This paper provides a detailed account of the Queensland education system's engagement with reforming curriculum, pedagogies and assessment. In so doing, it responds to the University College London's Institute of Education report on "high-performing" jurisdictions, of which Queensland, Australia, was identified as one. In this report,…

Whilst globally there has been a great deal of discussion and rhetoric regarding the state of physical education at the primary level, there is a paucity of evidence regarding teachers' perceptions of quality physical education in practice. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore and interpret primary school teachers' perceptions of…

In the high-stakes accountability English educational system, decisions made by government and agencies about curriculum, pedagogy and assessment drive school planning and actions. This paper analyses the drivers for the recent change to French German and Spanish GCSEs and highlights particular areas of the new specification which may damage the…

This article considers a recent policy initiative in assessment in English primary schools (ages 5-11 years) in which curriculum 'levels' used by teachers to judge pupils' attainment were suddenly removed. Previous work has largely focused on assessment of pupils, but we examine assessment as an activity through which teachers reproduce their…

This article investigates preschool teachers' professionalism and professional strategies in relation to narratives about learning in preschool. These are expressed through the teachers' talk about documentation. A policy on increased systematic documentation in preschools has been introduced in Sweden. Preschool teachers were interviewed about…

The study examines Israel's educational technology policy in light of the coming-of-age of ICT. The study shows the ways it has been developing, and identifies two major shifts which have occurred in recent years: the introduction of the national educational cloud, and the enabling of the "bring your own device" (BYOD) policy. The way…

The place of evidence to inform educational effectiveness has received increasing attention internationally in the last two decades. An important contribution to evidence-informed policy has been greater attention to experimental trials including randomised controlled trials (RCTs). The aim of this paper is to examine the use of evidence,…

This article examines how three national curricula for basic education in Finland reflect transnational policy perspectives from 1994 to the present. By developing a conceptual apparatus for curriculum analysis, we examine how national curricula in Finland can be interpreted as modifications of transnational policy transfers shaped by…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the Swedish National Agency for Education's launch of the nationwide Lgr11 curriculum reform and how local education authorities (LEAs) in one municipality translated and responded to the National Agency's directives. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents empirical data from a qualitative…

Writing instruction in New Zealand occurs in a context with potential for variability in curriculum and delivery. The national curriculum is broad; self governing schools are to interpret and apply as appropriate to their local context. There are no mandated tests, nor external examinations until the last three years of school. Schools report to…

In 2009 the Historical Association conducted the first of what has become an annual survey of history teachers in England. Its aim was to get beyond bare statistics relating to subject uptake and examination success to examine the reality of history teaching across all kinds of schools and to map the extent of variation in students' and teachers'…

Much of the scholarship around the workings of education policy has focused on the global West and has taken for granted the state's limited abilities in the control of policies as both text and discourse. Drawing upon policy texts from the Singapore Ministry of Education and ethnographic data collected in a Singapore school, this paper explores…

This article offers a perspective on Drama as a separate subject within the UK secondary school curriculum from the point of view of a working Head of a Drama department. I explore the various concerns a teacher of this subject must consider when planning a curriculum within their school, including breadth and depth of content and assessment of…

This paper engages with some of the opportunities and challenges presented by curriculum policy reform around the world in order to explore the enactment possibilities for educators engaging with the new Australian Curriculum Health and Physical Education (ACHPE). Tensions amidst curriculum policy reform are not unique to Australia, however, the…

The article describes the usefulness of a realist methodology in linking sociological theory to empirically obtained data through the development of a methodological device. Three layers of analysis were integrated: 1. the findings from a case study about Maori language education in New Zealand; 2. the identification and analysis of contradictions…