Current reforms in vocational education and training (VET) are characterised by a constant striving for quality assurance and improvement. To this end, a powerful reform network has emerged that shapes the subjectivation processes of teachers. Drawing on Foucault (1980), we term this complex formation a 'dispositive'. The paper introduces…

We examined the possibilities of employing collaborative action research (CAR) to promote Mainland Chinese secondary school teachers' engagement with the recent curriculum reform. A brief background of the history of the examination culture and the curriculum reform is provided. We analysed key challenges leading to teachers' resistance to…

This article draws on a framework based on Bernstein's three-message systems of schooling and Ball's notion of policy cycle to examine how the human capital development goal incorporated into the Bangladesh secondary English curriculum has been translated into pedagogy and assessment practices. Data were collected from classroom observations and…

The design and technology curriculum in England has gone through various policy changes since its introduction in the Education Reform Act of 1988. The 2014 policy revised the content to make it slimmer and outlining the essential core knowledge for Key Stage 1 to 3. Schools need to consider wider aspects of design and technology not included in…

In 2004, a new form of inspection was introduced to post-primary schools in the Republic of Ireland. It represented a complete change from the previous light touch pattern and reflected the New Public Management approach to policymaking and implementation then becoming fashionable in the jurisdiction. Around the same time, a new policy for…

This study proposes a strategic model that schools can adapt their goals and pace of innovation to meet different needs and challenges in their school settings. Based on literature review, field visits, one-on-one and focus group interviews with primary and secondary school teachers and principals, and expert consultations, the model consists of…

One of the most common methods employed to help teachers improve the teaching and learning of mathematics is professional development (PD). Research into professional development is a relatively new field, but still we know much about the features of effective PD with respect to such improvements. While the broad features of PD that are effective…

While the educational emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic centred on student learning and safety, teachers' burnout, and teacher strikes, stories of teachers quitting the profession have left schools in crisis around the world. In this study, we use an intersectional approach to explore teacher experiences during the pandemic as 'crisis…

The research reported in this paper explored secondary Science teachers' experiences in a large-scale and top-down CLIL initiative where schools and teachers had little agency in implementing educational change. Through a grounded theory approach, analysis of data suggests that teachers' insufficient English language proficiency and the lack of…

Performativity is a dominant mode of regulation in many education systems that has caused a significant shift in teaching and teacher professionalism, yet minimal attention has been paid to understanding it in non-Western contexts. This study explores Singaporean teachers' perceptions of teaching within its unique and normalised performative…

In this paper, we revisit a long-running conversation about situated learning and the design of environments for disciplinary engagement. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, scholars advanced an anthropological critique of the then-dominant acquisitionist paradigm of formal schooling with a situated view focused on membership in communities and…

In the beginning months of 2020, the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was causing a worldwide pandemic, affecting individuals, families, communities, and nations. Many lives were drastically affected when governments decided to shut down to prevent the spreading of this virus. Teachers and students had to quickly adapt to learning online or in…

As it grew safer for schools to reopen fully in spring 2021, "FORUM" convened a roundtable discussion to hear more about the experience of teaching and learning through the pandemic, and how that experience might help us rethink the education system. Melissa Benn chaired this wide-ranging and insightful conversation between Eliane…

In 2020, the emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic brought a drastic and sudden change in teaching practices, from the physical space of the classrooms to the virtual space of an e-environment. In this paper, through a qualitative analysis of 44 collected essays composed by Italian mathematics teachers from primary school to undergraduate level…

The key premise of professional development (PD) is that learning to teach continues throughout teachers' careers. And yet, experienced teachers are often portrayed in media and public policy as resistant to such learning and afraid of change. This paper seeks a more nuanced understanding of why experienced teachers might resist the prospect of PD…