School leaders are expected to act with integrity, but values are always contested: one person's 'moral purpose' is not the same as another's. Researchers have explored these issues from different angles. One approach focusses on individual leaders, seeking to understand how their values inform their practice. Other work highlights that individual…

With the introduction of the sectorial agreement signed between the Maltese Government and the Malta Union of Teachers in 2017, Maltese teachers have been incentivised to accelerate their salary scale progression following engagement in self-sought professional learning. The theory of affordances was applied in this mixed-methods research to…

Since the late 1980s, school curriculum revisions in Japan have sought to promote capabilities and dispositions that transcend subject boundaries and are often labelled 'competencies' in international curricular discourse. This study examines policy documents over the period, showing how Japanese policymakers have sought to navigate pressures…

On 3 May 2023, the first mass school shooting occurred in Serbia, positioning children as a particularly vulnerable group in need of further support. Subsequently, the government needed to create policies to help restore a sense of security, stability and trust in the community. The main dilemma was regarding the questions: Should we continue…

This article considers the representation of the controversial issue of the Great Irish Famine (1845-50) in 27 recent Irish and UK history textbooks for the secondary level. Key contested issues -- imports and exports, the British government's laissez-faire economic policy, providentialist interpretations, and victim--perpetrator discourses --…

This study aimed to investigate Belizean high school principals' leadership practices through the lens of the Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL) framework. This study's results inform of the CRSL practices Belizean high school principals use in their diverse school settings across the country of Belize. The results also compared…

This article investigates how the secondary education expansion policy shapes the construction of teacher efficacy. Bandura's self-efficacy theory underlies this article, and qualitative case study was the main approach. Around 12 and 16 teachers, respectively, participated in individual and group interviews. Findings indicate that the inadequate…

Since 2001, U.S. states have mandated that principals in unsuccessful schools author a school improvement plan (SIP) using the rational model of planning. Research on their efficacy is sparse and evidence suggests that principals satisfice on these SIPs, producing work that is "good enough" to meet concerns for external legitimacy over…

This paper charts the development of one of Ireland's first comprehensive schools located in Carraroe in County Galway. Through a systematic, historical analysis of Department of Education and diocesan correspondence, this article provides a unique insight into how official policy was reconciled at ground level. The analysis exposes the ambiguity…

This research analyzed and compared administrators' supervisory and teachers' pedagogical skills concerning quality education in Public and Punjab Education Foundation Funded Schools at the secondary level, in line with the Vision of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG-4) by 2025 (Minimum Standards for Quality Education in Pakistan, 2016). The…

Despite the progress in education in recent years, the marginalization of students identified as having special educational needs (SEN) persists. Students characterized as having SEN is one of the factors that could change the status quo and lead to greater inclusion. The current research project adopted a mixed methodology to investigate this…

This study explores the perceptions of government officials, teachers, and parents in Scotland regarding the use of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results to evaluate national education performance. International large-scale assessments (ILSAs) such as PISA have been increasingly influencing education policymaking worldwide,…

Purpose: While recognizing networking as a powerful means of school turnaround, most studies focus on governments' and schools' roles in promoting collaborative turnaround rather than the complexity of external providers and their behaviors. This study explores multiple external providers' complex roles in networked school turnaround.…

South Korea implemented many-pronged educational reforms, notably to transition from heavy reliance on a high-stakes standardised test to more diversified assessment for university admissions. Nonetheless, this effort created another arena of competition towards meritocratic credentials--such as academic publications. The South Korean government,…

The United States' Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) businesses must be innovative to remain competitive in today's global forum (Authenrieth et al., 2018; Autenrieth et al., 2018; Genareo et al., 2016; Watters & Diezmann, 2013). New business employees must enter the workplace knowing the practical application of a 21st…