Historicizing the Future: Educational Reform, Systems of Reason, and the Making of Children Who are the Future Citizens

Educational reform and reformist research are not merely about school improvement. They embody a field of cultural practices that constitutes the objects of schooling – the teacher who administers the reforms to the child and the distinctions and differentiations about who the child is and should be. Our interest is in the rules and standards of reason assembled through the cultural practices of school reform. Reason is a cultural practice functioning to enact a change in the conditions of people but also invests people with particular capacities and capabilities. This investiture of capacities and capabilities produces particular human kinds or categories of the determinant qualities of the individuals schools administer. Using studies of educational governance and social inclusion/exclusion in Europe and on US educational reform, the discussion focuses on the overlapping practices of system management and curriculum reforms that map different human kinds. One human kind is the child as a lifelong learner, an individual whose qualities entail actively and flexibly participating in communities through problem-solving strategies. The characteristics and qualities of the lifelong learner are differentiated from those who do not embody the norms of participation –the child left behind. The study of the systems of reason that govern the objects of reflection and rectification in school reforms is a strategy to consider the politics of reform, change, and social inclusion and exclusion.     

Rooted in resistance: women teachers constructing counter‐pedagogies in post‐authoritarian Brazil

This study focuses upon the narratives of women educators (educadoras) who contributed to radical democratic school reforms in post‐authoritarian Brazil. We illustrate through three of the teachers’ narratives how their professional identities and actions were shaped partly by their experiences of resisting the military regime and by their participation in professional development opportunities that grew from liberatory social movements. Our analysis focuses on their efforts to construct counter‐pedagogies in their disciplines of history, mathematics, and physical education that resisted colonizing, authoritative practices and moved toward more liberatory, humanizing pedagogies. We consider how these counter‐pedagogies reflect both women’s ways of knowing that emphasize dialogue, collaboration, community, and the value of personal knowledge and relationships, as well as feminist principles of consciousness‐raising and social action. This analysis highlights possibilities and challenges of radical democratic reform in education by focusing on the work, experience, and identities of women educators engaged in the day‐to‐day efforts to bring about lasting change.     

“It’s what we’ve always been doing.” Exploring tensions between school culture and change

In this article, we compare two North Carolina public schools that were simultaneously implementing reforms with seemingly different orientations, the A+ School Program and the ABCs of Public Education. We use the literature on caring and critiques of bureaucracy as a framework to look at the concurrent implementation of two educational reforms in North Carolina. We discuss data from a 5 year longitudinal study and critique our own assumptions as we develop portraits of schools that are both situated and complex. We do this to explore the question: In what ways does educational reform actually change educational practice? We develop a framework that articulates a critique of bureaucracy from the standpoint of caring, locate the culture of each school within the theoretical framework, and analyze how the culture of schools affects the implementation of educational reform. We conclude that reform is deeply cultural and that ethnographic methods are essential to understanding educational reform efforts.     

改革与创新——历史发展的主要动力

本文通过对中国和世界历史上几次具有代表性的改革运动进行类型分析和作用分析 ,总结出了人类社会发展史上曾发生的三种不同类型的改革运动 ,并论述了这些改革所发挥的不同的社会作用 ,进一步指出了改革的历史回顾给我们现实社会的五种重要启示 ,断定改革和创新是历史发展的主要动力     

改革与创新——历史发展的主要动力

本文通过对中国和世界历史上几次具有代表性的改革运动进行类型分析和作用分析 ,总结出了人类社会发展史上曾发生的三种不同类型的改革运动 ,并论述了这些改革所发挥的不同的社会作用 ,进一步指出了改革的历史回顾给我们现实社会的五种重要启示 ,断定改革和创新是历史发展的主要动力     

