To achieve a successful policy transfer from one country to another, knowledge is required about the framework conditions of the country to which the policy is transferred. An important framework condition to consider is cultural context. Therefore, this paper uses a combination of cultural definitions which consider culture as a driver for both…

The principal aim of this article is to provide a historical overview of 25 years of competence policy in the European Union, highlighting connections between past and current initiatives and outlining possible scenarios for the decade to come. The article presents the social investment turn in social policy as the critical political background…

This paper analyses some key historical developments (from early twentieth century to present) in Bangladesh from a socio-historical and language ideological perspective to explore the social injustice faced by the non-dominant and linguistically diverse population. These developments sparked language debates involving questions of identity,…

This article discusses the changes in basic education in Turkey, with a particular focus on religious education and its ramifications for the education system. The latest education reform, 4 + 4 + 4 (or 4+), the largest education reform in recent Turkish history, has brought radical changes to the school system regarding religious education. For…

This article explores the ways in which a group of primary school teachers in Cyprus interprets the relationship between religious and citizenship education. The contextualisation of the meaning of religious education shows the extent to which social, historical and political elements shape teachers' perceptions about the entanglements between…

The spread of English is so much an integral part of globalization that it has become an essential global literacy skill. In Asia, this poses immense challenges to governments and English language teaching and teacher education professions as they attempt to meet this demand from students for a high level of English proficiency. This volume…

South Africa is facing the challenge of creating a viable nation from a situation of interplay between diverse racial, ethnic and linguistic forces. This article discusses the implications for education of the evolving picture of language policy as South Africa addresses the task of nation-building. Language policy is important because of its key…

The educational attainment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students is often presented within a deficit view. The need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers to challenge the societal norms is necessary to contribute to the struggle for self-determination. This paper presents a theoretical and methodological approach that…

This article examines a growing and distressing social phenomenon, namely, bullying, the historical development, social dimensions, and political impact of which are taken into account and subjected to reflection and critical consideration. It describes both the progress of and problems with the concept of bullying. It also reflects on the…

We report on a small scale study carried out in Austria, Italy and Poland which investigated the attitudes of university teachers engaged in teaching their academic subject through the medium of English. The data consisted of 25 teacher interviews. We focused on the topics of internationalisation of universities, on policy and resourcing, and on…

The aim of this article is to analyze the effects of the socio-political processes on the academic profession in Argentina from the life course perspective. The analysis of differences in the individuals' life course was made by dividing them into three groups, representing different generations of academics: the novel, the intermediate, and the…

In this paper we examine Greek-Cypriot teachers' positions towards the--largely unfamiliar--concept of reconciliation within the Greek-Cypriot community. Looking at a set of 40 interviews conducted in spring 2009, this study is set against the broader historical context of the continuing Cyprus Problem and the development of ethnic rivalry between…

This paper assumes that language and educational policies are manifestations of the interdependence between linguistic thought and the prevailing "zeitgeist", and hence that an investigation of these policies from an historical perspective falls squarely within the history of linguistics. The policies discussed here are those by the…

Praises Harold Silver's book "Education, Change, and the Policy Process" for its complex, thoughtful essays justifying the use of history to make informed educational policy. Questions Silver's strong focus on top policymakers and his failure to acknowledge policymakers' usual reliance on intuition and ordinary knowledge, not scholarly studies.…

The article compares the educational policy trajectories of four societies in the South-west Indian Ocean: Madagascar, Mauritius, Ile de la Reunion and South Africa. The main purpose is to trace the political pathways and differing educational policy trajectories of former colonies of Britain and France. Five metaphors are invoked in this paper to…