Despite a lack of applied research, social partnerships are increasingly being adopted by both government and non-government agencies to meet localized needs in education and other fields. This article discusses the findings of an investigation of how social partnerships can best be formed, developed and sustained over time. Earlier work…

This paper considers the politics of neo-liberal reform of education and training in the specific context of social partnerships. Social partnerships are hybrid social spaces formed when a range of interests/partners work together for mutual benefit. Partnerships are one of a series of hybridized social spaces which have been formed as a…

Questions efficacy of Gewirtz's social-justice audit and the way research in policy sociology is shaping studies of post-welfare education in England and Australia. (Contains 73 references.) (PKP)

Reports findings from an ethnographic study of educational restructuring at an institute of technical and further education in Australia. Documents Australian governments' adoption of hyperrational educational-improvement strategies by reworking institutional roles framing daily practices. Countersteering geared to other values and priorities…

The teacher reform debate in Australia is informed by contradictory individualist and work perspectives and assumptions. The challenge for policy is harmonizing perspectives to develop a basis for the practical politics of educational reform. The individualist perspective complements corporate managerialism, whereas the work perspective raises…