As neoliberal policies became widespread, the number of studies concerned with those policies also increased. This study aims to analyse articles which are concerned with neoliberal education policies in the literature through systematic review. The current study makes efforts, in its scope, to exhibit the descriptive properties (methodological…

Ideas and practices associated with inclusive education have featured prominently in the policies and reforms of successive Australian federal governments since the 1990s, yet there are limited historical analyses of these developments. This paper analyses federal and national inclusive education policies in Australia spanning from 1992 to the…

The Editors' challenges to the field of teacher education ask us to take stock: what is education for? What is our role in preparing new teachers to educate the nation? In their introduction to the panel discussing these challenges, they asked three questions: "Does 'the field' need to be challenged?"; "Can 'the field' be…

In this theoretical article, we respond to a common education policy discourse that represents community participation in educational policy-making as an essentially rational solution to policy problems and as inherently progressive and democratic. We propose that conceptualising participatory politics as 'publics' challenges this discourse and…

This paper offers a brief yet evocative glimpse into marginalised pre-service teachers' (PST) experiences of teacher testing in Australia's High-stakes Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students (LANTITE). Utilising Critical Disability Theory (CDT)in particular, Goodley's (2016) concept of neoliberal-ableism, we problematise…

Social media has become a core feature in policy development and enactment. This article extends current features of digital policy sociology to include the entanglement of education policy development processes with new media, paying particular attention to how two conservative think tanks in Australia have strategically used social media in…

Education policy has long been analyzed as a cycle where various actors influence different stages. However, few such studies have focused on identifying and interrogating the specific moments that shape an education policy's overall equity trajectory. This article uses Bowe, Ball, and Gold's policy cycle as an exploratory theoretical framework,…

The transformation of higher education provision by neoliberal values has been well documented. However, recent criticisms and even attacks upon higher education indicate a new politics extending beyond neoliberalism. This article draws on the sociology of conventions to unpick the distinctions at work in these new criticisms of universities. By…

This paper examines school management and policies in Germany and Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, which is comparative and qualitative, explores the interrelationship between different levels of governance and the responses of teacher unions. The inquiry is informed by the perspectives of historical institutionalism and path…

There have been at least 100 governmental inquiries into teacher education in Australia since the 1970s, making thousands of recommendations, the majority of which have never been fully actioned or realised. Additionally, there is minimal evidence about the efficacy of this continuous review cycle. Here, we problematise these issues by conducting…

In Anglophone countries, narratives of public schooling tend to emphasise generic hopes about schooling as central to the idea of a public good, including fostering community, delivering equality and protecting broad notions of democracy. However, as public systems become more open to privatised logics, these hopes sit alongside fears for the…

Progress towards equitable schooling and educational outcomes in Australia has been notoriously slow, with countless reports highlighting stark inequities between rural areas and urban centres. Most reforms have been grounded in distributive notions of social justice -- addressing funding, staffing, and resourcing -- but fail to address other…

Data infrastructures exist in a variety of formats. This article draws on the insights of senior personnel involved in developing a new data dashboard in one state jurisdiction in Australia. While literature on dashboards often focuses on the teachers and learners influenced by them, there is less attention to those involved in their development…

Force majeure circumstances, such as those witnessed in the COVID-19 pandemic, have been used to justify new technologies of governance as policy-makers around the world began to realise the magnitude of the problem and its political implications. In Australia, the coronavirus crisis focussed attention on the vital role education plays in society…

Politics and pragmatics are central and inseparable features of curriculum reform. In a federated system like Australia, many individuals and organisations are invested in reform at the national and jurisdictional level. This paper focuses on the policy work and roles of key actors positioned at the interface of national and state-based curriculum…