on the National Assessment and Examination Center (NAEC) case of Georgia. Based on the orthodox framework proposed, elaborated with the policy change concept, the article tries to determine the links between policy change and policy transfer and to identify facilitating and hindering factors of education policy change in the case of NAEC. Results show that all hindering factors are more or less linked to Soviet Inertia and post-soviet heritage: societal fears and pressure and the supra-centralization way of policymaking slow down the path of education policy transfer. However, if political, financial, and organizational support, both from outside and inside the country, coincides, it is more likely that education policy transfer and change to be successful. The article's findings can benefit the education policy theory in terms of developing and criticising the proposed assumptions, focusing on either post-soviet education transformation or policy administration.

School-based education in England has undergone significant changes since 2010, with a huge expansion of academies, schools outside local authority control, funded directly by central government. Academies and local authority (LA) maintained schools are subject to different legislative and regulatory frameworks. This paper focuses on the governance of LA maintained schools, single academy trusts (SATs) and schools that are part of multi-academy trusts (MATs). The research involved analysing legislative provision, policy documents, and documents addressing the governance arrangements of a sample of 23 secondary schools. Our findings reveal a fragmented state-funded secondary school system as regards overall governance, school admissions, the curriculum, and the use of funding. Significantly schools in MATs, which are governed by the trust board, lack the autonomy of either SATs or maintained schools and are instead under the ultimate control of the trust board. The paper argues that there is a need for greater consistency regarding the governance of state-funded schools.

Using frame analysis, the present study examined the intersections of science of reading research, media coverage, and state literacy policy to explore how Colorado policy and media documents have defined reading achievement. It also analyzed the values, assumptions, and agendas within these definitions. It identified diagnostic frames that defined a state-level problem with reading education and prognostic frames that proposed curriculum and teacher training mandates as solutions. Underlying these frames were assumptions of objectivity, agendas of top-down accountability, and a binary separation between effective and ineffective methods for the teaching of reading. Implications include the development of a critical pragmatism in which researchers, teachers, school leaders, and other practitioners can collaborate to navigate shifts required by legislation while reflecting on the ways in which such shifts are situated in larger narratives. The authors argue that such analyses are essential for implementing reading reform in ways that are equitable and responsive to local contexts.

This article considers the role that the examination of text plays in empirical language policy research. It begins by examining the state-of-the-art in language policy, observing that a core focus on action represents a shared characteristic of the various strands of discursive and ethnographic research over the last two decades. That is, the emergence of these approaches has accompanied an implicit or explicit shift away from the once dominant conceptualization of language policy as status quo and toward a focus on the dynamic processes through which power is exercised over language use. Reflecting on the widespread use of ethnographic methods to catalogue such processes, I argue that there is a need to reconsider how policy texts are conceptualized and studied from a discursive perspective. While much of the available toolkit treats policy texts as static products, giving little consideration to how they are embedded in the dynamics of policy, I propose an expanded focus on language policy as (re)entextualization, in which text is continuously formed and re-formed through time-space. This better accounts for the reality of policy, which involves cycles of writing and rewriting, as well as interpreting and re-interpreting, by different actors with different agendas, in different spaces at different times. Such a reconceptualization also offers more backing for the study of how language policy texts are agentively transformed and fragmented, and better supports the investigation of how language is instrumentalized in exercises of power in society.

Market-based policies, especially school vouchers, are expanding rapidly and shifting students out of traditional public schools. This article broadens, deepens, and updates prior critiques of the free market logic in five ways. First, although prior articles have pointed to some of the conditions necessary for efficient market functioning, I provide a more comprehensive list. Second, with an up-to-date literature review, I show that all of these conditions fail to hold to an unusual extent in schooling relative to other markets. Third, because of these failures, I argue that the most potent critique of the free market approach to schooling comes from the intellectual home of markets-economics. Fourth, I show that the issues leading to inefficiency are the same ones leading to inequity. Fifth, I argue that the analysis points to specific roles for government that go well beyond those included in new universal school voucher policies but are also narrower than the roles of government encompassed in traditional public education. For these reasons, the current policy direction is off track and apparently inconsistent with the main criteria on which we evaluate education policy and even with the values that voucher advocates profess.