Theory-based Change and Change-based Theory: Going Deeper, Going Broader

This article examines the questions of sustaining and extending theory-based educational change reforms, which are designed by laboratories outside of schools and whose motivating theoretical base assumes change in elemental aspects of classroom practice. This article defines sustainability of theory-based reform as more than maintaining current implementation, rather as deepening reforms in ways that allow for flexible response to changes in student, curricular, and school contexts. It draws upon five years of research in schools and classrooms engaged in one of three theory-based reforms to discuss five essential factors affecting sustainability: resources, reformers' learning, knowledge of the first principles of the reform and the support of a community of practice, the principal, and the district. This article then turns to ``scaling up.' Rather than merely replicating structures, extending theory-based reform to new sites requires building compatibility between the normative base of the reform with that in the classrooms, schools and districts in which they are growing as well as the capacity of the classroom, school, and district to see it through. This article suggests three main factors that reform founders must focus upon to scale up their reforms – attention to site selection, a proactive stance toward district contexts, and planned transfer of authority. The article concludes that issues of invention, implementation, sustainability, and scale occur simultaneously when going deeper and broader with theory-based change.     

Leadership, Learning and Systemic Reform

For three consecutive years, opinion polls in the US have placed education as the top national issue (USA Today, 1999). `Education, Education, Education' has been the personal mantra of UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. These responses are not unique, governments across the globe are engaged in the education reform business, motivated by a range of concerns. Drawing on the experience of a number of countries, this article explores the context for education reform, offering insights into the reform process and questioning some of the conventional orthodoxies about the nature of education change. The author argues that the structural reforms which have been the pre-occupation of governments over recent years have been limited in their impact because of their lack of connection to learning – teacher learning and student learning – and because of the ways in which policy-makers have embarked on the change voyage. She argues that governments need to move away from a compliance models of educational reform, towards an approach which reflects the aspirations of schools and communities, and which is supported by forms of leadership connected to learning.     

Working Together for Reliable School Reform

In this article we summarize major findings from diverse, multiyear studies conducted by the Systemic and Policy Research team of the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk. This article is based on findings from 16 projects and more than 300 case studies, the majority of which have been multiyear and multimethod. We conclude that efforts to implement diverse reforms are more likely to be effective when educators at various levels (e.g., state, district, reform design team, school) share goals and work in concert to co-construct highly reliable reforms. Findings from our studies are discussed, as are implications for future research.     

Teachers’ sense-making about comprehensive school reform: The influence of emotions

The paper examines teachers’ emotions in the process of making sense of educational reforms. We draw upon concepts from sociological theory and education to inform our framework for understanding how emotions, as a social construct, directly and indirectly, influence teachers’ understandings. Using qualitative data gathered in a study of comprehensive school reform (CSR), we explain how teachers make sense of reforms within their school and classroom contexts and the emotions that arise in the process. Findings show that as teachers made sense of reforms at the school level, they attached little emotion to them; whereas, making sense of the reforms vis-à-vis their own classroom practice appeared to be a more emotional process for teachers. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Market-Driven Education Reform and the Racial Politics of Advocacy

What is the landscape of the racial politics of public education in the age of Obama? To what factors can we attribute the seeming educational policy consensus from Washington, DC, to the states and from philanthropies and policy entrepreneurs in urban school districts? How should we understand opposition to the policy menu? This article examines commonsense understandings in education reform, which are supported by assertions that market-based schooling options are superior for children of color, and argues that a primary reason for the popularity of such reforms is an underexamined advocacy coalition, formed nominally around school choice, while also encompassing several other entrepreneurial educational reforms. The article describes the structure of this network, arguing that its dominance has precluded an understanding of counter advocacy against school choice and related reforms. It then describes several past and current movements that challenge commonsense understandings of the reforms’ currency, as a way of pushing back against the reforms’ expansion. The article also discusses the activities of grassroots community groups in response to market-based reforms and argues that these efforts can help to expand public deliberation on complex matters of educational policy. The article concludes with recommendations for further examination of these efforts to highlight the concerns, strategies, and solutions to educational inequality being articulated within communities of color and with their allies.     

Collaboration as a Predictor for Success in School Reform

Although school reform has captured the attention of this country, considerable controversy exists regarding the feasibility of reform, appropriate strategies for implementing reforms, and the adequacy of preparation of school professionals who will work in reformed schools. We propose that collaboration is the theme which unites the various dimensions of school reform and that the potential of school reform success can be analyzed by examining the extent to which the conditions needed for collaboration can be created in schools. We apply this notion to three key reform issues: (a) professionalism; (b) empowerment; and (c) restructured schools, specifically as recommended in special education. We conclude that educators should more carefully deliberate the conditions required for collaboration, should more directly address the preparation of school personnel for collaborative activities, and should call for realistically matching expectations for reform with implementation opportunities and constraints.     

