This paper explores the vocabulary and frameworks offered by two theories of public policy process: the advocacy coalition framework (ACF) and the narrative policy framework (NPF) and what they offer to the study of global education reform. The foci of ACF are policy subsystems, formation of advocacy coalitions around policy issues, and their…

The aim of this article is to interact critically with Matthew Clayton and David Stevens's recent critique of non-confessional religious education, constituted as a separate, compulsory subject in the school curriculum. Three different critical arguments are considered: the contention that religious education is an unsuitable vehicle for fostering…

This case examines key change management challenges faced by public managers by discussing multiple policy and procedural changes introduced in the Primary & Secondary Healthcare (P&SH) Department, Punjab, Pakistan to improve its medicine procurement process. Under immense political pressure to introduce quick, visible and effective…

This paper details the oscillation between the aesthetic and political response to the refugee crisis as seen through the eyes of the UK's emergency response committee COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room A) and its alternative COBRA RES. Firstly, it examines the interjection of the official COBRA Committee within the image-economy of crisis,…

The UK Government's PREVENT strategy to counter radicalisation and extremism has been the subject of criticism. Concerns arise over clarity of purpose, clarity of terminology used and potential human rights impacts. Where the policy engages with schools, one human right potentially engaged is the right of parents to transfer their religious…

An explicit marketisation and national profiling of Denmark as an attractive country for foreign students has resulted in an increasing number of students from poor countries in the global South, including Nepal, being admitted to Danish colleges and universities. The influx of students from these countries has led to several accusations against…

Market forces are being introduced in public spheres such as higher education and public health, which hitherto were closed to such forces. Ironically, it is the state that is responsible for this process of marketisation. Some see this state action as leading to a growing influence of the state in public policy while others see an attenuation of…

The "underclass" concept pervades social science research on poverty, racial relations, and more recently, immigration. In this article, we elaborate and extend Massey's critique of the underclass concept by briefly reviewing the history of this concept and emphasizing its contemporary application to immigrants and undocumented workers. We also…

This article explores the challenges of unemployment via the lens of critical psychology. The conventional discourse on unemployment is critiqued, revealing ways in which conventional policies and practices serve to further marginalize the lives of the unemployed and impede the development of ethical, effective, and empathic individual…

In its attempt to become a member of the European Union (EU), Turkey is challenged to upgrade its workforce to keep up with economic developments and improve the living conditions in the country. Multiple policy players on global, European and transnational levels are assisting in reforming Turkey's vocational education and training (VET) sector.…

This paper explores some of the unresolved tensions in higher education systems and the contradiction between widening participation and the consolidation of social position. It shows how concepts of capital derived from Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam provide a powerful basis for critique, but risk a deficit view of students from less privileged…

Because in his Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln said, "we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain," and "...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," it is accurate to report that he spoke the words "perish from the earth" and "died in vain." But if his 1864…

Australia has a long and sometimes turbulent relationship with the migrant Other. This paper examines a component of this relationship via the window of contemporary multicultural policy. The paper begins with an analysis of the political and social conditions that enabled a national and bipartisan policy of multiculturalism to emerge as…

The Toxics Geography Exercise was developed as an application-oriented exercise to develop skills in critical analysis in groups of undergraduate students from widely diverse academic backgrounds. Students use publicly available data on industrial activities, history of toxic material disposal, basic chemistry, regulatory approaches of federal and…

The Second Half Program (SHP) is an educational sports program running in Brazil. It began in 2003 and was one of the Olympic educational proposals described in the Rio 2016 Olympics bid. Using sport as a tool, the SHP aims to deliver moral education and to promote citizenship in order to counteract "social exclusion" and "social…