Teacher workload is a growing problem internationally. In this article, we analyse an attempt by the state education bureaucracy of New South Wales (NSW), Australia, to address this through the 'Quality Time Program'. Drawing on labour process theory and Carol Bacchi's framework of 'What's the problem represented to be?', we analyse how the Quality Time policy documents conceptualise and aim to address a particular kind of teacher 'workload problem'. We argue the policy defines the 'problem' as one of efficiency. At the same time, through use of the category of 'administration' the policy proposes the reduction of 'core' work, such as lesson planning, representing a potential deskilling of teachers. We argue that policies such as the Quality Time Program reflect the way in which teachers' work is emerging as a site of contestation in the context of workload reduction efforts, requiring ongoing monitoring and analysis.

Since the late 1980s, Taiwan has moved away from Mandarin-only language policy in favour of greater recognition of local Taiwanese languages as part of a greater localisation movement. While continuing to implement language policies aimed at promoting local Taiwanese languages, in December 2018, Taiwan announced intent to implement a bilingual language policy to incorporate English by 2030, titled "Bilingual Nation." Applying Ball's (1993) "policy as discourse" framework, this paper endeavours to investigate the "Bilingual Nation" policy planning and rhetoric so as to shed light on Taiwan's official conceptualisation of national identity. The case study finds that English is the primary focus of "Bilingual Nation" policy documents and is relegated to the discursive arenas of internationalisation and global economic competition. English is rarely discussed in tandem with any other specific language or language category, with little consideration for the interaction of English and Taiwan's official national languages. In sum, "Bilingual Nation" acts as an affirmation of the current status quo in Taiwan's official conception of national identity: muddled, with the assumption of Mandarin at its centre. Questions remain for "Bilingual Nation" and its ability to push beyond a symbolic state effort for internationalisation or unproductive labours for international status.

This article explores the framing of youth and adult education (YAE) policies in two Latin American countries, namely Chile and Peru. It takes their participation in PIAAC as a contextual starting point to unravel the problems explicitly or implicitly framed in YAE policies and their root causes, as understood by key policy stakeholders. We found that policy documents specifically addressing YAE are not only scarce, but also the existing ones tend to be either too broad or too narrow in relation to how YAE is understood. The results suggest that in both countries, there exists a widespread disregard for YAE, a limited perspective on the field, and a generalised lack of funding for YAE. Under these conditions, participation in a study like PIAAC is primarily motivated by considerations unrelated to education, thus resulting in a very limited impact on YAE policy.

This article responds to recent calls to investigate the role of agents and the connections between layers of agency in the development and implementation of language policy and planning (LPP). Using a corpus linguistic and discursive approach to language policy, we identify interventions made in plenary sessions by Secretary-Generals and Member States at the United Nations when discussing language issues over 46 years (1970-2016). The article identifies which individuals prioritise language issues and the change agents and/or (un)successful brokers in matters of LPP. Analysis reveals that language issues were discussed infrequently, suggesting benign neglect in matters of multilingualism: the silent majority were agentive in largely maintaining the status quo. However, in exploring power "in" discourse and power "over" discourse we were able to determine which interventions resulted in minor changes to policy and who were the powerful agents. The study points to the importance of using corpus-assisted methods in diachronic and synchronic studies of agency in LPP. Future research should explore networks of agents, using CL to investigate longitudinal trajectories of decision-making and policy change over time. Moreover, CL can usefully complement other approaches, (e.g. interviews and ethnography), to further explore the dialectic relationship between agency and structure.

In the field of English medium instruction (EMI), multilingual research approaches are crucial to carrying out effective and ethically responsible research, because EMI policies and practices are inherently multilingual. This paper is a partial replication study that adopts a 'researching multilingually' analytical framework to interrogate the challenges and affordances of using multiple languages during two EMI research projects. In the project in Turkey, the lead researcher, who is an English-Turkish bilingual, analysed policy documents (n = 145) and interview data (n = 67) drawing on her knowledge of both languages. Additionally, 85 EMI classroom observations were conducted. In the project in China, the research team of two L1 English speakers and two L1 Chinese speakers investigated 93 bilingual policy documents and conducted interviews with 26 policy arbiters by drawing on both languages during data collection and analysis. Together, these reflections highlight how multilingual approaches can be utilised throughout the research process, from team formation, research design, data collection, data analysis, and presentation of findings in research reports.

