Implementing Educational Reform
Cases and Challenges

A collection and analysis of eight education reform case studies, capturing successes, failures and choices faced in implementation.

Colleen McLaughlin (Edited by), Alan Ruby (Edited by)

9781108836401, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 November 2021

260 pages
25.2 x 17.6 x 1.6 cm, 0.51 kg

'This book offers governments, policymakers, and academics systematic guidelines and strengthens practitioner knowledge to improve the design and implementation of education reform with regard to local conditions. […] this volume succeeds in advancing the conversation on the effective implementation of reform and creating space for further research.' Yi Liu, Comparative Education

There is constant pressure on governments and policy makers to raise the standard of education, and to develop appropriate curriculum and pedagogies for students. It is no easy task. This book presents eight specific case studies of education reform implementation which capture how the design and implementation choices of policy makers are shaped by national and historical contexts. They offer real examples of the choices and constraints faced by policymakers and practitioners. The cases are a mix of nationally and locally mandated reforms with five examples from nations where the state initiated and guided reforms. The concluding synthesis chapter highlights commonalities and differences across the cases and disparate responses to shared concerns. Providing a breadth of real-world research, it will assist policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders interested in system change.

Preface
1. Why focus on implementation in education reform? Alan Ruby and Colleen McLaughlin
2. Promoting equity in education through system change: some lessons from England and Wales Mel Ainscow
3. A decade of education reform in Hong Kong Mary James
4. Reforming a school system – the case of Kazakhstan Colleen McLaughlin, Liz Winter, Olena Fimyar and Natallia Yakavets
5. Pursuing greater autonomy for Post-Soviet universities: an illustration from Kazakhstan Matthew Hartley and Alan Ruby
6. School improvement by design in the USA: why it's needed, how it works, and how it can be improved Brian Rowan
7. Promising practice in government schools in Vietnam Tony McAleavy and Rachael Fitzpatrick
8. Education reform implementation lessons: a case study of high-performing Singapore Saravanan – S. Gopinathan and Edmund Lim
9. Qatar's road to education reform: the need for teacher autonomy Asmaa Alfadala, Stavros N. Yiannouka and Omar Zaki
10. What have we learned about implementation? Colleen McLaughlin and Alan Ruby.

Subject Areas: Educational strategies & policy [JNF], Moral & social purpose of education [JNAM], Philosophy & theory of education [JNA], Education [JN]