This special edition enables an in-depth look at the process of modernization of education in England, in relation to other international developments. In particular we focus on the reform of teachers? work by examining the antecedence of the current policy of remodelling through three articles based on the Evaluation of the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) initiative (2002?2003) Transforming the School Workforce Pathfinder Project. Papers on Teaching Assistants, Leadership and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) enable us to focus on policy interventions intended to change the culture and practice of how schools are run and how the workforce understands its role within educational provision. It is timely that we subject the current reforms to this type of analysis and ask questions about how the workforce is engaging with, and experiencing, the changes. We set these reforms in England within a wider international context with four articles from eminent researchers regarding educational restructuring in Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, and the US. Clive Belfield, John Codd, Jenny Ozga, and John Smyth bring to the task of understanding and explaining educational change a range of data and theorizing from a variety of projects and positions. These articles enable us to put the English context into a wider framework while protecting our commitment to understand the local and particular nature of educational issues. Finally Hywel Thomas provides an overview of the special edition by summarizing the key themes running through the English reform agenda and how we can read this through comparison with international developments.