Contrary to common assumptions, the vast majority of the world's refugees reside in neighbouring countries in the Global South. This paper explores the complex interaction of global vocational education policies with the local realities of five communities within the under-researched yet highly relevant refugee context of India, across three major cities. It examines whether the stated policy purpose of VET addresses the practical requirements and aspirations of refugees. Drawing on interviews, focus groups, and participatory drawing with 66 respondents from Afghan, Rohingya, Somali, Chin, and Tibetan communities, and staff members from refugee organisations, this paper argues for a move away from the unidimensional goal of economic self-reliance for refugees. By bridging the capabilities approach with intersectionality, the paper calls attention to, and draws policy suggestions for, increment and diversification of VET opportunities to address multiple facets of refugees' lives, and their inclusion in national VET institutions.

Taking a multi-level perspective on language-in-public-space policy, this study investigates the way Tunisia's dominant languages are dealt with in three independent but interrelated activities of language policy: official texts, public talk, and the actual practices of business actors in five commercial districts in metropolitan Tunis. Detailed critical discourse analysis of these policy activities indicated considerable tension between official texts' legislations on, and public élites' debate about public signage and "on the ground" sociolinguistic practices. While official texts and public debates base the dominant languages on monolingual, postcolonial and highly compartmentalized language ideologies, the sociolinguistic practices within these localities are marked by the emergence of an English-leaning trend in public signage. Nevertheless, this trend is heavily qualified by the concurrent use of identifiable language clusters, creative wordplay, multiscriptal practices, the commodification of heritage, national and supranational symbols, and an overall resistance to big commercial names as well as subversion of the official legislations and public debates. The article concludes by discussing the implications of the approach to multilingualism adopted in this study for illuminating the connections between Tunisia's dominant languages, language policy and linguistic landscapes.

Paraprofessionals have increasingly served as a support service for students with disabilities. Yet, scholars have urged caution in the overuse of assigning paraprofessional supports. Furthermore, it is unclear how states provide guidance to local stakeholders in determining the best use of paraprofessionals. Thus, in this study, we conducted a state-by-state analysis of documents depicting guidance for paraprofessional supports. We identified states that offered comprehensive frameworks to support practitioners while allowing teams to maintain the autonomy to make decisions on a case-by-case basis. However, we also found that few states offered guidance, particularly with regard to navigating tensions between student need and potential risks. We rely on a Disability Studies framework to discuss implications for policy, practice, and future research, particularly in how states might provide robust guidance that assists schools in building an accommodating and inclusive environment rather than focusing solely on student characteristics framed as deficits.

Purpose: This paper aims to ask how the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has orchestrated a sustainable development (SD) agenda in its international policy since 2020. Design/methodology/approach: By drawing on theoretical ideas around policy orchestration as a key UN governing strategy and applying them to the analysis of the progression of the SD agenda in the EHEA, the paper conducts a thematic analysis of six recent key EHEA international policy documents and 19 interviews with key Bologna stakeholders in France, Germany and Italy. Findings: The resultant analysis uncovers three overarching key themes that show the EHEA has the capacity to mitigate pitfalls in the UN's SD agenda; some weaknesses of the UN's orchestration of SD are translated into weaknesses in the EHEA's formulation of its SD agenda; and the further development of an SD agenda as an essential direction of EHEA's work. The paper then goes on to discuss how EHEA policies only mention SD discourse, omit concrete plans for its implementation and keep the very meaning of SD ambiguous throughout international policy documents. Originality/value: The authors offer three original recommendations that the EHEA should adopt in an attempt to mitigate the issues raised in the run-up to its 2030 deadline for implementing its policies--the EHEA should develop an explicit definition of SD; recognise the Euro-centredness of EHEA policies and open them up to other voices; and cite academic research when developing policy documents.

