Solving complex problems is critical to educational leaders' ability to achieve improvement in schools. Much of this problem-solving is carried out in conversations with staff. This paper draws on theories of collaborative problem-solving and interpersonal effectiveness to examine the behavior of leaders in such conversations -- in Norway and New…

A full academic career encompasses both successes and failures. The purpose of this study was to delve into academic successes and failures, going beyond the conventional focus on objective measures, such as performance, rankings, and funding. Through semi-structured interviews with twelve senior academics from seven countries, we explored…

In this paper, we describe and reflect on the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) methodology used to explore how secondary school health and physical education (HPE) teachers address social justice in their teaching practice. The paper is informed by data generated as part of an ongoing three-year international research project involving eight…

The aim of this research is to make a cross-national comparison of art curricula for kindergarten-aged children across five countries--Korea, Norway, New Zealand, Slovakia and Singapore. A document analysis was conducted on the five curricula using a constant comparative approach for selected qualitative statements to analyse two major constructs:…

The way school Health and Physical Education (HPE) is conceptualized and taught will impact on its ability to provide equitable outcomes across gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion and social class. A focus on social justice in HPE is pertinent in times when these ideals are currently under threat from neoliberal globalization. This paper draws…

This article argues that strong interrelations between methodological and theoretical advances exist. Progress in, especially comparative, methods may have important impacts on theory evaluation. By using the example of the "Varieties of Capitalism" approach and an international comparison of higher education systems, it can be shown…

Most existing research indicates that working students perform more poorly than do full-time students on standardized achievement tests. However, we know there are wide international variations in this gap. This article shows that national and international contexts help to explain the gap in the academic performance between working and nonworking…

This article reports on perceptions of meritocracy and support for education-based meritocracy in 26 countries. Using the International Social Survey Program Social Inequality III (1999) survey, we investigate the impact of education on perceptions and support, at both the individual and the country level. At the individual level, education…

Global efforts to prepare young developing minds for solving current and future challenges of climate change have advocated interdisciplinary, issues-based instructional approaches in order to transform traditional models of science education as delivering conceptual facts (UNESCO, 2014). This study is an exploration of the online interactions in…

This paper discusses the kindergarten curricula of Norway, Sweden, Japan and New Zealand in terms of whether they recommend or suggest teachers unify play and pedagogy by employing a pedagogy of play. These countries were selected because, while they have to provide for children's right to play, they cover different geographical and cultural parts…

The purpose of this study was to explore why highly trained musicians choose to teach in higher education. An international population from nine countries of music instrument teachers was sampled via online survey, to determine their reasons for teaching in higher education. Motivational constructs from the expectancy-value framework were used,…

This article focuses on evidence regarding cross-national patterns of participation in adult education and an interpretation of these patterns from an institutional and public policy perspective. The interpretation follows from the perspective that sustaining high and widely distributed levels of investment in the development and maintenance of…

This article examines a group of New Zealand preschool teachers' perspectives on their early childhood curriculum--"Te Whariki: He Whariki Maatauranga mo ngaa Mokopuna o Aotearoa" (Ministry of Education, 1996). In this discussion we focus on the teachers' understandings of the meaning, value and focus of this curriculum document. This is…