Policy Futures in Education

This article seeks to examine the possibility of education towards cosmopolitanism from a local lens. First, I will briefly address the challenges facing the nation state today from a cultural, economic, and political perspective. After reviewing the challenges, I will critically discuss the educational teachings of two of today’s most prominent cosmopolitan thinkers—Anthony Appiah and Martha Nussbaum. Next, I will seek to bridge the tension between cosmopolitan and national approaches, by discussing Will Kymlicka and Catherine Walker’s “Rooted Cosmopolitanism” as a golden path promoting cosmopolitan values in the nation state. Kymlicka and Walker’s discussion will allow us to examine the case of the State of Israel. My claim will be that founding Israeli citizenship on Jewish and democratic values, which are particular but also recognize our common humanity and the dignity of difference, if implemented from a rooted cosmopolitan lens, can imbue the Israeli national project with a much-needed cosmopolitan potential. I will also briefly examine the objectives of the Israeli National Education Act from 1953 (and its amendments) in light of the cosmopolitan literature and try to propose a few directions for a future public debate on the issue.

The field of climate change education is growing, with most research efforts focused on what represents effective teaching while having little to say about the structural obstacles to enacting the curriculum. This essay examines what we know about climate change education implementation from a meso-level structural perspective, accounting for the levels of school organization and permission structures that must be in place to effectively enact climate change education at scale. Using cautionary lessons from the history of creationism and evolution education, we examine what is known and not known about (a) the teaching of climate change science in K-12 schools, (b) the levels of administrative support among principals and superintendents, and (c) the community and cultural factors such as school boards that affect decisions to teach about the changing climate. We conclude by developing productive lines of research to better understand the blank spots of climate change education in the American educational structure.

This study provides an in-depth examination of how university English language teaching (ELT) teachers conceptualize research as part of their professional job and discusses the issues of balancing these two roles. The results show ELT teachers, despite having different conceptualization of research and varying levels of research engagement, considered it an integral part of their job that could better inform their teaching performance. Revealing this group’s pressure of being evaluated by both roles on their professional performance, the study charts their research engagement constraints resulting from a lack of academic resources and research community, a mono-research culture in the institution, poor financial reward, and heavy workload. These constraints hold implications for teachers’ identity and autonomy and institutional policy and management. Importantly, the paper suggests a typology demonstrating teachers’ behaviour and attitudes towards the research engagement policy of the institution, and the alignment of their careers with the future direction of the institution.

This article explores how the concept of Universal Design for Learning constructs problems relating to education and how it constructs solutions to these problems. This is done through a five-step critical discourse analysis of the founders’ extensive website. Our analysis shows that the problems of concern relate to a discourse of barriers; ‘barriers to learning that millions of people experience every day’. These barriers are not explicitly defined but further exploration reveals that primarily traditional teaching is at fault, being too rigid and not considering students’ differences. In terms of solutions, the website offers a multitude of recommendations on how to meet students’ differences, materialised through both visual and verbal representations, in a discourse of almightiness. The vast network of actors that is mentioned on the website emphasises the far-reaching ambitions for UDL. However, we suggest that the expectations it places on teachers are unreasonable and sub-optimal for students.

This article explores the transformative potential of post-structuralist theories in rethinking global education policies and comparative education practices. It critically examines the power dynamics underlying hegemonic narratives in education and highlights the ways in which these narratives marginalize local knowledge systems and reinforce inequalities. Using Foucault’s notions of regimes of truth and Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizomatic learning, the article demonstrates how post-structuralist frameworks challenge normative assumptions and propose alternative models based on equity, inclusion, and diversity. Local adaptations, counter-narratives, and strategies of resistance are analyzed as key mechanisms for negotiating and transforming global education policies in specific cultural and social contexts. The discussion emphasizes the importance of embracing epistemological pluralism and participatory governance to promote more equitable and inclusive educational practices. Concluding with directions for the future, the article underlines the relevance of post-structuralist approaches for advancing critical research and practice in comparative education.

Traditional approaches to policy development often fail to effectively address the diverse and evolving needs of students, educators, and educational communities. In response to growing challenges and calls for reform, this study will critically examine emerging strategies for advising and developing education policies, with a focus on promoting collaboration, integrating evidence, and fostering inclusion. Drawing perspectives from recent literature and informed by practical experiences, a holistic framework for improving the policy-making process across all levels of education is proposed. The study will explore the importance of collaborative policy advisory mechanisms, emphasizing the need for meaningful engagement between researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and other stakeholders. It will advocate for the creation of interdisciplinary platforms that facilitate dialogue, knowledge exchange, and the co-creation of policy solutions, drawing on existing models such as expert panels and participatory action research initiatives. By leveraging diverse perspectives, expertise, and lived experiences, collaborative mechanisms can enhance the relevance, legitimacy, and effectiveness of education policies. Furthermore, the critical role of evidence in informing decision-making processes and driving policy reforms is highlighted. Although policymakers often rely on a variety of sources, there remains a need for robust mechanisms to ensure independence, credibility, and accessibility of evidence. To address this challenge, the establishment of dedicated knowledge centers that serve as trusted repositories of evidence on educational policies and practices is proposed. Additionally, the integration of diverse forms of knowledge, including experiential insights, practitioner expertise, and community perspectives, is recommended within evidence-informed decision-making processes.

Theoreticians have attempted to quantify the social structure, when one of the modern theoreticians, Pierre Bourdieu, asserted that it is possible to look at the social hierarchy through the individual’s possession of three types of capital, which are intertwined and yet separate from one another: economic capital (the person’s level of wealth), cultural capital (the person’s level of education), and social capital (the fabric of the person’s social relationships with others). In our research we examined whether there are differences between two different classes living in Israel, regarding the ways of education they adopt in their family, as well as their beliefs regarding the way in which their children should be educated. Our findings showed that there are apparent differences in the ways of education adopted in each one of the two classes, a phenomenon that may create polarization in terms of ways of behavior and patterns of thinking.