A bridge between worlds: understanding network structure to understand change strategy

A number of scholars are exploring district and site relations in organizational change efforts in the larger policy context of No Child Left Behind. These studies suggest the importance of the central office as a support to the work of reform and offer strategies for building relations between district offices and sites in order to implement and sustain change efforts. What is frequently overlooked in these studies is that organizational change efforts are often socially constructed. Therefore, examining the underlying social networks may provide insight into structures that support or constrain efforts at change. This exploratory case study uses social network analysis and interviews to examine the communication and knowledge network structures of central office and site leaders in an ‘in need of improvement’ district facing sanctions under No Child Left Behind. Findings indicate sparse ties among and between school site and central office administrators, as well as a centralized network structure that may constrain the exchange of complex information and ultimately inhibit efforts at change.     

A review of higher education reform in modern Japan

A number of different parties in Japan have been discussinghigher educational reform for over thirty years. Many of theseideas finally started to take form in the 1990s as the Ministryof Education's University Council began implementing many of thepropositions that had been put forth during the deliberations ofthe 1970s and 1980s. As Japan enters the 21st century, its18-year-old population has decreased by over half a million since1992. It will decrease another 300,000 by the year 2010. This has added an increased urgency to make reforms, especially atthird-tier universities, which are now starting to have troublerecruiting students. Japan's Ministry of Education would alsolike to bring the quality of its university educational standardsup to par with the rest of the advanced nations. Moreover, industryis demanding a new breed of employee – and one much different thanthe Japanese educational system has been known to produce. Finally, a new generation of Japanese is starting to reach adulthood, who – raised on consumerism, and material abundance – have acompletely different value system than their parents' generation. This paper looks at the present higher education reform movement and its history extending back approximately thirty years. It then goes on to offer some suggestions as to what more can be done to alleviate many problems still inherent in the system.     

Teaching in transition: Examining school-based gender inequities in central/southeastern Europe and the former Soviet Union

In the last decade, gender equity has become one of the most prominent issues in education reform efforts worldwide. Yet, questions of gender equity have received very little attention in the education reform efforts in the post-socialist countries during the transition period. Focusing on the political, economic, and social changes of the 1990s, this article examines school-based gender equity as it is treated in textbooks, curriculum, teacher attitudes, school environment, leadership and tracking. The article presents gender-sensitive strategies for reform and explores how existing ‘gender-neutral’ education practices detrimentally affect gender equity in schools, providing country-specific examples. The article concludes with recommendations for teaching in transition, given the education sphere's strong potential to redress gender inequities.     

从经济学视角看职业教育供给侧结构性改革

职业教育是社会再生产的重要一环,适用供给经济学的解释框架。职业教育领域与其他生产领域一样,供给不足与供给过剩问题并存。职业教育的供给侧结构性改革需要从生产、生产要素、制度变革三个层面同时发力。生产层面改革是基础,重点任务是教育教学改革;要素层面改革是关键,重点任务是要素升级,即师资、教材、教学设施与经济社会发展同步的转型升级;职业教育制度改革是核心,重点任务是职业教育的供给与生产主体分离制度、投资与成本分担制度、标准制度的改革。供给侧结构性改革,可实现职业教育根本性改革,使其更适应经济社会的发展需要。     

Educational Research, Policy and Practice: National Report on Secondary Education in Lao PDR

Following the adoption of a new education law in 2000, the government of Laos has initiated a series of reforms aimed at realizing the national strategy for human resource development for the year 2020. In implementing government policy, the Statistics and Planning Division and the National Research Institute for Educational Sciences have provided basic statistics to analyze the current situation, develop new curricula and teaching materials, monitor the reform process and undertake action research. The paper outlines the main achievements of the Lao education reform (e.g., quantitative growth of secondary education, curriculum and pedagogical reforms), concerns regarding difficulties in achieving key goals (e.g., low participation in mountainous areas serving ethnic groups), and strategies being adopted within the educational development plan for 2001–2005. Key Words: curriculum, educational goals, education law, educational reform, educational research and policy, ethnic minority, Lao PDR, secondary education, technical and vocational education     

