There is considerable rhetoric internationally around the need for national curricula to reflect the changes that are taking place in the world outside school. This raises questions about what a quality curriculum in a technological era should look like, and equally challenging issues about how to achieve the necessary changes in schooling in…

Recognizing that English skills are vital for international communications, for the economic development of the country, and for Thailand to compete with other nations, the Thai government has formalized the teaching of English in its Basic Education Curriculum. In 1999, the Ministry of Education reformed and decentralized the Thai educational…

This paper explores the relationship between education policy and the trajectory of English fever in Korea. English fever refers to a fervent desire to become proficient in English at almost any cost. English fever started with governments' globalisation efforts in the 1980s and further intensified in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial…

This case study reports how three high-school teachers from two state schools in Colombia enacted the National English Suggested Curriculum by the Ministry of Education. The teachers' trajectories of action were analyzed through semi-structured interviews, teachers' narratives, and lesson observations. Using the ecological model of agency as a…

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…

Sustainability is an important cross-curriculum priority in Australian education that is not commonly realised in schools and classrooms. In this article, we discuss the challenges and opportunities to enacting sustainability, suggesting that both top-down (systemic schoolwide leadership and support) and bottom-up (individual educator's…

This article is the introduction to the special issue about Evaluation, Educational Policy Reforms, and Their Implications for Arts Education. A summary of all the articles comprised in the special issue is reported, mainly featured, on the one hand, by a discussion about how the education policy reforms shape a particular approach to evaluation…

Sport Australia released the Australian Physical Literacy Framework (APLF) in 2019 to advance a national agenda for physical literacy (PL) and specifically, clarify and promote the development of PL in Australian sport and education sectors. For teachers, this policy initiative followed a period of curriculum development guided by the Australian…

This paper draws on Bourdieu's theorising (particularly habitus and field) to think about position-making of teachers in respect of the early enactment of the Australian Curriculum. Position-making, a concept developed from the analysis proffered, can be contrasted with the more common practice of position-taking endemic in a relatively stable…

The centralized compilation and use of educational materials for the three subjects of language arts, ethics and the rule of law (ideology and politics), and history are important moves in the fundamental task of creating educational materials to build up the state's authority and instill virtue and nurturing the young. Here, centrally compiled…

This critical policy analysis investigates the opinions and activities of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACREs) in England. It uses a critical approach to educational policy to examine the diffuse power structure of SACREs and give voice to those local councils. Using data gathered in an online survey of SACREs, conducted…

International comparative curriculum research is becoming more important in a globalised world. However, up-to-date comparative studies of international foreign language education policies are still rare. This study compares current modern foreign language curricula in England with that in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia in Germany at Key…

In recent years, many policies have been formulated and strongly promoted to improve the quality of early childhood education. In 2012, the Taiwanese government enacted a new national curriculum framework for early childhood education to enhance the quality of early childhood education programs. This new framework is key competence-oriented,…

This paper theoretically demonstrates the potential of textual space in making an important contribution to school ethos and cultural pedagogy. It demonstrates how culturally-inclusive (representational) textual space can be expanded throughout the school and could contribute to social justice and decolonisation efforts beyond the English…

The increasing use of media and digital technologies has been modifying how people think over and shape their physical activities and healthcare consumption. This growing trend has been reflected in school curriculum developments for Physical Education and Health. As educators and policy makers adjust local curricula to reflect these technological…