This open-access volume gathers essays from prominent scholars in the sociology of education and critical policy studies, inspired by Geoff Whitty’s lifelong pursuit of social justice.
“Education and Gender” presents a comprehensive, global examination of how gender shapes—and is shaped by—educational systems.
This book offers a clear, systematic overview of the adult and continuing education system in Belarus. Veramejchyk analyzes key elements including educational institutions, funding structures, program offerings, participation rates, staffing, and international cooperation. She situates these within Belarus’s political, geographic, cultural, and economic framework. Serving as an introductory g…
This open-access book examines how to support students in discovering purpose and agency in a rapidly changing world. Reimers offers a visionary, multidimensional framework for global education—spanning cultural, psychological, professional, institutional, and political perspectives—and integrates extensive empirical research. He presents concrete curriculum examples and global citizenship …
This book is an excellent synthesis of the initial and continuing preparation for Mathematics Teaching in Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, from which comparative analyses can be made that show similarities and differences, and highlight various perspectives.
This scholarly volume grew out of a 2018 Education Deans Forum in Johannesburg and critically examines the dual discourses of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and decolonisation in South African higher education. It explores how these discourses converge and diverge across epistemological, ontological, axiological, and methodological dimensions—sometimes competing for dominance in shapi…
This Open Access book is an excellent synthesis of the initial and continuing preparation for Mathematics Teaching in Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru, from which comparative analyses can be made that show similarities and differences, and highlight various perspectives.
This volume explores the growing significance and validation of non‑formal and informal learning across education, workplace, and society. Recognizing such learning is increasingly central to policy and research agendas worldwide, as a means to address skill gaps, support marginalized groups, and foster a knowledge-based economy
This book uses meta-analysis to synthesize research on scaffolding and scaffolding-related interventions in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. Specifically, the volume examines the extent to which study quality, assessment type, and scaffolding characteristics (strategy, intended outcome, fading schedule, scaffolding intervention, and paired intervention) influe…
This open access book presents a strong philosophical, theoretical and practical argument for the mainstreaming of indigenous knowledge in curricula development, and in teaching and learning across the African continent.
In this book, Amy Lai examines the current free speech crisis in Western universities. She studies the origin, history, and importance of freedom of speech in the university setting, and addresses the relevance and pitfalls of political correctness and microaggressions on campuses, where laws on harassment, discrimination, and hate speech are already in place, along with other concepts that hav…
This edited volume offers a comparative analysis of adult education and lifelong learning across Europe and beyond. It draws on discussions from the 2015 Würzburg Winter School, examining educational policies, professionalization of adult educators, learner participation, quality assurance, and guidance and counselling in adult education. Each chapter delves into specific sub‑topics—such a…
The current Special Issue has been inspired by the Seventh Annual Conference on Citizenship Education that was held in Roehampton University London, on 26–27 September 2019. This conference explored how citizenship education can promote young people’s civic and political engagement, particularly those of disadvantaged backgrounds. Discussions focused on the effectiveness of diverse form…
Universities have long been integral to society, fulfilling a vital role as institutions for knowledge development, exchange, and diffusion. Even though universities have only in recent decades been portrayed as bridging the gap between academia and society through interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement, they have always been founded on societal needs and thereby have also recognize…
If the COVID-19 pandemic affirmed anything to the educational community, it was that professional lives are incredibly connected, and a disruption across the globe has real and tangible effects on the ability to deliver education, the core business of universities and schools alike. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced rapid restructuring of education to enable educational continuity, and insti…
This volume critically examines the complexities of implementing inclusive schooling across various African contexts, arguing that inclusion is neither instinctive nor guaranteed—it must be actively pursued. Drawing from diverse contributions on curriculum, pedagogy, representation, culture, school life, equity, and social justice, the book emphasizes questions of power, identity (class, gend…
This book introduces a comprehensive assessment framework designed to guide professionals in evaluating the needs of children and their families in a structured and evidence-based manner.
This book explores how socioeconomic inequality affects educational outcomes, using two decades of data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). It examines patterns across countries and over time, analyzing the relationship between students’ socioeconomic status and their academic performance. The authors provide evidence that educational inequality is persiste…
This volume was inspired by research on leadership in topperforming schools conducted by a research team in which two of the volume editors were involved. That research was in three articles published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal in 2018.
This edited volume investigates the transformative power of historical knowledge within teacher education, emphasizing the public history approach. It highlights how integrating historical perspectives helps pre-service teachers foster critical thinking, interdisciplinary awareness, and informed decision‑making. With historical understanding as both disciplinary knowledge and a transversal sk…
The book Knowledge Production and Contradictory Functions in African Higher Education examines the complex roles of African universities in knowledge production, development, and socio-economic transformation.