One teacher's identity, emotions, and commitment to change: A case study into the cognitive–affective processes of a secondary school teacher in the context of reforms

This paper presents a cognitive social–psychological theoretical framework on emotions, derived from Richard Lazarus, to understand how teachers’ identity can be affected in a context of reforms. The emphasis of this approach is on the cognitive–affective processes of individual teachers, enabling us to gain a detailed understanding of what teachers have at stake or what their personal, moral, and social concerns are. To illustrate the usefulness of this approach, a case of a reform-enthusiast Dutch secondary school teacher of Dutch language and literature is presented. The analysis of his emotions of enthusiasm for the reforms, and his emotions of anxiety, anger, guilt, and shame related to the way the reforms unfold in his school and influence his work, show the many ways his identity and concerns are affected, resulting in a loss of reform enthusiasm. The paper ends with a reflection on the possible risks of current educational policies to the commitment and quality of the current and next generation of teachers.     

Futures of Teaching in American Education

This article argues that factory model schools, created for a time when most individuals were being prepared for relatively low-skilled jobs, are not adequate to the task of educating most citizens for the knowledge work that will increasingly characterize economies of the 21st century. Although many important reforms have been launched over the last decade, countries that have not invested in the development of sophisticated teaching that can adapt to the needs of students and the demands of more challenging content have reached an impasse. Every aspect of school reform – the creation of more challenging curriculum, the use of more performance-based assessments, the implementation of decentralized management, the invention of new model schools and programs – depends on highly-skilled teachers. Policies aimed at developing a quality teaching system include (1) enacting meaningful standards for teachers as well as students, (2) overhauling teacher education and professional development, (3) addressing teacher recruitment problems and placing qualified teachers in all schools, (4) rewarding teacher knowledge and skills, and (5) redesigning schools so that they support teaching and learning. This article describes successful strategies in each of these areas and paints a picture of the alternative futures for education that rest on policies yet to be decided.     

Inclusive education in accelerated and professional development schools: a case-based study of two school reform efforts in the USA

This case-based study of two school reform efforts in the USA examines how the process of inclusive education works for SEN students and the extent to which these students and their teachers feel as though they are an integral part of school reform. At its heart, this study focuses on three central questions. Do the philosophy, process, practices and organizational structures of these school reform movements promote inclusion for all students? What is the impact of the schools' practices and principles on individual students? What conditions and contexts best promote inclusion, and which ones act as barriers to successful inclusion? The schools in these two school reform movements provide powerful examples of how changes in school organization, climate, curriculum and instructional strategies build on the strengths of students, staff and community to create optimal learning results for all students. In this study, the perception of pedagogical and political ‘gaps’ between school effectiveness reform agendas and inclusive education reveal a narrow, rational-technical view of reform. The hope for the future is that the growing efforts in support of inclusive education within the broader socio-political and constructivist school reform movements, exemplified by the schools in this case study, will become an influential counter-force for social justice and disability-rights' action in schools everywhere.     

School reforms,principal leadership,and teacher resistance: evidence from Korea

Many countries design and implement school change with a focus on the fundamental reconfiguration in the structures of schooling. In this article, we examined the relationship between principal leadership and teacher resistance to school reforms driven by external interveners. For an empirical analysis, we took advantage of extensive data derived from 967 teachers and 32 principals in Korean vocational high schools that are now experiencing school reforms launched by the government. Our results revealed the importance of human aspects of school changes and reforms, in particular, driven by the external intervener. We first showed that a principal's initiative leadership is significantly related to the reduction of teacher resistance to change, in particular on the emotional and behavioural dimensions. Not surprisingly, teachers showed a higher level of resistance when their schools participate in the government-driven reform. Finally, teacher resistance depended upon characteristics of teachers as well as principals. These findings provide some useful policy implications for facilitating successful school reform efforts. Foremost, school reformers are advised to rethink the school change model design in a way of fully capturing human aspects in the reform process.