Global policy discourse promotes teachers as leaders of educational change who should have a voice in policy formation. 'Teaching Scotland's Future', a major teacher education reform in Scotland, feeds off this vision. Taking an Actor-Network Theory inspired Critical Policy Analysis approach, I unpack the participation of human and non-human actors within the National Partnership Group, a network established by the Scottish Government to plan the enactment of the reform. I utilise Callon's four moments of translation and Latour's concept of the token to identify and examine spaces of interest translation. Drawing on interviews with human actors from the network, I discuss the involvement of classroom teachers, and demonstrate the multiple ways that the materiality of the policy process shaped their participation in the network, limiting their ability to inform further development of the policy agenda. I consider the implications of this for education reform and democratic policymaking.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted unprecedented school closures in England, which quickly generated widespread concern at the impacts of missed schooling: 'lost learning' became the dominant motif of these concerns and 'catch-up' emerged as the received solution. This article focuses on the central pillar of the government's post-pandemic response: the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). It offers a critical assessment of the development of the NTP, exploring and questioning the key values, motivations and assumptions that shaped it. It considers the problematisations of the policy and the meaning-making embedded within its language. 'Learning loss' and 'catch-up' are found to be central metaphors, premised on vague and unsubstantiated measures of gap and attainment. Ultimately, the discussion concludes that the transformation of the policy from a well-intentioned intervention targeting disadvantaged students to a government accountability lever that imposes on schools both the onus of successful delivery, as well as of partial funding, is a critical failure of the policy.

To increase the prosperity of nation states and the availability of skilled labour for the global economy, many countries have encouraged students with low socio-economic status (SES) and minorities to enrol in colleges and universities. In Israel, a significant effort was made starting in 1995 to create more colleges and to provide more access to higher education for students within the mentioned groups. Yet the question arises concerning what was achieved by this effort. This paper analyses the relationship between (i) wealth and higher education in population clusters, (ii) higher education and geographical areas, and (iii) higher education and ethnic subsets in Israel. The evidence indicates a strong correlation between the SES of a locality and the number of students per residents in that locality. This correlation, however, is affected by the existence of an affordable local college. After the correlations are presented and explained, recommendations for enabling low-SES students to be successful in higher education are explored, including developing a new curriculum for middle and secondary students, creating transitional 'discourse communities' for first-year college students from low-SES, and investing in local colleges in Israel.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is changing across Europe, reflecting multiple-policy intentions and assumptions about education in early years, and the role of the state in supporting, funding and regulating its institutions. In this article, we examine the evolution of ECEC comparatively in Finland and Sweden, and we explore the shifts in goals, governance mechanisms and policy ideas that have characterised reforms in the sector. We draw on an analysis of policy documents, and argue that the incremental changes achieved over the last 50 years have been in response to changing goals assigned to ECEC and ideas about its roles and functions as part of the welfare and education sectors. The power of ideas in effecting policy change is tempered by established institutional framings, yet is visible in the early dominance of child-centred ideas, and the later controversies over the emergent labour-market and education-driven rationales of the post-2010s.

There has been a transnational policy convergence in introducing professional standards for school leaders, and it constitutes a dominant discourse on school leadership. Focusing on the adoption of external references in policy transfer, this article presents a case in which the global leadership discourse was transferred to China, and the Chinese leadership policy was in turn used by the World Bank to promote the dissemination of its agenda. Proposing three types of external references (the dominant, comparison, and excellence), I conclude that policy actors strategically select the types of references depending on their self-positionalities and relationships with others. Driven by discourses that are embedded in specific contexts, comparative rankings are interpreted differently to justify respective policy agendas. This article also highlights the way in which a leadership policy from China was referenced by the World Bank to produce legitimacy as an unexpected consequence of policy transfer.

Curriculum has become a core element of universities' competitive positioning, internationally and nationally. This paper presents a longitudinal analysis of policy processes and outcomes associated with 'radical' university curriculum reforms that resulted in divergence from institutions' own historical patterns and national conventions and traditions. The empirical investigations draw on a policy trajectory conceptual framework and focus on how two research-intensive Australian universities navigated global-local policy flows throughout their curriculum transformations. Findings revealed that each reform project manifested proactive policy learning and, ultimately, agency, as global and national influences were articulated into local contexts, with the effect of 'breaking the mould' of relatively standardised university curriculum provision in Australia. At the same time, the analyses revealed a similar pattern of intensified bureaucratisation of curriculum governance within the two universities, as well as the compromising of initial reform objectives in key curriculum areas such as interdisciplinarity, internationalisation and so-called twenty-first-century skills.

The "Brown" decision represents a watershed moment in U.S. history as the remedy served as a guiding light during a pandemic. A pandemic is an epidemic taking place on a scale that spans the globe. A circumstance is not a pandemic merely because it exists in different regions of the world or results in the death of many people; it must also be infectious. For centuries, by way of mutually reinforcing regimes consisting of politicians, intellectuals, religious supporters, business leaders, and others, an ideology of racial biology "infected" the world, causing a disease to spread in global fashion. The disease fed on a rhetoric that assigned biological superiority to certain races. A resulting pandemic of segregation occurred. In the United States, the Brown decision offered hope as a therapeutic. This lecture examines "Brown" through the lens of a medical model while exploring its various pervasive effects on society and education.

