Education Policy

The Right to Education: Its Changing Faces in a Constitutional Revolution Era

by Lotem Perry-Hazan

Hebrew

Almost two decades after the constitutional revolution, the Supreme Court of Justice ruled in the Tebeka case that the... more Almost two decades after the constitutional revolution, the Supreme Court of Justice ruled in the Tebeka case that the right to education is a constitutional right, which is interrelated with the right to dignity. My article analyzes the norms that shaped the right to education in Israel during the last two decades in order to explore whether and how the Tebeka case reflected the processes that characterized the education policy. The discussion is divided according to four features of the right to education, whose definition is based on a normative framework outlined by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: the right to available education, which requires the establishment of functioning public schools and the certification of nonpublic schools that conform to certain educational standards; the right to accessible education, which relates to non-discrimination, physical accessibility and economic accessibility; the right to acceptable forms and substance of education; and the right to adaptable education, which responds to the students' cultural affiliations, learning abilities, and personal preferences. The article shows that several norms contributed to the realization of the right to education, although their application was sometimes slow and gradual. Other norms derogated the right to education, mainly due to the sectoral powers that initiated them. An interim category includes norms that expanded the scope of the right to education, but whose design and implementation diminished their influence. There are also norms that reflected contradictory policies. In addition, the article shows that the realization of the four features of the right to education is unequal, and the multiple layers of inequality integrate and intensify its impact. In light of the above, it seems that the recognition of the right to education as a constitutional right did not reflect substantial changes in the education policy. Its future impact on the realization of the right to education is doubtful without improving the place of education in the political priorities.

Petkovska, S. „Analysis of Public Policies in Serbia: Education“ (Serbian)

by Sanja Petkovska

Co-authored with Jana Bacevic. in: Podunavac, Milan (Ed.), Public Policy of Serbia, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Belgrade, 85 –107, 2011.

A Principles-Based Approach for English Language Teaching Policies and Practices

by Ahmar Mahboob

Mahboob, A. & Tilakaratna, N. (2012). Towards A Principles Based Approach for ELT Policies and Practices. Alexandria: TESOL International.

This TESOL white paper introduces the notion of a principles-based approach (PBA) for English language teaching... more This TESOL white paper introduces the notion of a principles-based approach (PBA) for English language teaching policies and practices. PBA identifies six principles aimed at helping policymakers, researchers, and practitioners build effective and successful practices within varied contexts while identifying and engaging with the challenges that the implementation of these practices will encounter. The principles are collaboration, relevance, evidence, alignment, transparency, and empowerment (CREATE). While acknowledging the complexities inherent in the process of language policy and planning, this white paper also includes a discussion of how these principles have emerged as a result of the demands of globalization and the interests of the local populations of countries in which the teaching and learning of English is having a major impact.

The missing reciprocity: Exploring the nature of leadership capacity.

by Alexander Hoffman

Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Conference, Vancouver, Canada. 2012

This paper presents findings from a theory building study that examines the nature of leadership capacities. In light... more This paper presents findings from a theory building study that examines the nature of leadership capacities. In light of Elmore’s Theory of Reciprocity and his work on multiple accountabilities, this paper offers a typology for the kinds of capacities that high school principals report needing to fulfill their responsibilities. It includes personal, professional and leadership capacities developed in formal programs, through workplace experience and through personal history. Participants report that internal capacities almost invariably are developed through opportunities for trial, error and failure, and not from formal per-service or in-service training, or even from guidance from mentors. A typology of the types of leadership capacities that principals report being necessary for their effective practice is presented.

Preparing Leaders for Adaptive Challenges Faced in Schools Oriented Toward Common Good

by Alexander Hoffman

Co-authored with Ellie Drago-Severson and Patricia Maslin-Ostrowski. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Researchers Association, April 2011. New Orleans, Louisiana.

This paper reports on a mixed-method multi-site investigation into how faculty report their programs’ help develop... more This paper reports on a mixed-method multi-site investigation into how faculty report their programs’ help develop leaders’ capacities to meet today’s challenges. We investigated educational leadership programs at two large public universities through an online survey. Commonly cited challenges included diversity, social justice, accountability and standardized testing. There were notable differences in how the two faculties rated their programs in various dimensions by importance, emphasis and effectiveness. As earlier phases of our research have shown, leaders’ challenges are a blend of technical and adaptive challenges. Understanding what educational programs do is inherently difficult because they do so many different things, but we think our emerging approach can yield important insight.