Content analysis, often the measure of choice, is required to meet quality criteria such as objectivity, reliability and validity. However, some of the reliability measures most frequently used have lately been discussed controversially, indicating that there is room for improvement. The first generation of the Iota concept caters to the idea of improved reliability measures for content analysi…
The increasing affordances of new technologies provide both new opportunities and challenges for teaching in higher education. Equipping instructors with the necessary teaching competencies to overcome these challenges in the digital era is imperative. This handbook serves as a reference for higher education stakeholders. It aims to cultivate high-quality instructors, improve higher education q…
this book responds to the growing need for new insights and perspectives on the institutional mechanisms adopted by universities to support international students from Asia in their academic and social integration to university life
Critical Human Rights, Citizenship, and Democracy Education brings together a diverse, international body of scholars to treat human rights, citizenship, and democracy education as interconnected and critically examined fields. Through a blend of theoretical explorations and illuminating case studies, the book revisits these concepts from a justice-oriented lens, challenging the dominance of co…
Comparative Adult Education and Learning: Authors and Texts explores adult learning and education through a comparative research lens. It’s structured in two parts across four chapters: first, an analytical essay examining theoretical foundations and methods of comparison, followed by an anthology of key texts from diverse countries that illustrate varying perspectives, theories, and approach…
Coordination of Action in Adult Education Organizations (2024) explores how various actors across multiple levels in adult education systems collaborate to plan, manage, and deliver learning opportunities. Drawing on organizational theory, the volume brings together four empirical studies that highlight diverse actor constellations, coordination mechanisms, and context‑specific influences—f…
The importance of partnerships is critical in educational arenas, but information on how partnerships form with the involvement of corporations, districts, and universities working in harmony is limited in the current literature.
"Informed by the author’s long‑standing work on violent conflict, peace and education in countries of the Global South, particularly Colombia, this open access book presents a comprehensive narrative about the relationship between peace education, historical memory and the sustaining peace agenda, advocating for the adoption of a new perspective on education for sustaining peace through his…
Creativity is explored as both an educational tool and a socio-cultural phenomenon across all phases of schooling—from early years to higher education. This open-access volume brings together empirically grounded case studies from diverse global contexts, each followed by critical reflections from international contributors. These conversational responses examine how creative methods can be a…
This open-access volume presents comparative snapshots of open and distance education across six national higher education systems—Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States . It traces the historical development, institutional structures, and evolving policies shaping ODE in each country, highlighting how digital transformation has influenced access, pedago…
This open access book explores the field of human rights dissemination in Central Asia. Offering a comparative perspective on five post‑Soviet Central Asian states—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan—it examines compliance with international human rights standards in these countries.
Simon Marginson traces the rise and decline of California’s landmark 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education—designed by University of California President Clark Kerr to ensure universal access, quality, and public accountability. The volume details how this model became a global benchmark, inspiring systems across the world, including China and East Asia. However, in California, the politica…
This book presents the results of the AHEAD international horizon scanning initiative, which aimed to identify and analyze major trends that could shape the future of higher education by 2030. Through a rigorous methodology combining expert workshops, Delphi surveys, and thematic analyses, the book outlines key developments in technology, society, politics, economics, and ecology that may impac…
This edited volume explores the transformative potential of undergraduate education in South Africa and the conditions needed to translate access into meaningful learning and social impact.
This book examines how education systems around the world can be reformed and strengthened in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws on lessons from past educational reforms to inform how policymakers, educators, and institutions can "build back better" — making education systems more equitable, resilient, and future-oriented. The authors explore reforms at macro (policy), meso (curricul…
In the field of vocational education and training (VET) quality has become one of the most relevant issues. As stated by the European Council, “the knowledge, skills and commitment of teachers, as well as the quality of school leadership, are the most important factors in achieving high quality educational outcomes” (European Council 2009, p. 2).
This book explores how education and skills development can support inclusive growth and sustainable development in Asia, particularly through the promotion of green jobs and environmentally sustainable economies. Drawing on case studies from across the region, it highlights how governments, industries, and education providers are working to align curricula, vocational training, and workforce d…
While higher education has been considered as both an ‘engine’ for innovation and a ‘catalyst’ for sustainability development, the integration of both the ‘innovation engine’ and ‘sustainability catalyst’ roles is best reflected in higher education’s engagement in innovation ecosystems—the theme of this special issue, including 16 articles dealing with the topic from various…
Creativity, giftedness, and leadership are complex, important phenomena, especially in the threatening turbulence of 21st-century conditions; consequently, there is an increasing need to understand how to strengthen them. We can learn much about these phenomena from within the borders of specialized disciplines;
In recent years, the number of studies conducted on the influence of family variables on cyberbullying perpetration and victimization has increased, especially in terms of relational family processes.
This 2019 Oxford University Press volume investigates why many developing countries have improved school access without corresponding gains in learning outcomes—a phenomenon now termed the “learning crisis.” Applying a comparative framework across six countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda), the book argues that political factors—including elite commitm…
This edited volume stems from the 9th International Adult Education Academy (2022), featuring contributions from over 80 researchers, students, and practitioners representing nearly 20 countries
This edited volume compiles eight empirical studies originating from the 9th International Adult Education Academy (2022), featuring contributions by over 80 researchers, students, and practitioners from nearly 20 countries
This book explores how higher education institutions responded to the COVID-19 crisis, with a particular focus on governance, operations, teaching, and organization. Drawing on case studies from multiple countries, the volume examines the immediate and long-term institutional responses to the pandemic and their implications for the future of higher education. It considers how universities manag…
“Up until the latter years of the twentieth century, there was very little critical analysis of child protection policies and practices. The core assumption was that… child protection policies, practices, and systems… were assumed to be benign in both intent and impact. Increasingly, however, it has been recognised that a whole range of political, cultural, and sociological influences bea…
This edited volume captures proceedings from the World Learning Summit and LINQ Conference held in June 2017 (Kristiansand, Norway), confronting how educational institutions at all levels are adapting to an ever-accelerating wave of digital transformatio
This open-access study guide examines the evolution and complexity of lifelong learning and adult education policies within Europe. Drawing on the authors’ teaching experience in adult education at the University of Duisburg–Essen, it offers a structured introduction to key policy frameworks and political actors that shape the field