The year 2017 was a landmark in Taiwanese higher education when the quality assurance mechanism transitioned from being external to internal. Given that the external quality assurance mechanism was criticised for violating the autonomy of universities, the 2017 self-accreditation policy aimed to resolve the controversy and internalise a quality culture into every university. This study engages in a critical policy analysis and examines the peculiar conceptualisation of policy problems, thereby revealing the micro-politics in the QA studies. In this article, we draw upon Carol Bacchi's concept of "problematisation" to explore the national QA transition. We propose that any investigation into the transition from an external to internal mechanism needs to delve into the historical-political context because the change is fabricated by complex interplays between various discourses, structures, and relational networks. By examining policy problematisation, we argue that more attention within higher education policy studies should be focused on the articulation of the framed problem, particularly given its impacts on the shape of university practices in quality management.

This article analyses the introduction of a mandatory learning management system (LMS) in Danish primary and lower secondary education. By thinking with Bourdieu's concepts of field, capital and habitus, the study analyses key policy texts to identify the embedded logics that structure the field of education, reflecting relationships of domination and struggle and explores how these logics and conflicts influence process of policy change. A historical analysis of the conflict between legislators and the Teachers' Union (TU) in Denmark is conducted based on 21 policy texts published between 2005 and 2020. The findings indicate that human capital is the predominant logic structuring the field of education. Legislators use the logics of other fields such as economics to support this predominance. Moreover, the findings suggest that changes in educational policy are the result of a protracted struggle between legislators and the TU, with legislators making ongoing adjustments to policies based on pressure from the TU. These modifications can be seen as a political concession.

Private educational activities designed to enhance student outcomes outside the formal schooling system are increasingly referred to as shadow education. In Japan, shadow education traditionally consists of for-profit cram schools or "juku." "Juku" take many forms in Japan, yet their primary function is to offer students extra educational opportunities. As such, there is a strong belief that investment in shadow education leads to a higher educational level, thereby strengthening educational inequality by unfairly advantaging families of higher socio-economic status (SES). By applying Pierre Bourdieu's theories of social reproduction and symbolic violence, this study seeks to elucidate the extent to which neoliberal policies and a lack of guidance from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) have allowed shadow education in Japan to sustain anti-meritocratic access to higher education. The study critically analyses how laissez-faire policy-making decisions, a reliance on "juku" attendance, and an emphasis on English language as a test subject operate in conjunction with neoliberal policies to disadvantage lower SES families through uneven access to educational opportunities.

Informed by the conceptual-analytical framework of LPP and bilingual education policy, this study addresses a unique and under-researched case of heritage language education policy for complementary Polish State Schools abroad. These are Polish governmental educational offering aimed at Polish migrants and their descendants. Data consist of two policy documents issued by Polish parliamentary and governmental authorities and are analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The specific research question is: What ideological and implementational spaces can be identified in the policy documents regarding the following six areas: academic goal; language ideology; linguistic goal; language orientation; bilingualism orientation; cultural orientation? The findings show that the policy opens up implementational and ideological spaces not only for language maintenance but also for various epistemic goals and literacy forms that create opportunities for a multifaceted personal and societal development of the students. Polish language and culture are positioned both as right and as resource, and spaces for cultural pluralism and plurilingualism emerge. Even if bilingualism and biliteracy are not explicitly expressed as goals, the policy recognizes the multiple linguistic realities of the students by assuming bilingualism, the orientation that is here called bilingualism as default. Future research directions are suggested in the conclusion.

This article presents the findings from an interview study with 12 subject teachers and special educators in three Swedish lower secondary schools. The purpose of the study was to explore how school professionals perceive and respond to dilemmas related to inclusive education that require prioritizations between conflicting values, principles or goals. Through the use of conceptual tools and theoretical notions of policy enactment, the article sheds light on how such dilemmas can be played out in practice. Four different dilemmas were discerned in the analysis: special vs. general education settings, external control vs. professional freedom, curricular demands vs. students' needs and individual vs. group. The analysis illustrates how actors' perceptions and responses to dilemmas can be framed by policy demands in different ways, but also by contextual factors and the actors' roles and positions in their schools. In this way, the article provides a partly new understanding of such processes in relation to previous research. Moreover, it is argued in the article that the notion of dilemmas provides an educational dimension that can be an important addition in analyses of policy enactment.