Leading Schools in Our Changing World: Employing Adult Learning and Interpersonal Leadership for Adaptive Challenges

by Alexander Hoffman

Co-authored with Ellie Drago-Severon & Patricia Maslin-Ostrowski. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Researchers Association, May 2010; Denver, Colorado.

This interview and survey study investigated how 74 practicing educational leaders who have completed or are enrolled... more This interview and survey study investigated how 74 practicing educational leaders who have completed or are enrolled in a university leadership preparation program identify and cope with various and multiple challenges in their leadership practice. Challenges named were dominated by compliance and accountability issues and how to motivate people to produce more with inadequate economic resources. Leaders incorporated adult development and learning into their approach to dealing with challenges. We found that the technical and adaptive (Heifetz) aspects of leadership are important, especially when one considers the phases and components of how leaders respond to challenges they face. An understanding of technical vs. adaptive work and knowledge of adult development and learning are recommended to be an integral part of leadership preparation and development.

Marketing a Middle School: Inside a School-Business Partnership

by Alexander Hoffman

This paper reports on the findings of a study of school-business partnership in New York City, focusing primarily on a... more This paper reports on the findings of a study of school-business partnership in New York City, focusing primarily on a single potentially ideal case partnership. It examines the results and developments in a relationship between a small advertising firm and a small middle school that initially focused on marketing assistance for the school. It found initial success, but the different cultures of the two organizations and different expectations for the partnership eventually led to problems. Implications focus on clarifying communications about expectations and potential roles, and concern about the risks of other school-business partnerships.

Jones, T. (2012). Data Brief: the Tasmanian Education Context. Report submitted to Rodney Croome of the TGLRG and the Tasmanian Department of Education, Hobart.

by Tiffany Jones

The Data Brief was submitted to Rodney Croome for viewing by The Tasmanian Department of Education and Training by... more The Data Brief was submitted to Rodney Croome for viewing by The Tasmanian Department of Education and Training by Tiffany Jones, on the 4th of April, 2012. It provided a short overview of data relevant to the Tasmanian education context, collected for a PhD research project.This research was based on a mixed methodology, including legal and policy analysis (over 80 national, state and sector education policies), key informant interviews and cross-analysis of new data on the education context for 3,134 Australian GLBTIQ students. The overview was intended to assist in underscoring the need for a distinct Tasmanian education policy that explicitly focusses on GLBTIQ student issues, which would ideally provide detailed guidance around these issues for Tasmanian schools.

School-Based Management Policy and Its Practices at District Level in the Post New Order Indonesia

by Bambang Sumintono

published in 'Journal of Indonesian Social Sciences and Humanities'. Vol 2.  2010

The debacle of the collapse of the New Order regime in 1998 brought significant change to Indonesia’s public sector.... more The debacle of the collapse of the New Order regime in 1998 brought significant change to Indonesia’s public sector. Primary and secondary education since 1 January 2001 has been based on the new law about regional autonomy, and administered at district level rather than in the previously centralised and bureaucratic manner. At the school level, ideas about school autonomy emerged and became popular. In particular, the term ‘School Based Management’ (SBM) was seen as a panacea, and as a result, the central government issued a regulation to implement the practice of SBM. This article analyses the dynamics of the SBM policy as it was interpreted and implemented. The study was approached in two ways: through document analysis of the Ministry of National Education decree 044/U/2002 that promulgated SBM; and by soliciting and interpreting the perspectives and practices of stakeholders at district level through interviews, site studies and document analyses. The study found that the SBM policy as stated in the decree lacked clarity. The decree had been hastily introduced and emphasised structural changes at district and school levels without clarifying its underlying rationale or implementation guidelines

Falling Flat: Certification as an Insufficient Indicator of Teacher Quality

by Patricia (Patty) Hanna

This policy analysis examines recent debates on teacher quality in light of the Renee v. Duncan (2010) decision, the... more This policy analysis examines recent debates on teacher quality in light of the Renee v. Duncan (2010) decision, the Congressional response to the ruling through the Continuing Resolution bill, H.R. 3082 §163, and President Obama's Blueprint for Reform. Using equity as a framework for the teacher quality debate, the authors explore policy configurations of teacher quality with particular emphasis on inspecting the teaching certificate as a valid and reliable indicator of teacher quality. Additionally, the authors review educational research highlighting the strengths of alternative certification programs and consider how these strengths might be used to leverage policymaking that targets teacher quality reform.

