This article explores the idea that effective education policymaking necessitates an improved understanding of how students, as micro-scale actors, position themselves in operational terms in the globalised context. The article introduces the concept of perceived operational space as an analytical and methodological perspective to support this…

In many countries around the world there is a current focus on the restructuring of education systems in a bid to increase the "quality" of the educational experience for pupils in order to raise their academic achievement. However, the definition of quality as expressed through policy may not always accord with the aims and aspirations…

French research in 1977 on perceptions/aspirations of upper secondary school students in France, England, and Italy about their personal and social future, further developed with 148 students in Italy in 1979-80, indicated that young people long for values and "public" and "private" dimensions of life are important for them.…

Surveys of approximately 1,800 students aged 12-13 in England, France, and Denmark and in-depth study of 18 students in each country found "constants" in pupil concerns about education's link to work, teacher respect for students, and interesting teaching; and national differences in students' school attitudes, importance of…