Education policies are increasingly characterized as complex and dynamic, involving a multitude of actors and policy networks. As a result, there is a growing demand in education for research approaches that can help make sense of this complexity. This paper examines the applicability of multi-level governance (MLG) framework as a tool of…

This paper examines competencies required for leadership of multi-academy trusts (MATs) to identify the learning experiences needed to make the transition to executive leadership (a concept perceived here as having accountability for multi-part organisations). As part of national government(s) drive to reduce the influence and control of local…

This paper analyses the experiences of English primary school leaders who perform critical roles in interpreting government policy and navigating the landscape to design relationship and sex education (RSE) for their pupils. It considers schools as sites of political contestation and educators as policy actors, the voices of whom are often absent…

Education reform in the United States has unwisely focused attention on standards and accountability to the state as determined by standardized testing (Berliner & Biddle, 1995; Mehta, 2013). Stemming from the emphasis on standards-based accountability are the ideas of rapid school "turnaround" and the state's role in this process…

Environmental and climate change education remains on the margins of education and climate change policy. This paper draws on Foucauldian theoretical resources to examine England's climate change education policy landscape and understand the causes of this marginalisation. Informed by policy historiography, we examine key events and shifts in…

This study used the historical research method to explore the Chinese government's role in building world-class universities. We traced the government's role in pushing policies for: (1) accelerating academic improvement; and (2) enhancing the involvement of provincial governments in achieving universities' world-class status. The findings…

Employability is a construct that includes soft and hard skills to prepare a person to gain employment, progress in it and sustain a career. The employability discourse, in the context of linking education with skills development, has gained increased attention globally. However, engagement with this agenda differs across countries, as it depends…

Processes of globalisation, sustainable development, the COVID-19 pandemic, and other current circumstances influence the development of higher education. Higher education institutions in Ukraine also face challenges related to the military aggression by the Russian Federation since 2014, martial law since February 2022 and efforts to prepare for…

Since 2001, U.S. states have mandated that principals in unsuccessful schools author a school improvement plan (SIP) using the rational model of planning. Research on their efficacy is sparse and evidence suggests that principals satisfice on these SIPs, producing work that is "good enough" to meet concerns for external legitimacy over…

This dissertation research explores the complexity of transformations of academic lives and academic identities along the multiple, non-linear, conflicting, and paradoxical trajectories of the pre-Soviet, Soviet, and post-Soviet times and spaces. Academic literature on the post-Soviet transformations of higher education has usually focused on…

In Danish universities, like elsewhere, there is an increased concern for students' mental health and well-being. In 2018 the Danish government implemented a new biannual national student survey that focuses on well-being as a new indicator in the performance-based funding model. In this article we explore the survey, which is similar to surveys…

The evaluation of research to allocate government funding to universities is now common across the globe. "The Research Excellence Framework," introduced in the UK in 2014, marked a major change by extending assessment beyond the 'quality' of published research to include its real-world 'impact'. Impact submissions were a key determinant…

In 2011, Sweden introduced tuition fees for students from countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland when they enrolled at higher education institutions (HEIs). As a direct consequence, the number of students in Sweden from those countries decreased by 80% that year. Since then, the number of students has increased again…

This article describes educational pluralism as a common approach to schooling in which the government funds a wide variety of schools and holds all of them academically accountable. Educational pluralism implies a diverse structure (i.e., schools that differ from one another in meaningful ways) and a common academic content (i.e., all schools…

Between 2018 and 2022, 23 foreign higher education institutions established a campus in Uzbekistan, resulting in it becoming the nation with the third largest number of international branch campuses globally, behind China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of this research is to understand the Uzbek government's and foreign…