Background: Although dialogue is often regarded as a vehicle for teacher professional development and learning, particularly in relation to verbal interactions between teachers, its uses remain limited. Deepening the understanding of dialogue in its fullest sense, and its potential applications in education, may help to unleash its power in…

Under neo-liberal policies in many countries, there has been an extensive trend of educational reform which intensifies competition. Such educational reform is underpinned by direct government control, seen in centre to periphery forms of policy administration and implementation with strong emphasis on managerialism and test-oriented…