Despite widespread commitment to inclusive education as government policy, global progress in the last two decades has been slow and uneven. This article explores the relationship between policy and its enactment to examine what conditions make inclusion available as a course of action within education systems. Focusing on learners with additional learning needs, evidence from the Welsh context is presented in relation to two policy turns in the last decade, the most recent of which is a turn towards a Fourth Way "professional capital approach" that appears to signal movement towards more inclusive education. It is noted that, at the level of practice and practitioner beliefs about learners with additional learning needs, these policy movements appear to have had remarkably little impact. Drawing on a hybrid model of analysis, we argue that the collective agency needed for inclusion requires an account of the belief systems of a range of policy actors, particularly in education systems where hierarchies of learners are fundamentally upheld. Using evidence from educational reform in Wales, we describe how conditions for collective agency for inclusion may be experienced as unavailable within education systems.

"Research Findings:" This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the Puhui early education services (PEES) policy in China from the triangulated perspectives of stakeholders using a developed and validated scale. First, applying a stratified cluster sampling method, the Puhui Early Education Services Policy Effectiveness Scale (PE) was developed and validated with 85 principals, 909 kindergarten teachers, and 4,128 parents. Second, the psychometric properties indicated that the PE was a reliable and valid scale with three constructs: accessibility, affordability, and quality. Third, descriptive statistics found that Chinese stakeholders submitted a positive evaluation of the PEES policy effectiveness, with the construct of quality ranked the highest and that of affordability the lowest. Fourth, parents have fewer positive evaluations compared to principals and teachers, while stakeholders from Puhui private kindergartens have more positive evaluations compared to those from public kindergartens. Last, hierarchical regression analysis found that kindergarten type and rating were critical positive predictors after controlling for demographic and urbanicity factors. "Practice or Policy:" These findings indicate that it is necessary to understand parents' policy expectations and improve the financial distribution to ensure sustainable and high-quality development of the PEES.

Wales is often compared favourably to other countries because of its commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and lower levels of school exclusions. Systematic analysis of policy documents reveals the dominance of a rights-based discourse in approaching the challenge of school exclusions, which are explained in terms of socio-economic circumstances rather than individual pathologies. However, the analysis also reveals silences and tensions within the discourse which suggest that a rights-based approach may not provide a useful framework for reducing school exclusions. There are challenges in balancing competing rights and in reconciling children as rights-holders with the rules and regimes of schools. There is also a significant mismatch between the causes of exclusions and the proposed remedies. The paper concludes by arguing that until these incongruities are addressed, it is hard to see how policy relating to school exclusion can be effective.

Finland has repeatedly been presented as a "success story" of equality and education, promoter of human rights and included equality and human rights as part of national curricula. However, research has shown the slow progress of integrating topics of equality and human rights in teacher education despite hundreds of project-based interventions during the past 50 years. We used historically informed discursive reading drawing from the existent literature, human rights and equality policy documents, and data from student teachers (n = 311) about their perceptions. The theoretical framework in this article is grounded in critical and feminist theories. The aim is to analyse why student teachers still report receiving too little education in human rights and equality despite the improvements in human rights and equality education law and policy. We argue that Finnish teacher education has an ambivalent role of representing itself as "exceptional" while reproducing inequalities. Furthermore, this alleged "exceptionalism" does not enable a focus on equality and human rights policies goals. We constructed a general theoretical frame to re-examine critically the role of ambivalence, ignorance, and "innocence", which reproduce inequalities. Our analysis describes several discursive realities of public narratives and student teachers' experiences concerning equality and human rights education. This article provides a novel interpretation frame for the persisting inequalities in education in a country that profiles itself as a champion of human rights and equality. Based on our results, we suggest critical self-reflection for educational policy to advance continuous measures to affect structural inequalities.

