Ideas about educational improvement are contextual and contested. This study proposes a critical and pragmatic framework to analyse systemic improvement, taking into account the paradoxes and limitations of quantitative sources. The study compared 83 subnational educational systems of three federal countries in Latin America: Argentina, Brazil,…

Following remarks about the nature and significance of values and values education, generally and more specifically in China, England, Mexico and Spain, we explain the methods used to analyse official policies that apply to moral education, citizenship education and character education. We find similarity across the documents regarding five…

This article presents a comparative analysis of educational policy documents on leadership and teacher development in Spain, Colombia, and Mexico, countries that are represented in the International Study of Teacher Leadership (ISTL) (Webber, 2018). We are comparing public policies in three participating countries that do not declare an explicit…

National education policies often emerge from the global arena. These global policy norms hold the promise that reforms will produce similar education and development outcomes in different contexts. However, research on "how" and "why" global education reforms are practised 'on the ground' and with "what effects" is…

In this article, the notion of excellence in relation to teaching is removed from its privileged place in order to render it, and its implications, for analysis. We argue that teaching excellence needs to be understood in the larger context of the neoliberal university in which competition is taken for granted, and therefore, metrics for…

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has highlighted a 'vicious cycle of decline' in rural, regional and remote (RRR) regions, with significant inequalities in educational outcomes between rural and urban areas. However, interventions have not resulted in transformative or lasting improvements to education in rural…

A "worldization" process of the education system started during the later years of the last millennia. This movement has been strengthened through the participation of supranational organizations, in which their recommendations have served as the source of guidance in the definition of educational policies of the associated countries.…

School leadership has a core position within education policy worldwide. Comparative research in this area has been mainly focused on developed countries and has tended to neglect the situation of developing nations, including Latin American countries. Considering the above, this article presents the current status of school leadership policies in…

The present study addresses gender gaps in North American research productivity, which may be influenced by personal and family variables, as well as professional and work-related variables. The study was conducted as part of the "Changing Academic Profession (CAP) International Survey", conducted in 2007-08. Using articles as indicator…

The rise of globalisation makes language competencies more valuable, both at individual and societal levels. This book examines the links between globalisation and the way we teach and learn languages. It begins by asking why some individuals are more successful than others at learning non-native languages, and why some education systems, or…

This volume offers a close look at four cases of indigenous language revitalization: Maori in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Sami in Scandinavia, Hnahno in Mexico and Quechua and other indigenous languages in Latin America. Essays by experts from each case are in turn discussed in international perspective by four counterpart experts. This book is divided…

This article describes the differences and similarities among some OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in educating special needs students. Although there are large differences in the type of provision made, when the process of inclusion is examined, there are more similarities than differences. OECD countries…