Global policy discourse promotes teachers as leaders of educational change who should have a voice in policy formation. 'Teaching Scotland's Future', a major teacher education reform in Scotland, feeds off this vision. Taking an Actor-Network Theory inspired Critical Policy Analysis approach, I unpack the participation of human and non-human…

What does it take to create an educational environment committed to social change? What is the role of the teacher in this process? The researcher? Education offers a radical hope of learning for freedom over conformity. Still, this form of liberatory education can only occur through consistent reflexivity that critically examines systems of…

The purpose of this study was to assess teachers' knowledge and reporting practices in response to sexual gender-based violence in schools. To learn more about the role teachers can play in responding to gender-based violence, this study examines teachers' perceptions of gender-based violence and their actions around reporting incidences of the…

Curriculum, while often narrowly defined, is a contested space that stimulates continuing international debate, yet the importance of curriculum studies is frequently overlooked across the continuum of teacher education. Within the Irish context a technicist interpretation of curriculum studies, focusing primarily of subject knowledge and…

What makes a good teacher and what motivates a person to want to teach are timeless questions that concern us all. This study focuses on those who are currently training to become teachers, more specifically undergraduates studying a degree in Primary Education in the universities of Catalonia. It adopts a quantitative methodology based on a…

This article presents the findings related to the identity construction processes of an Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher in the context of Iran. Data were collected using a life history approach with a critical-event focus and analyzed via social ecology of identity (Wenger, 1998). The findings indicated that the participating…

China is becoming an increasingly polarized society, in large part due to the inaccessibility of basic education for minority children. Schools can be vehicles for social change and community building, and teachers can be agents of transformation and hope. The PRC, however, is experiencing a critical shortage of trained teachers willing to serve…

Although three articles in this special issue address three very different social groupings--gender, ethnicity, and academic needs--they all highlight why inclusion is important for students' healthy development. The authors make specific suggestions for how schools might promote a more inclusive and welcoming climate for their students.…

This paper investigates the problems and promises of teachers' agency associated with Bolivia's current "decolonising" education reform. The Avelino Siñani Elizardo Pérez (ASEP) education reform is part of a counter-hegemonic and anti-neoliberal policy that aims to advance the political project of the government of Evo Morales, with…

This paper presents a "peace with social justice" framework for analysing the role of teachers as agents of sustainable peace, social cohesion and development and applies this to research evidence from Pakistan, Uganda, Myanmar and South Africa. The paper draws on evidence from a recently completed UNICEF and ESRC funded project on…

Education is seen to play a crucial role in the reconstruction of post-conflict countries, particularly in transforming people's mindsets and rebuilding social relations. In this regard, teachers are often perceived as key agents to bring about this transformative change through their role as agents of peace. This paper seeks to understand how…

Research indicates that precision agricultural education (PAE) in Oklahoma affects environmental quality, water conservation, and crop yields. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the nature and perceived effectiveness of PAE in Oklahoma secondary agricultural education classes. The study was framed by the diffusion of…

Role theory is based in a conception of a social world wherein various roles are either available or made available and those participating in such worlds shape their identity according to the roles that are made available to them. In positioning theory, Haare and van Langenhove (1998) suggest that teachers are always in the process of…

This research explores six language teacher educators' professional experiences in Hong Kong. Drawing on the data from their narrative frames, the study identified some distinct roles in the participants' professional lives, including teacher, supervisor, learner, researcher, scholar, and change agent. While some of the roles were satisfying and…

This paper explores how sexually marginalised black high-school students from conservative schooling contexts in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, experience schooling. It draws on queer theories through life narratives in presenting findings from a small-scale interventionist project designed by the author. The project involved 14 participants…