The problematisation of a social phenomenon is a political process that both constructs the problem and, in doing so, suggests possible remedies and occludes others. Based on the first-ever comprehensive analysis of 129 UK university policies to address Gender-based violence (GBV), we examine how the 'problem' of GBV is conceptualised in institutional policies. We explore three interconnected themes: the nature of the 'problem' that is constituted, analysing whether GBV is explicitly acknowledged and constructed narrowly or broadly; the place of gender and its intersection with other social relations of power in this problematisation; and the implicit ways in which GBV is constructed as an individual or a social problem. We also examine the implications of such constructions for imagining possible responses to GBV. In doing so, this article contributes to academic debates on the conceptualisation of GBV, while offering original insights into how such conceptualisations are materialised within institutional policy and regulatory frameworks.

As resegregation occurs across the country, some school districts are pursuing voluntary integration. This qualitative case study uses critical policy analysis to explore the political and social contexts surrounding the early stages of developing a voluntary integration plan in Wake County Public School System, North Carolina. Through analysis of interviews with school board and community members as well as a range of documents, findings indicate that population growth and residential development, the proliferation of unregulated school choice, varied perspectives of community stakeholders, inequitable distribution of power and resources, and school board politics largely shape the process of developing a voluntary integration plan. Recommendations are provided for school district policies, cross-sector collaboration, and state-level policies that could strengthen the potential success of voluntary integration plans.

This paper analyses Japan's COVID-19 response drawing on a survey of more than 3200 prospective international students affected by the (colloquially named) #JapanTravelBan. The paper charts the evolution of Japan's COVID-19 response from the earliest border restrictions in February 2020 to the eventual blanket reopening to international students in Summer 2022. Subsequently, survey DATA provide evidence of (1) the drastic mental health effects for prospective international students during this time, (2) students' loss of agency due to the protracted uncertainty of both policy and communication from the Japanese government, and (3) potential damage caused to Japan's reputation as a study destination. Drawing on these findings the paper offers broader suggestions for appropriate student migration policymaking: greater transparency, attention to students' security throughout their study sojourn, an emphasis on stability, and resilience to crises.

Ontario's special education grant increased from $1.6 billion in 2002-2003 to $3.2 billion in 2020-2021, representing approximately 12.5% of the overall education funding. Although demands to increase special education funding continue from an equity and inclusion standpoint, students with exceptionalities are at risk of lower achievement. This study thus examined how the special education grant for elementary and secondary students with exceptionalities in Ontario is determined, primarily through document analysis as well as the author's communication with the Ontario Ministry of Education for information not available through open documents. A review of funding information since 1998 reveals that the special education grant increases almost annually based on a variety of mechanisms encompassing six components, three of which are determined predominantly by total enrolment and three determined by claimed cases for different exceptionalities. Findings help explain how the special education grant is determined, thus informing discussion on policies regarding funding for students with exceptionalities.

This research employed phenomenological approach to explore parents and students' perspectives on inclusive education settings in Tanzanian secondary schools. Twentyfour respondents, including students and parents were involved. The study objective was to explore the students' and parents' perspectives on inclusive education settings in secondary schools in Tanzania. The study leading question was: What are the opinions of students and parents on inclusive education settings in secondary schools in Tanzania? Interviews and focused group discussions used to gather data. The findings reflected various perspectives from parents and students on secondary school inclusive education settings. Students with and without disabilities had positive perception towards inclusive education settings despite the fact that they had some reservations for improvement. For parents of children with disabilities had positive opinions towards inclusive education settings and found it appropriate to include their children with those without disabilities in a classroom. Parents of children without disabilities had negative perception and were against inclusive education. Parents also found not participating and cooperating in financing education for their children in inclusive education settings.

In this article, we examine education policymaking in England during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the period from 2020 to 2022. We argue that the pandemic, while obviously damaging materially, economically and psychologically, seemed to have provided a rare opportunity for a step change, a chance to recalibrate and reconsider values assumed as 'truths'. However, policymaking in England appears to have been driven by a desire to return to normal as soon as possible or to double down on control. Through a rigorous policy analysis of two specific areas of policy -- initial teacher education and inspection -- we review policy and ministerial speeches, as well as academic papers, media articles and social media blogs published from the start of the pandemic in England, to analyse the extent to which policy formation was reactive in an attempt to maintain a steady state and return as quickly as possible to pre-pandemic normality and to previously stated intransigent policy positions. We suggest that this policy formation reflects a broader trend in policymaking, which seeks to use power and sustain privilege, underpinned by a constructed evidence base, to present a particular 'truth' about what needs to be done to improve education outcomes.