Challenging school reform from below: is leadership the missing link in mobilization theory?

This article presents research relating to the experiences of union and community-based campaigns that have sought to challenge the establishment of academy and free schools in England. Such schools are removed from local government control and are seen as a defining element of the neoliberal restructuring of public education. The research draws on social-movement literature, and particularly mobilization theory, to better understand the dynamics of such campaigns and the contexts in which they can either thrive or wither. In the article, I argue that mobilization theory provides a useful framework for such analysis but that it fails to adequately reflect the importance of individual agency and the role of leadership at a local level. Leadership of such campaigns is often assumed by individuals reluctantly, and often defies traditional descriptions of “leadership,” but must be recognized if mobilization theory is to avoid being overly deterministic

Raising standards in American schools: the case of No Child Left Behind

In January 2002, President George W Bush signed into law what is arguably the most important piece of US educational legislation for the past 35 years. For the first time, Public Law 107-110 links high stakes testing with strict accountability measures designed to ensure that, at least in schools that receive government funding, no child is left behind. The appropriately named No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) links government funding to strict improvement policies for America’s public schools. Much of what is undertaken in NCLB is praiseworthy, the Act is essentially equitable for it ensures that schools pay due regard to the progress of those sections of the school population who have traditionally done less well in school, in particular, students from economically disadvantaged homes, as well as those from ethnic minority backgrounds and those who have limited proficiency to speak English. However, this seemingly salutatory aspect of the Act is also the one that has raised the most objections. This paper describes the key features of this important piece of legislation before outlining why it is that a seemingly equitable Act has produced so much consternation in US education circles. Through an exploration of school level data for the state of New Jersey, the paper considers the extent to which these concerns have been justified during the early days of No Child Left Behind

‘Scaling up’ educational change: some musings on misrecognition and doxic challenges

Educational policy-makers around the world are strongly committed to the notion of ‘scaling up’. This can mean anything from encouraging more teachers to take up a pedagogical innovation, all the way through to system-wide efforts to implement ‘what works’ across all schools. In this paper, I use Bourdieu’s notions of misrecognition to consider the current orthodoxies of scaling up. I argue that the focus on ‘process’ and ‘implementation problems’: (1) both obscures and legitimates the ways in which the field logics of practice actually work and, (2) produces/reproduces the inequitable distribution of educational benefits (capitals and life opportunities). I suggest that the notion of misrecognition might provide a useful lens through which to examine reform initiatives and explanations of their success/failure

Marketing, art and voices of dissent: promotional methods of protest art by the 2014 Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement

Limited research exists around the interrelationships between protest camps and marketing practices. In this paper, we focus on the 2014 Hong Kong protest camps as a context where artistic work was innovatively developed and imaginatively promoted to draw global attention. Collecting and analyzing empirical data from the Umbrella Movement, our findings explore the interrelationships between arts marketing technologies and the creativity and artistic expression of the protest camps so as to inform, update and rethink arts marketing theory itself. We discuss how protesters used public space to employ inventive methods of audience engagement, participation and co-creation of artwork, together with media art projects which aimed not only to promote their collective aims but also to educate and inform citizens. While some studies have already examined the function of arts marketing beyond traditional and established artistic institutions, our findings offer novel insights into the promotional techniques of protest art within the occupied space of a social movement. Finally, we suggest avenues for future research around the artwork of social movements that could highlight creative and political aspects of (arts) marketing theory

Letramento em Matemática: um estudo a partir dos dados do PISA2003

Neste trabalho partimos do pressuposto de que os resultados das avaliações em larga escala são instrumentos adequados para compreender o currículo aprendido. Entendemos, ainda, que os resultados obtidos por distintos países em avaliações internacionais constituem-se uma boa estratégia para captar ênfases diferenciadas no currículo ensinado. A partir dos resultados do Programa Internacional de Avaliação dos Estudantes - PISA 2003, buscou-se comparar diferenças nas ênfases curriculares em Matemática entre Brasil e Portugal. Para isto, a pesquisa utilizou como metodologia a análise do Funcionamento Diferencial do Item (DIF). Esta metodologia possibilita identificar itens que violam um dos principais pressupostos da Teoria de Resposta ao Item (TRI), segundo o qual, alunos de grupos distintos, mas de mesma habilidade cognitiva, têm a mesma probabilidade de acertar um item. A análise em 84 itens da prova de Matemática do PISA 2003 mostrou que alguns itens apresentam DIF entre alunos brasileiros e portugueses. De modo sintético, podemos dizer que alguns itens mostram-se mais fáceis aos alunos brasileiros, em especial os que se referem à subárea Quantidade. Já os itens da subárea Mudança e Relações são, aparentemente, mais fáceis aos alunos portugueses. Ao mesmo tempo, itens envolvendo contextos científicos mostram-se mais fáceis aos alunos portugueses, enquanto os que envolvem contextos da vida pessoal são mais fáceis aos brasileiros. Os resultados desta pesquisa evidenciam a relevância e necessidade da ampliação do debate curricular no campo da educação matemática. A compreensão dos resultados dos testes de avaliação em larga escala pode fornecer novas questões sobre o como e o quê os alunos aprendem Matemática