This paper explores how the contradictions of neoliberal education reform and its companion, the self-made aspirational subject, are embodied by Sir Michael Wilshaw, former headteacher of Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney, East London, through his leadership practices. Wilshaw creates powerful mobility and morality tales that pave over the…

The euphemism "21st century contexts" is often used to capture the transition from solid twentieth century education towards more uncertain social and educational conditions. These contextual narratives acknowledge the complexities of contemporary education that make decision-making, professional practice and leadership seem difficult.…

Social work educators are in a phase of reintroducing the doctor of social work (DSW) degree and refining distinctions between PhD and DSW doctoral programs. This article examines how the two options have been prey to a noticeable "seesaw of precedence", resulting in a debatable history of social work's approach to doctoral education…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have been recognised as having the potential to raise the quality of teachers, teaching and student learning through structured teacher collaboration, and have been featured prominently in Singapore and Shanghai--both considered top-performing Asian societies in the Program for International Student…

In pursuit of more mindful notions of hybridity, this review essay provides a series of reflections on Mathew Weinstein's representations of Street Medics and "sciences for the red zones of neoliberalism". My analysis draws on three popular ways of thinking with boundaries to offer a critical reading of the boundary-work that the…

The post-compulsory education and training system in the UK has long been defined as an archetypical voluntarist model. Yet, with the election of a New Labour government in 1997, the relationship between the state as supply-side provider of skills and employers as the demanders of skills began to subtly change. An additional rhetoric emerged in…

Higher education in the college sector has become an increasingly important aspect of the tertiary education system in Scotland, particularly in widening access to higher education for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. In this respect there is a distinctively different tradition in Scotland when compared with England. Despite the success of…

In an effort to disrupt the hegemonic dominance of learning theory, in this article Tyson Lewis explores the unique educational logic of studying. Drawing on the work of Giorgio Agamben, we can understand the operation of study as one of suspension through three modes: preferring not; no longer, not yet; and as not. But the relationship between…

This article will consider the tensions and opportunities provoked by the presence of a growing number of international students at UK art schools in which ambiguity operates as an implicit value within fine art pedagogies. Challenging assumptions of lack or deficit this article will ask how responding to this changing student body might require…

The integration of research and practice is of concern in all helping professions. Has social work become an evidence-based profession as some claim? Characteristics of current-day social work are presented that dispute this view, related continuing concerns are suggested, and promising developments (mostly outside social work) are described that…

Despite the government's emphasis on guidance and counseling program implementation in Kenyan schools and a rapid increase in the number of trained school counselors, lack of standardized training curriculums, ethical standards, counseling models, and role ambiguity persist. This article reviews the historical development of guidance and…

The status of educational technology research in a VUCA world is examined. The acronym, VUCA, stands for "Volatility" (rapidly changing contexts and conditions), "Uncertainty" (information missing that is critical to problem solving), "Complexity" (multiple factors difficult to categorize or control), and…

Professors bemoan the great difficulty students have understanding the complexity of their disciplines or functional specializations. Many non-traditional students have work and family commitments that limit the time needed to reflect professionally and to master these concepts. This disconnect has persisted despite decades of work developing more…

Over the course of the past few decades, scholars and theorists have engaged in a dynamic and concerted effort to interpret, make sense of, and resist a variety of social phenomena often categorized under the concept of "postmodernism." This project has also been taken up by educators of various stripes, especially those who identify…

The aim of this paper is to explore and clarify the idea of "powerful knowledge" as a sociological concept and as a curriculum principle. The paper seeks to clarify its conceptual basis and to make its meaning and the arguments it implies, less ambiguous and less open to misunderstanding. This will enable us to suggest some of the…