This article reviews the development of "teaching schools" in England, exploring some of the reasons for their development and their potential to transform professional learning.

This article considers the ways in which government policy in England is causing local schooling landscapes to be reconfigured. By August 2014, 12 percent of primary schools and 53 percent of secondary schools had become academies--"independent publicly funded schools" directly responsible to the Secretary of State. The article begins by…

This article provides a narrative which illustrates the experiences of one group of UK schools as they have attempted to introduce innovation in order to achieve their collective vision of improving educational opportunity for all pupils in their care. It considers the findings of a small-scale research project which follows, over a 3-year period,…

School leaders face potential conflicts between the demands of national and local education policy and the values and ethics that brought them into teaching and subsequently into school leadership. This article asks whether head teachers' values are changed by the policy context, and looks at incidents in head teachers' professional…

EU 2020, the current strategic framework of the European Union (European Commission, 2010) sets ambitious policy goals based on a rather bleak analysis of a complex crisis scenario the Union finds itself in. A key role is given to early childhood education and care to achieve these goals, and "'highest benefits" are predicted for…

During the first half of the current Coalition Government, co-production--a form of participatory governance--was implemented widely in the conceptualization, design and implementation of early years policies. Seen as a revolutionary approach to public service reform, resulting in more effective and more cost-effective public services, the joint…

In this article we begin by discussing "ideology" as a theoretical construct, and the interconnections between policy and ideology in the education system in England. We analyse the main principles of education policies that can be broadly defined from Left to Right, according to the following ideologies: Marxism/Socialism/Radical…

This article reports on a seminar by the Critical Educational Policy and Leadership Research Interest Group in June 2012. The article reports on the papers and our engagement with the need to use theory to develop descriptions and understandings.

In October 2005, the Maltese Government embarked on a new phase of its national educational reform, which focuses on state compulsory primary and secondary schooling. A central part of this reform was the creation of state-maintained colleges. By February 2008 all state primary and secondary schools on the Maltese Islands were clustered into ten…

This article critically analyses the current Maltese educational reform process, which aimed to transform educational governance in Malta from a centralized system to a more decentralized one. This longitudinal study adopted a multi-site inquiry of a sample of the colleges involving different stakeholders, including key policy-makers, college…

The governing bodies of publicly funded schools in England are currently facing a number of substantive challenges of various kinds. Many of the challenges are long-standing, while others relate to the current context for governing wrought by recent education policy developments initiated by central government. A number of the challenges are…

Student participation in the education policy debate in Brazil has a long history, albeit focused mainly at the university level. In secondary schools (students aged 14-17) participation has been much more patchy and with variable results. The gremio associations (similar to student councils in the UK) are the main pathway to student voice within…

This study undertook an investigation of policy and practice related to teacher evaluation and development among Colorado school districts. A conceptual analysis was applied to a sample of teacher evaluation policies and process materials from 30 school districts. The study was based on policy objectives stipulated in state statute and best…

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that it is possible to make major changes in a primary school with limited investment. I wish to present the methods used in this process which enabled me to examine the existing catering, to identify, investigate and research the problems, to explore the literature available and to synthesise my results…

This paper identifies some new research issues and sketches out some new research questions for education policy and leadership researchers as a response to ongoing changes in the landscape of English education policy. Three interrelated issues are considered: leadership, values and interests, and ownership. It argues for the need to ask new…