Chaos-Complexity Theory and Education Policy: Lessons from Malawi's Community Day Secondary Schools

by Happy Kayuni

ICT and pedagogy: opportunities missed?

by Paul Adams

Published in Education 3-13

The pace of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development necessitates radical and rapid change for... more The pace of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) development necessitates radical and rapid change for education. Given the English prevalence for an economically determinist orientation for educational outcomes, it seems pertinent to ask how learning in relation to ICT is to be conceptualised. Accepting the view that education needs to both transform and be transforming, simple input-output methods by which professionals might judge the veracity of learning–teaching moments need to be challenged. Considering new technologies, it could be said that proponents of input-output rhetoric suggest that the acquisition of technologically oriented skills and behaviours is an educational end in itself. In contrast, others adopt the position that technological advances are important for what they have to offer as means to transform the learner. This paper considers this dualism and proposes that new technologies offer exciting ways to understand and repopulate professional discourse on learning and teaching.

From 'ritual'to 'mindfulness': policy and pedagogic positioning

by Paul Adams

Published in Discourse: studies in the cultural poliitics of education

Schools and professionals respond to statute in different ways. However, professional activity is more than mediated... more Schools and professionals respond to statute in different ways. However, professional activity is more than mediated response to policy. Versions of pedagogy are not simply envisaged on high and enacted in the workplace. This paper examines how professional views formulate policy imperatives. It proposes that to understand pedagogy requires an understanding of the ways in which professional selves are realised in relation to the policy formation process. To do this, positioning theory is used to describe how practice produces policy. Accordingly, the paper examines the dynamic interplay between: first, the story lines unfolding within and outside school; second, the positions adopted by individuals in the course of pedagogic decision-making. Third, the illocutionary (that achieved in saying something) and perlocutionary (that achieved by saying something) effects of language. Following this ‘positioning triad’, the paper proposes ‘pedagogy as ritual’ and ‘pedagogy as mindfulness’ and how these are representative, respectively, of limiting and delimiting pedagogic discourses.

Positioning behaviour: Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the post‐welfare educational era

by Paul Adams

Published in International Journal of Inclusive Education

As schooling at least partly concerns itself with formulating relationships, it is understandable that certain... more As schooling at least partly concerns itself with formulating relationships, it is understandable that certain behaviours are seen as necessary to the advancement of learning and teaching. However, how pupil behaviour is judged is an indication of wider political perspectives, which in turn assist in the categorization of behaviour. In this respect, wider political perspectives require analysis if reactions to pupil behaviour are to be understood. Via the assertion that contemporary English Education is immersed in the target‐driven, economically determinist assumptions and orientations of the post‐welfare era, it is proposed that certain pupil behaviours are seen to be required, i.e. behaviours that supposedly engender increased performance on external examinations and tests. Problematically, such requirements effectively position some pupils outside this narrative, particularly those whose behaviour is deemed non‐compliant. Often speculation determines that such pupils might ‘have’ Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and following a ‘positive’ diagnosis they are thus pathologized. This paper contends that both parents and educational staff are complicit in the seemingly burgeoning diagnosis of ADHD but for different reasons: parents as a diagnosis offers mitigating circumstances for pupil behaviour and therefore increased entry prospects to those schools seen to do well; teachers as a means to mediate the seemingly contradictory policies of increased attainment and compliance with central mandate, and extensive calls for inclusion of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

Learning and caring in the age of the five outcomes

by Paul Adams

Publsihed in Education 3-13

At its heart Every Child Matters: change for children endeavours to engender an ethic of ‘care for’ the client group.... more At its heart Every Child Matters: change for children endeavours to engender an ethic of ‘care for’ the client group. However, although its raison d'être might well espouse such orientations, it has a certain level of internal ambiguity which if not considered might lead education to position subsequent operationalization in ways antithetical to the underpinning Every Child Matters (ECM) ethos. Similarly, external to ECM is the OfSTED inspection, which, although having undergone reorganization, further supports a standards-driven, performative orientation for contemporary primary education. This article argues that if the holistic ideals of ECM are to be realized then all those involved in education's response to ECM must consider how they are to operate within an ethic of ‘care for’ children rather than ‘care about’ standards and associated narrow definitions of teaching.

