A two-year qualitative study of mathematics and English teachers in two urban comprehensive high schools investigated how teacher community serves as resource for teacher development and school reform. A school engaged in whole-school reform sustained high teacher commitment and school-level community by constituting professional community…

In this paper transitions in the operational definitions of professionalism over the last 20 years will be discussed. As a consequence of (imposed) changes in the control of curriculum and assessment and increased measures of public accountability, teachers in most countries now work within cultures in which their careers are ever more dependent…

The two questions in this chapter are whether school restructuring promotes or constrains the professional development of teachers and which mechanisms for workplace learning appear to enhance the capacity of teachers to critically interpret educational reforms. To answer the first question, the implementation of structural changes and…

Using a narrative inquiry methodology, this 10-year study examined the situated nature of two teachers' development. Research questions examined how the teachers situated their own learning, how they developed discourse communities for teaching and learning, and how they used tools in their work. Findings suggest that the following elements of…

In post-Mao China, wide-ranging reform programmes have affected almost every sphere of life. History education has been no exception, and in addition to attempts to revise teaching, learning and assessment methods, there have been preliminary forays into textbook pluralism and gradual devolution of curriculum development. History education…

History as a school subject in Hong Kong is often assumed to have been a vehicle for "colonialist" indoctrination under the British, and for "nationalist" indoctrination under the post-retrocession Chinese regime. This chapter challenges such assumptions by examining the ways in which history syllabuses have (or have not) dealt with topics…

Japan has often been criticized for allegedly teaching its schoolchildren about the history of Imperial Japan 1895-1945 in selective and misleading ways. Is this criticism justified, and how does it compare with the record of another former colonial power in East Asia: England? International criticism of history teaching in England has been…

The strength of nationalism in East Asia has in recent years attracted a great deal of attention, both among the scholarly community and in the media. However, with the notable exception of Japan, little attention has been devoted to the subject of history education. As a result, the ways in which history education across the region both…

In recent years, there has been a good deal of media and academic interest in the ways in which Japanese history textbooks represent Japan's wartime past. However, the discussion has tended to revolve primarily around a number of symbolic textbook issues, such as government censorship of the term "aggression," without much consideration of…

As a result of Taiwan's peculiar political situation, national identity has become a crucial and controversial issue in the history curriculum. This chapter analyzes the changing role of nationalism in the history curriculum from 1980 onwards, focusing on the ways in which politics has affected the history curriculum. In particular, it examines…

Teachers' professional learning takes place in an organisational context, in which issues of power, influence, and control can play an important part. In this article, we argue that learning how to deal with these inevitable micropolitical aspects of their work lives, constitutes an important dimension in teachers' professional development and…

As an aesthetic form, architecture deals with the creation and definition of space expressed in buildings and other physical structures. The Colosseum in Rome, Notre Dame in Paris, and the United States capital in Washington, through their designs define space, capture our imagination, and communicate important cultural and historical messages.…

Presents concepts and research problems dealing with education governance and social inclusion and exclusion. Considers education restructuring, as a recent international movement, as a combination of transitions in governing and new managerialism. Makes the case that it is necessary to understand the system of reasoning in order to capture the…

Examined the connections between the new governance in education and new procedures of social exclusion and inclusion in Finland using data from many sources and focusing on the emergence of a new discursive formation. Outlines a new system of reason as a historical shift of responsibilities in the national education system. (SLD)

Describes changes in governance discourse and practices in Icelandic primary and secondary education in the late 1990s. Budget reform, curriculum changes, and school-based self-evaluation aimed at a greater financial and pedagogical accountability of school professionals, especially principals, has changed the role of principals and teachers in…