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In 2018 the OECD published the findings of its PISA for Development (PISA-D) pilot project which was undertaken to make the regular PISA framework more accessible and relevant to low- and middle-income nations. This would encourage such nations to join PISA as part of the OECD's Learning Framework 2030 and provide them with 'contextualised' policy recommendations. In 2019 the OECD declared the project a success. We analyse and compare the PISA-D reports as well as its portrayal as a success. We suggest that, whilst PISA-D clearly made technical adjustments relating to the longstanding challenges which face low-income nations engaging in comparative assessments it replicates rather than addresses those challenges. Drawing on literature on organisational legitimacy and the politics of expertise, we interpret the PISA-D pilot as a political strategy primarily deployed to legitimate and extend rather than evaluate the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framed by the mantra of 'Building back Better' (BBB) the Covid-19 Pandemic has inspired myriad proposals to transform education systems for the future. We interrogate the phrase 'building back better', focusing on its origins and application within crisis narratives. We analyse responses to the pandemic published by influential global agencies focusing on their agendas and visions for the future of education. We identify the common and divergent elements in their narratives, illustrating how the crisis was used to promote each organisation's specific interests, and how these narratives were sustained through strategic silences and the selective use of evidence. Whilst the pandemic was used to promote the different longstanding agendas of those agencies, we argue that overall it was used to constrain the future as a privatised techno-utopia, rather than build towards a new vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the approach to systemic educational reform in the Arabian states of the Gulf and the central role within that of the Global Education Industry (GEI). Initially the authors identify the commonalities of their approach; subsequently they compare the approaches in Bahrain and Qatar. They demonstrate how the GEI is embedded in all stages of policy making, delivery and monitoring which revolves around the selling of 'best global practices'. They argue that the outcome is a commercial model of applied 'comparative education' designed for 'selling to the other' and it is both distinctive and of limited effectiveness; it also provides a vision of the future as educational policy making is increasingly outsourced to the private sector. They conclude with a discussion of the conditions which facilitated this approach and of what others might learn from the experience of the Gulf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education reform is increasingly based on emulating the features of ‘world-class’ systems that top international attainment surveys and, in England specifically, East Asia is referenced as the ‘inspiration’ for their education reforms. However, the extent to which the features identified by the UK Government accord with the situation within East Asia is problematic. This paper examines the relationship between the English representation and the ‘reality’ of East Asian education systems, using school autonomy as an illustrative example. We focus on Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai, which are cited extensively to legitimate policies providing greater autonomy for schools in England. We argue firstly that the English representation has been largely discursive and inaccurate; has failed to recognise the variations across the region; and has been selected to endorse the Government’s ideological preferences. Secondly, the scope, form and nature of school autonomy vary markedly, and are operationalised in each society in ways reflecting the prevailing sociopolitical priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including teacher empowerment, preschool teacher education programmes offered in China and fee-free schooling in Rwanda.

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses topics within the issue including role of schools in bridging within-school achievement gaps; effectiveness of bilingual education in Cambodia and dialectics of assimilation and multiculturalism.

The article discusses Comparative Education research, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and educational reform policy, focusing on Great Britain. Topics addressed include connections between a country's economic and educational performance, and he expresses concerns regarding linking policies and pupil performance data.

The article presents an introduction to the issue in which the editor discusses articles contained within the issue on topics such as literacy teaching and learning in Mozambique, teacher recruitment and motivation, and teachers' professional learning in Hong Kong.

The article presents an introduction in which the editors discusses articles on topics such as economic, social, and cultural factors contributing to boys' experiences of higher education in Jamaica; the education of refugees in Great Britain; and educational inequality in China and Vietnam.

An introduction is presented that discusses issue articles on topics including a school pairing programme between Irish and South African schools, a comparison between teacher roles in Denmark and England, and a cascade model for teacher education in Cameroon.

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss the subjects of articles in the issue including the discourse of human rights in high school textbooks, the role of students' input in educational system accountability, and reading instruction strategies in Cambodia.

After WWII, the economic prospects of the Philippines, then the second-largest economy in Asia, were viewed positively, but by the mid-1970s it had become Asia’s developmental puzzle for its failure to sustain economic growth. In contrast during the same period, regional neighbours, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore, achieved previously unknown levels of economic growth and were dubbed the ‘East Asian Tigers’. This article analyses the post-war development of the Philippines, focusing on the role that education played, and contrasts it with the East Asian Tigers. It is argued that the Philippines was distinctive in the state’s failure to exercise strong central control, especially of the education system, which was neither harnessed to promote economic development nor national unity. The status quo, which has its origins in a plantation economy, prevailed, and this ensured the country remained an unequal and impoverished democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses various papers published within the issue including one that examines how the multiple identities of teachers influence students, another on fairness and equity in school, and another on the role teachers in promoting private tutoring.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discuss various reports within the issue including one on education quality focusing on large-scale assessment exercises, one on the quality of education in the Middle East and North Africa, and one on teacher education and low fee private schools.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including one by Carlos Alberto Torres on the idea and effects of globalisation at a macro-economic level, one by Elaine Lam on enforcement and opposition of policy in Barbados and Trinidad, and one by Frances Hut regarding the interpretation of policy for citizenship education in South Africa.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Patricia Bromley and Marina Andina on a neo-institutional analysis of the minimum standards for education in emergencies, one by Jutta Nikel and John Lowe on a multi-dimensional model of quality in education, and one by Jocelyn Wong on professional learning communities in a secondary school in Shanghai.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue including one on the challenges of moving from one country to another and one by Michele Schweisfurth and colleague on research with international undergraduate students in Great Britain.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the author discusses articles in the issue on topics including contemporary policy borrowing between Hong Kong, China and England, role of international agencies in promoting policy transfer and impact of the Bologna process on universities.

An editorial introduction to the issue is presented, highlighting its featured articles on comparative education in regard to global citizenship, student learning styles, and analysis of teacher trade unionism.

An editorial introduction to the issue is presented, highlighting its central theme on the interrelationships between knowledge, identity and motivation in learning, citing featured contributions by Fran Martin, Sonia Gallucci, and Irene van Oorschot.

An editorial introduction to the September 2014 issue is presented, highlighting its central theme of comparative education research and citing featured contributions by Alexander W. Wiseman, Yasmeen F. Qureshi, and Katerina Bodovski.

An introduction is presented for the featured articles within the March 2014 issue, focusing on schooling in African countries, including contributions by Shoko Yamada, Christine Smith Ellison, and Roger Jeffery.

An editorial introduction to the December 2013 issue is presented, focusing on the topic of equity and educational change in India and Kenya, citing contributions by Rob Higham, Benta Abuya, and Asayo Ohba.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including classroom experience from the perspective of Ghana's teachers, higher education in the Asia-Pacific region, and the role of educational policies.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports published within the issue including topics on political socialization of youth, gender gaps in research activity, and self-esteem and academic achievement.

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including gender differences, factors that affect the attendance and participation of pubescent girls at schools and dialectical relationship between cultural identity and cross-cultural contact.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including international education, teacher preparation for vocational education and training, and global citizenship.

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including the capabilities approach to higher education in South Africa, the study of the role of social capital in school participation, and the association between the commitment to home-language medium of instruction policy and implementation.

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including intercultural education in Greece, ethnographic case study on Islamic Boarding school, and the educational system in China.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports published within the issue including tertiary education policies in Czech Republic, Chinese higher education, and succession planning and leadership development in schools in England and South Africa.

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses several articles on educational issues in countries like South African, Spain and England and share an overall concern for investigating responses to global educational reforms and the impact of specific educational reforms on pedagogy.