This article analyses the discourse on 'good parenthood' that has emerged in Germany in the context of neoliberal educational reforms in recent decades. The analysis shows that this discourse is structured mainly along the lines of "race", "class" and "gender." It also shapes the parents' responses to racial othering…

Recent de-tracking reforms in some German federal states converted or merged the two lower track secondary school types into a comprehensive one, where students can achieve all school-leaving qualifications. The goals of the reforms were to facilitate desegregation of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds and to reduce educational…

Drawing on our experiences as researchers and educators in multiple national contexts, we argue for the necessity for conceptualizations of 'inclusion' that subsume both the discourse of equity and the material conditions of its enactment. In this paper, we look specifically at two groups engaged in enacting inclusion -- novice teachers in the US…

The article addresses the issues surrounding the importance and impact of 'hinterlands' in the construction of European higher education systems and in the formation of sectoral policy. It draws on studies of Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom to illustrate different policy approaches and shows how in some countries…

This article focuses on the role of teachers' attitudes towards cultural diversity in teaching refugee students in Germany. We examine which patterns of attitudes towards cultural diversity are common among teachers, how these depend on their professional experience and how they correlate with the perceptions of problems in teaching refugee…

Based on an action research project, this paper provides innovative teaching approaches for ELT to ensure gender equality through critical pedagogy. The qualitative study focuses on the reconstruction of students' perceptions through the analysis of group/peer talk allowing for the display of changing viewpoints after having dealt with feminist…

Teacher shortages have intensified across several OECD countries, making this an urgent priority for education systems. Between 2015 and 2022, the share of students whose principals reported shortages rose from 29% to 46.7% on average across the OECD. Simultaneously, rapid technological advances, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and broader…

The aim of this study is to empirically investigate the reasons for regional disparities in educational expansion in Germany (i.e., rising rates of general university entrance qualification) on the basis of theoretically relevant influencing factors: changes in school policies, changes in social structure, or general social modernization…

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant influence on all aspects of society, and it is necessary to comprehend the responses of various stakeholders as well as the challenges that higher education has encountered in the aftermath of the outbreak. This study systematically analyses the measures taken by higher education stakeholders in response…

In Germany we observe a strong increase in the enrolment in shadow education ('Nachhilfe') over the last two decades. To explain this development we draw on social reproduction theories identifying two strategies: (1) families seek competitive advantages for their children to maintain or achieve an advantageous education level (status attainment…

This book explores new and distinctive forms of higher vocational education across the globe, and asks how the sector is changing in response to the demands of the 21st century. These new forms of education respond to two key policy concerns: an emphasis on high skills as a means to achieve economic competitiveness, and the promise of open access…

This article describes and analyzes the debate about inclusion against the backdrop of school reform in Germany. The tiered school system has caused significant controversies during the past decades and underwent changes that often yielded ambiguous results with regards to social and educational justice. Another major change of the system is now…

Globalization has become one of the most recurrent concepts in social and political sciences. More often than not, however, the concept is handled without much of a properly articulated theory capable of explaining its historical origin and expansion. For education researchers attempting to elucidate how global changes and processes affect their…

In 2020, 1.5 billion students in 188 countries/economies were locked out of their schools. Students everywhere have been faced with schools that are open one day and closed the next, causing massive disruption to their learning. With the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic still raging, many education systems are still struggling, and the situation is…

Looking to conflicting constitutions of education systems through the terms equality and excellence, this paper examines the discursive formation of two political rationalities in the contemporary German education system. While early childhood and primary education discourses are dominated by a terminology of equality, tertiary education…