ABSTRACT The redesign of educational quasi-market instruments has been gaining traction in response to the negative equity impacts of these policies, with various educational systems introducing adjustments in the design of school-choice schemes and subsidies for private schools. However, the capacity of such policy calibrations to address inequalities remains open to question. This paper develops an analytical framework to understand the effects of redesign initiatives and inform policy action. Drawing on a mechanism-based approach to policy design, we propose and apply a theoretically-driven framework situating the causality between policy problems, instrument design and outcomes at the centre of the analysis. Examining the recent wave of redesign reforms, the paper demonstrates that the equity-enhancing potential of calibrations can be assessed based on their capacity to disrupt the mechanisms connecting quasi-market instruments with educational inequalities. It also finds that some mechanisms prove particularly challenging to affect, inviting reflection on the limits of redesign.

ABSTRACT This paper explores the relationships that principals identify as most significant to their leadership and how these shape their professional identities. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of the ‘made subject’ and Biesta’s ‘impulse society’, the study situates principalship within a web of power relations that render the principal both accountable and emotionally vulnerable. Interviews with sixteen principals identified five key relationships, with each relationship exerting distinct disciplinary pressures. Two intertwined tensions emerge for the principals: a fear of failing students’ education and a fear of being publicly exposed as a failure. The study contributes original insights into the emotional labour of leadership, the confessional nature of accountability and self-governance and the seeming absence of ethical resistance among principals. It offers a critical, relational and affective account of principalship, advancing theoretical understandings of subjectification and governmentality situated within the impulsive society while highlighting the ethical and emotional consequences of leading.

ABSTRACT The study examined the leadership practices that were viewed as effective by school principals during the COVID-19 crisis and how these practices corresponded with the guidelines formulated by Schechter and colleagues. This qualitative research was based on interviews with 20 school principals in Israel who had at least five years of seniority, working with students of different age groups in various regions of the country. The participating principals were selected by purposive sampling. We analysed the qualitative data with a deductive approach, using directed content analysis, where the guidelines of Schechter and colleagues served as the primary guide to coding. The eight strategies were divided into 22 practices. Additionally, principals’ accounts revealed a multifaceted pyramid of actions that leaders adopt during crises, combining universal strategies with tailored and infrequent ones to effectively navigate challenges. The findings and their implications are discussed.

ABSTRACT Principals’ tactics of resistance are an area of major contemporary interest. This resistance can include the range of ways in which principals remain able to pursue their own educational goals when the policy environment or other contextual factors would work to thwart or inhibit this. The present paper uses Mētis in combination with de Certeau’s (1984. The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press) concept of the practice of everyday life to furnish a new way of investigating and articulating the multifaceted and subtle behaviours through which principals successfully engage in ethical and purposeful tactics of resistance. Our analysis revealed that the principal in our study used a combination of tactics of resistance alongside genuine cooperation (or the appearance of genuine cooperation). He did not always adopt a position of perpetual resistance, but rather a more fluid, multi-dimensional resisting-conforming stance in response to his specific context, aligning with the notion of resistance as a lived experience.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to focus on the changing identity of women of colour assistant principals (APs) before becoming an educator, to after several years. Every teacher has experiences that led them to study education with notions of the ideal educator they hope to become. Four women of colour APs participated in two interviews, with the second utilising photovoice. The findings suggest that these women were influenced by their mothers or teachers, during their student years. When these women became APs, they then envisioned becoming principals, but naturally sacrificed their professional selves to be good mothers. This researcher will share the views and actions of the participants and myself to advise other educators to understand their perceptions and satisfaction levels with their jobs to lower attrition.

ABSTRACT There is considerable literature on the challenges of refugee students, including the low performance of refugee students. However, we also know that some refugee students, although very few, show high performance in schools, and the achievements of these students are often overlooked. Intending to this gap in knowledge, therefore this qualitative phenomenological study, aims at exploring the possible sources behind the success of refugee students with high academic performance by using the opinions of school administrators, teachers, and students, triangulated with school observations. Findings indicate that the inclusive school environment, individual characteristics, family, and community-based engagement play a significant role in the emergence of this high academic. performance. Further conclusions and implications for education stakeholders tending to refugee academic performance are fully discussed.

ABSTRACT Pakistan ranks second worst on the Global Gender Gap Index 2024, reflecting entrenched patriarchal structures that extend into women’s professional environments. This paper examines how women leaders navigate marginalisation within hegemonic power dynamics. It demonstrates that silenced and subordinated women leaders operate within deeply embedded structures that privilege male authority and constrain their agency. Focusing on women leaders who challenge these constraints through fearless truth-telling, this paper highlights their acts of resistance against systemic silencing and injustice through an innovative methodological intervention. Drawing on Foucauldian thought, it explores how truth-telling extends beyond formal leadership spaces into research interviews, destabilising dominant narratives and redefining leadership. By critiquing hegemonic normativity, these women leaders disrupt gendered hierarchies, refusing to accept (mis)representation of their leadership. Their defiance underscores the transformative power of voice, offering pathways for self-authoring and possibilising freedom in oppressive structures.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the recent surge in book censorship within U.S. public schools, focusing on materials related to sex, gender, LGBTQ+ identities, and Critical Race Theory (CRT). The study highlights the dramatic increase in news reports and legislative actions targeting these topics since 2021. The authors explore how local educational leaders, such as school board members and superintendents, navigate community pressures and implement censorship policies in Indiana. The research employs critical policy analysis (CPA) to understand the historical context, policy rhetoric, and practical realities of book banning. Findings reveal that censorship efforts often reinforce power imbalances and marginalise non-dominant groups. The paper concludes with implications for educational practice and policy, emphasising the need for continued research and activism to resist censorship and promote diverse, inclusive educational materials.

ABSTRACT Since the 1940s, pedagogical leadership has been depicted as the solution to numerous issues in Swedish schools. The aim of this study is to explore the problematisations associated with this form of leadership and how they have given rise to constructions of ideal leadership practices. With a genealogical approach, the article investigates the discussions surrounding pedagogical leadership, from 1940 to present day, in one of the largest teacher journals. In so doing, it provides a historical exploration of the meanings attributed to pedagogical leadership and illustrates the shifts that have shaped its discourse in Swedish school organisations. The results reveal a recurring force throughout its genealogy to be a persistent internal drive to rid itself of its own antiquated legacy of authoritarian tendencies. Throughout the decades, this drive shapes perceptions of what is both problematic and necessary for the school organisation, transforming pedagogical leadership from task-centred to care-centred.