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This article presents the authors' review of "Globalizing education, educating the local: how method made us mad," by Ian Stronach. In the opening chapter of their highly influential 1997 book "Education Research Undone: The Postmodern Embrace," Ian Stronach and Maggie MacLure draw upon the work of Derrida to argue for practices within which openings are recognised as dependent upon closures and "vice versa". In other words, rather than working within the binary logic of either-or, educational researchers could work with a deconstructive sensibility wherein there is a narrative space of meaning-making for the reader as well as the writer of research. In "Education Research Undone," the text at times reflexively plays at its own textuality in a somewhat maddening way. Stronach continues this knowing writerliness in "Globalizing Education, Educating the Local." He is writing as if the text is performative and there is a narrative space for meaning-making by the reader. There is also an interest in how this space is enacted. But he is also definitively arguing that method has made one mad, writing about the world, telling individuals what is going on. The authors argue that Stronach is capable of displaying the ways in which his own arguments can then be turned against his own writing.

This paper examines the role of social class and prior achievement composition effects on pupils' progress and the judgements made about school performance. It finds that there are small but significant compositional effects on pupil progress raising questions about how pupils can best be allocated to schools. Comparisons between the official contextual value added model and one that includes composition variables show that school rankings are significantly changed in the latter suggesting that official value added analyses are misleading. This study, therefore, poses a fundamental challenge to policy makers over the determinants of pupil progress and school performance and the way schools are judged, pointing to the need for a re-appraisal of policy relating to these matters. (Contains 4 figures and 8 tables.)

This article examines the dominant view of the changing relationship between education, jobs and rewards in the global knowledge economy. This asserts that the developed economies can resolve issues of individual aspirations, economic efficiency and social justice through the creation of a high-skills, high-wage "magnet" economy. Here the authors examine four of the key dimensions of this account and argue that while there has been a fundamental change in the relationship between education, economy and society, their conclusions are far removed from the assumptions that currently inform public and policy debates. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures and 29 notes.)

Comparison of national policies in South Korea, Singapore, and Britain to respond to low-skills equilibria (self-reinforcing institutions that stifle demand for skill improvements) shows that different responses stem from national differences in supply/demand and the differential impact of globalization due to the individual economic and social histories of nations. (SK)

Five reviewers of "School Choice and Competition: Markets in the Public Interest?" (Routledge, 1998), by Philip Woods, Carl Bagley, and Ron Glatter, critique this comprehensive study of three educational quasi-markets in Great Britain. Areas such as social stratification, overall student achievement, diversity, and innovation appear to need further study. (MLH)

The article discusses the emerging global economic trends as a result of economic globalisation which raise questions on the national qualifications frameworks (NQFs) in Great Britain. It mentions the increased supply of graduates which lead to the reduced demand for high-skilled workers and high number of lowest priced jobs. The author suggests that the Modernising Nursing Careers (MNCs) must standardise its judgments on workers which will give them competitive advantage in talent utilisation.

Editorial. Introduces articles in the December 2002 issue of the 'Journal of Education and Work.' Development of a high skills economy; Importance of education to the economy of Great Britain; Employer performance in examining the viability of a labor government policy in Great Britain.