Drawing on a set of studies conducted over 3 decades, this article provides a reflection on what has been learned by centering equity questions in research on educational reform. These studies reveal the need to explore educators' belief systems, emotions, and agency in relation to reform. They also underscore the co-constructed nature of reform…

The vision for musically educating all children in tax-funded schools dates to the early 19th century, at a time when music was initially inserted into the curriculum of common schools. Is that vision being realized today? Why do all children not have equal access to music education by now, regardless of their locations, as per the democratic…

In this study on educational change in Pennsylvania from 1790 to 1838, I reexamine the history of how the state established its common school system, the predecessor to the state's public school system. In doing so, I identify a series of three leaders, argue that poverty was the primary catalyst for educational reform, and explain the nature of…

Notwithstanding the dramatic admission of the historical injustice against females in the Ethiopian constitution three decades back and the education policy that reflected the enthusiasm to address gender inequality, in practice, it failed to create a fairly inclusive higher education environment that is friendly to women. The aim of this study is…

This paper examines the openings for educational change enabled by framing inequality through the concept of rights, considering how variations of this framing have emerged historically and in current debates. Taking as our starting point the 1970 publication Rights and Inequality in Australian Education, we suggest that it is important to pay…

Over the past 50 years, China's initial teacher education (ITE) system has undergone significant changes and improvements. To review and reflect on these experiences, we construct a multi-level, context-specific conceptualisation of ITE professionalisation. Guided by this framework, we segment the history of ITE professionalisation into three…

"Shakespeare Fixes: Equitable Approaches to Shakespeare Pedagogy in U.S. High Schools" examines the world of Shakespeare professional development and pedagogy for high school teachers. Shakespeare's works occupy a unique place in U.S. schooling, where, due to both the entrenched status of his works in U.S. curricula and the challenging…

This paper adopts a biopower lens to examine emergency declarations that posit race or racism as problems to be addressed through mathematics education. We argue that attending to "slow emergencies" of racism must avoid sustaining mathematics education as a self-evident cause and cure for societal problems. We analyze how declarations of…

While academic conferences and professional associations were amongst those societal structures that were immediately (and arguably forever) changed by the pandemic , many -- including this article's authors and this special issue's editors -- would argue that long before the pandemic, the static structure of professional conferences had made them…

This essay considers the usefulness of history of education, first, through the history of Australian university-based teacher education and then through the history of how, in the postwar period of schooling expansion, the provision of public schooling was transformed discursively from a policy solution into a policy problem--with opposing…

The current anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement is best understood as the latest incarnation of a historical pattern of political backlash to civil rights reforms in higher education. In this article, the authors demonstrate how the current anti-DEI movement relies on a playbook developed during the 1960s through 1980s: one that…

Since the beginning of higher education, universities have remained largely closed off spaces for disabled students. This paper examines how, and why, it has largely been in the last fifty years that these students have slowly been able to enter universities as the sector has made incremental improvements to enable the entry of students from…

Historical influence in present day education contributes to the continuous conversation of equity in higher education systems. In the process of understanding inequalities and exploring the academic achievements of first-generation low-income students (FGLI), this paper summarizes generational effects on the academic journey within the community.…

Deaf education officially began in Portugal in 1823, with Pedro Aron Borg, at the invitation of D. João VI and his daughter, D. Isabel. In Brazil, it began in 1857, when Édouard Adolfo Huet Merlo founded the first institution, with the consent of D. Pedro II. The Royal Institute for the Deaf-Mute and the Blind in Lisbon and the Imperial Institute…

The history of the people, problems, and politics surrounding the establishment of federal special education policy is rich with useful illustrations for advocates and educators. As the 50th anniversary of IDEA approaches, we use a historical perspective to consider how the promise of the law -- to ensure access to a free appropriate public…