After virtue, a study in moral theory

The third way: the renewal of social democracy

This book engages with the politics of social and environmental justice, and seeks new ways to think about the future of urbanization in the twenty-first century. It establishes foundational concepts for understanding how space, time, place and nature the material frames of daily life are constituted and represented through social practices, not as separate elements but in relation to each other. It describes how geographical differences are produced, and shows how they then become fundamental to the exploration of political, economic and ecological alternatives to contemporary life.

Justice, Nature and the Geography of Difference

In this paper the primary emphasis is upon the general and common elements in contemporary, international education policy, but nonetheless the discussion also considers the processes of translation and recontextualisation involved in the realisation or enactment of policy in specific national and local settings. A set of generic 'problems' which constitute the contemporary social, political and economic conditions for education and social policy making are adumbrated. The emergence of ideological and 'magical' solutions to these problems is identified and the means of the dissemination of these solutions are discussed. A relationship between the global market and the marketisation of education is suggested and explored.

Big Policies/Small World: An introduction to international perspectives in education policy

The Internet is a major technological advancement reshaping not only our society but also that of universities worldwide. In light of this, universities have to capitalise on the Internet for teaching, and one progressive development of this is the use of online delivery methods. This paper draws upon the results of a survey conducted amongst students enrolled in one online management course at an Australian university. Three critical success factors in online delivery are identified: technology, the instructor and the previous use of the technology from a student’s perspective. We also argue that the lecturer will continue to play a central role in online education, albeit his or her role will become one of a learning catalyst and knowledge navigator.

Critical success factors in online education

Prompted by the increasing number of attempts in various parts of the world to restructure and deregulate state schooling, this book sets out what we know of the theory and practice of devolved systems and considers the reasons for this policy shift and its consequences for efficiency, effectiveness, and equity within educational systems.

Devolution and Choice in Education: The School, the State and the Market

Cross-national policy borrowing rarely has much to do with the success, however, defined, of the institutional realisation of particular policies in their countries of origin; rather, it has much more to do with legitimating other related policies. On the other hand, active policy borrowing involving the appropriation of identifiable aspects of another country's policy solutions, including ways of implementing and administering them, is more likely when there is some synchrony between the characteristics of the different education systems involved and the dominant political ideologies promoting reform within them.

The Politics of Education Policy Borrowing.

1. Hope and its Significance for Education 2. Utopianism as a Vocabulary of Hope 3. Utopianism and Education: The Legacy of Thomas More 4. Utopian Realism and a Third Way for Education 5. Utopian Educational Management and Leadership 6. Deliberative Democracy and Utopian School Governance 7. A Utopian Cultural Core Curriculum 8. Putting Hope Back into Education

Hope and Education: The Role of the Utopian Imagination

Drawing on empirical research, this article explores the ways in which schoolteachers 'reposition' themselves in the face of rapid and extensive educational change, some of which they may view with ambivalence or hostility. Arguing that local responses to public policy are prompting teachers to become increasingly pragmatic in their philosophies and practice, the article identifies and illustrates two distinct forms of pragmatism: 'principled pragmatism', through which teachers who feel generally positive towards recent reforms feel able to strengthen and affirm their pedagogic identities by drawing eclectically on a range of educational practices and traditions; and 'contingent pragmatism', adopted by teachers in oppositional orientations to reform, whereby enforced reactions to policy change take on something of the function of a survival strategy. The article suggests that a consequence - and possible cause - of the adoption of self-consciously pragmatic teacher identities is the effective depoliticisa...

Compliance, resistance and pragmatism: the (re)construction of schoolteacher identities in a period of intensive educational reform

Part 1 Theory, Scholarship and Research into Education Policy: Where we are now - reflections on the sociology of education policy, Charles D. Raab Coming to terms with research - the contract business, May Pettigrew Scholarship and sponsored research - contradiction, continuum or complementary activity?, Robert G. Burgess. Part 2 The Ethics of Research into Education Policy: The constraints of neutrality - the 1988 Education Reform Act and feminist research, Beverley Skeggs, Researching inside the state - issues in the interpretation of elite interviews, Stephen J. Ball Sex, lies and audiotape - interviewing the education policy elite, Jenny Ozga and Sharon Gewirtz. Part 3 Methodological Perspectives on Research into Education Policy: Ethnography, policy-making and practice in education, Martyn Hammersley Students' secondary school careers - research in a climate of "moving perspectives", Gwen Wallace, Jean Rudduck and Susan Harris.

David Halpin

Papers

Devolution and Choice in Education: The School, the State and the Market

The Politics of Education Policy Borrowing.

Hope and Education: The Role of the Utopian Imagination

Compliance, resistance and pragmatism: the (re)construction of schoolteacher identities in a period of intensive educational reform

Researching Education Policy: Ethical and Methodological Issues