In this article, we examine education policymaking in England during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the period from 2020 to 2022. We argue that the pandemic, while obviously damaging materially, economically and psychologically, seemed to have provided a rare opportunity for a step change, a chance to recalibrate and reconsider values assumed…

In 2019, educators at Beehive Montessori School (Beehive) in Western Australia implemented their self-defined digital literacies framework. The framework guided their approach to, and use of, digital technologies in their classrooms. Doing so came out of a whole school action research project in which the school became a hub for inquiry and…

This article presents two sequential case reports of how 60 schools in the London Borough of Camden used action research in three phases of development of their local school system reform, from a traditional council-led, top-down model of centrally based professional development and monitoring of schools, to one that is schools-led and 'bottom-up'…

By the end of the twentieth century, there was concern about the low levels of achievement in many English schools -- particularly those in London -- and this acted as a catalyst for change, a key remedial initiative being London Challenge. While there is much to celebrate about the improvements that have been made over almost two decades, the…

This article examines whether the so-called 'London effect', in which London's schools improved rapidly and outperformed the rest of England on key performance measures between 2003 and 2013, has persisted through the high levels of change that have continued to characterize the school system in England since 2013. Using detailed analysis of…