This article discusses how teachers construct new representations about accountability and professionalism in the context of increased external control. Over the last decade in particular, concerns about the quality of schooling and the quality of teachers has been raised by both politicians and the public alike, while prominent policy responses…

Recent educational reforms in Norway include national tests and monitoring mechanisms to see if key outcomes are being achieved. At the same time, Norway has not established the follow-up mechanisms like high-stakes incentives and rewards that are characteristic of accountability policies in some other countries. As a consequence, one could argue…

The purpose of this article is to examine how and to what extent schools' responses to accountability policies in the United States influence the ability of new teachers of color to draw on their own and their students' cultural resources to engage in culturally responsive teaching. A 5-year study of 17 new teachers of color reveals that these…

We report on a study of three school jurisdictions in the province of Alberta. The original premise for the research on which this report is based was to investigate the diverse ways that school districts had administered resources that were provided through a major initiative to improve learning in the province. This account is not centrally…

Andy Hargreaves is internationally renowned for his work on many topics related to educational change. His work on how educational change shapes teachers' work, particularly with respect to teacher collaboration, is well exemplified in his award-winning 1994 volume, "Changing Teachers, Changing Times: Teachers' Work and Culture in the Postmodern…

From 2000 to 2001, Andy Hargreaves produced a series of publications introducing the concept of distinctive emotional geographies of teaching. The concept addressed how teacher emotions are situated within the context of their work and influence interactions with students, colleagues, administrators, and families. Hargreaves contended that…

Recent social policy reforms have sought to overcome the limitations of "First Way" strategies emphasizing the welfare state and "Second Way" approaches advocating markets. Scholars and policymakers instead have begun to explore optimal synthesis of the public and private sector in a new "Third Way" of leadership and change. According to one line…

Different forms of accountability are part of educational restructuring across Europe. This article will focus on the different national configurations of accountability from teachers' point of view. A comparative perspective will enlarge on commonalities and differences between teachers' experiences in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, England, Sweden,…

Competition between schools combined with test-based accountability to hold schools accountable for predetermined knowledge standards have become a common solution in educational change efforts to improve the performance of educational systems around the world. This is happening as family and community social capital declines in most parts of…

This article examines major trends in testing and accountability reform in the United States over the past decade. The review covers the apex and decline of the national experimentation with a range of alternative assessments and the rise of test-based accountability as a central policy initiative. These trends signify that testing has become a…

Standards and accountability have become a central issue of educational reform in many countries. Professional standards for teachers and principals have been developed, and benchmarking and comparison are at the heart of the new performance assessment. "Designer leadership" has become a defining theme for leadership in the appearance of regimes…