(Dis) continuity and the Coalition: primary pedagogy as craft and primary pedagogy as performance

by Paul Adams

Published in Educational Review

Shortly after taking power following the May 2010 UK general election, the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government... more Shortly after taking power following the May 2010 UK general election, the Conservative/Liberal Democrat government published its education white paper, The Importance of Teaching. In this, certain features for primary school pedagogy can be discerned. Using the lens of the “position call”, this article examines the discourses implicated in the white paper to highlight the position calls offered to the primary profession concerning pedagogy. These are compared to those made by New Labour in its previous 13 years in power. Accordingly, the article proposes that whilst the previous administration offered the position calls for primary education of pedagogy as collective craft and pedagogy as collective performance, continuity and discontinuity can be seen in the recent white paper, namely that the position calls now being made are for pedagogy as individual craft and pedagogy as individual performance.

Considering 'best practice': the social construction of teacher activity and pupil learning as performance

by Paul Adams

Published in Cambridge Journal of Education

Since the 1997 election of the Labour Party to political power in the UK the foci for educational change have been... more Since the 1997 election of the Labour Party to political power in the UK the foci for educational change have been widespread. One area that has received particularly intense scrutiny is that of teacher activity. In particular, the profession has seen a marked rise in the identification of ‘best practice’. As a term ‘best practice’ has entered the parlance of English educational policy to describe that which seemingly has ‘official’ approval. This paper uses a social constructionist perspective to consider how increases in pupil attainment on national tests are currently used to demonstrate better pupil learning. Specifically, it identifies that the use of such data to describe the plausibility, veracity and legitimacy of teaching before the test as ‘best practice’ is questionable. In so doing, the critique argues that ‘best practice’ confers and retains legitimacy due to its self‐perpetuation within the discourse of performance. The paper concludes by offering three areas for further research and debate.

Den entreprenörskapande skolan: Styrning, subjektskapande och entreprenörskapspedagogik

by Magnus Dahlstedt

co-authored with Fredrik Hertzberg, published 2011 in Pedagogisk Forskning i Sverige, 16 [3]; 179-198

Departing from Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality, the focus of this article is the introduction of... more Departing from Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality, the focus of this article is the introduction of entrepreneurial education in Swedish education policy at the turn of the millennium. We analyze the various meanings attached to the concepts of entrepreneur and entrepreneurship in education policy documents, as well as the main arguments for introducing entrepreneurial education. In policy documents, the entrepreneur is portrayed as being flexible, creative, enterprising and independent, as having the ability to take initiative, solve problems and make decisions. Here, there is an emphasis made on economical utility, and its priority over other values. In conclusion, entrepreneurial education may be seen as a particular kind of governmentality, connecting students and their subjectivity to the rationality of the market.

Governmentality – Neoliberalism – Education: the Risk Perspective

by Ondrej Kaščák

Co-authored with Branislav Pupala
Published in Journal of Pedagogy, 2011, 2 (2): 145-160
Themed Issue: Governmentality - Neoliberalism - Education: the Risk Perspective

This paper understands the basic elements of neoliberalism in education and governmentality to be the technologies for... more This paper understands the basic elements of neoliberalism in education and governmentality to be the technologies for the neoliberal government of education. It outlines Foucault’s methodology for analysing governmentality and shows how neoliberalism is a discursive formation which homogenises apparently unrelated language games and discourses. It places particular emphasis on the rhizomatic dispersion of neoliberal discursive and non-discursive practices, which in the end create a mosaic of thinking and acting with its own existing internal logic. This paper provides a cross-sectional perspective on how neoliberalism has implanted itself as a universal phenomenon along the horizontal and vertical lines of the education sphere and shows how, particularly through the policy of lifelong learning for a knowledge society, it is transforming first of all the education of adults and how subsequently it has become a fundamental blueprint for the complex revision of higher education and regional schooling, including pre-school education. This paper prefaces this single-issue edition of the Journal of Pedagogy and therefore presents and summarises the articles published in this issue, and suggests how they are thematic examples of a single and more general theoretical framework.

Blood Relatives: Language, Immigration, and Education of Ethnic Returnees in Germany and Japan.

by Debora Hinderliter Ortloff

Co-authored with Christopher J. Frey