Purpose This paper traces the discursive evolution of the policy metaphor “sung-pang” (literally loosening the ties), which became central to market-oriented education reform in post-authoritarian Taiwan. Adopting a transnational lens, it analyses how sung-pang was selectively appropriated, translated and legitimised to dismantle authoritarian control over education. The study aims to historicise the emergence of market logics in Taiwanese education policy and to trace how economic vocabularies were reinterpreted within the context of political liberalisation, institutional restructuring and aspirations for democratisation. Thus, our attention is turned away from a nation-state focus and towards a critical understanding of historical connections within place-based studies. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on an extensive corpus of archival primary source material produced between 1994 and 1996. It examines public records, including the Education Reform Commissions papers as well as newspapers and commentaries, and presents an historical analysis of commissioners' backgrounds, policy networks and public positions during an era of reform in Taiwan. The interplay of historical and contemporary perspectives makes it possible to explore not only the formal policy texts but also the entangled broader policy environment in which sung-pang was articulated, contested and legitimised. Findings The historical analysis shows that sung-pang operated as more than a rhetorical device: it became a reform language that simultaneously dismantled martial-law legacies and legitimised market-oriented governance. Anchored in the twin principles of impartiality and autonomy, sung-pang defined the “loosening” of education as both a democratic imperative – freeing institutions from partisan control – and an economic strategy – binding them to competition and accountability. Moreover, commissioner biographies illustrate how travelling expertise, especially US-trained academics and scientific elites, provided symbolic and practical capital to legitimise these ideas. Thus, our historical analysis looks beyond the nation-state and on the one hand, challenges the hegemonic influence of policy narratives while on the other, it emphasises the importance of connections and the circulation of ideas and discourses. Originality/value The paper contributes to transnational histories of education by demonstrating how policy metaphors can function as sites of entangled creation rather than simple borrowing or nationally bounded policymaking. Tracing the consolidation of sung-pang reveals how neoliberal reform was historically rearticulated into a dual register: politically, as the language of rights and participation; economically, as the language of choice and accountability. More broadly, the study demonstrates how travelling expertise, conservative resistance and transnational references converged to legitimise new forms of governance, offering insight into the contingent ways neoliberal logics are embedded and reconfigured in specific historical moments.
Purpose This study examines how teachers at a Japanese special school collectively reconfigured their educational practices from the 1960s to the early 1980s as student populations changed. The findings contribute to the history of education by foregrounding teachers' collective practices within a segregated schooling context, rather than examining special education primarily via policy frameworks or ideological debates. Design/methodology/approach The study analyses historical school research bulletins produced by teachers at a metropolitan special school in Tokyo. These sources trace changes in professional discussions, instructional arrangements, and organisational practices over time. Rix's distinction between “certainty” and “uncertainty” serves as an analytical lens. Findings The analysis identifies two phases in teaching practices. During the 1960s, teachers focused on stabilising their work by organising students into special classes and ability-based groups, thereby establishing forms of certainty that enabled schooling for students with disabilities. Around 1970, teachers initiated questions on the adequacy of existing approaches and engaged in sustained collective discussions aimed at reorganising teaching, curriculum and school structures in more flexible and exploratory ways. Originality/value By focusing on everyday teaching practices and internal deliberations, the findings challenge static representations of segregated schooling and demonstrate the operation of special schools as dynamic sites of pedagogical negotiation and change. This study offers a perspective that contributes to international discussions concerning teachers' work and the relationship between special and inclusive education.
Purpose This article discusses the report of the Working Committee on College Proposals for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and its recommendations (Campbell Report), presented in late 1972. A particular focus is consultation of school students. Surveys asked students if they approved of a proposal to introduce senior secondary colleges to provide the final two years of schooling. They invited students to comment on what they liked and disliked about school and what they wanted to change. This article asks whether their voices had influence. Design/methodology/approach With reference to historians’ analysis of what constituted success or failure in attempts at major reform, research addresses context for and participation in reform in the ACT. Primary sources include the Campbell Report and three analyses of student surveys. Findings The new system of secondary education which resulted from recommendations of the Committee was significantly different to the one it replaced. The college system proved popular and enduring. The Campbell Report records the consultation of thousands of students, consideration of their responses, and the ultimate influence of their voices. Originality/value The article contributes to an almost empty field, being the major reform to secondary education within the ACT in the 1970s. It argues crucial involvement of a wide base: community, educators, media and, significantly, students and the influence of their voices. It contributes to histories of reform to secondary education more broadly and it additionally contributes to a growing interest of historians in school student voices of the past.
Purpose Since 1900, most schools in Australia's largest state, New South Wales (NSW), have operated within a set of normative practices prescribed by government regulation, pedagogical convention, and community expectation. Outside of these norms have been small numbers of experimental schools that offer an "alternative" to this "mainstream". This article is the first attempt since the 1970s to systematically map the establishment of experimental alternative schools in NSW. In doing so I sought to identify large patterns over this period and establish a baseline for future research.Design/methodology/approach Through triangulation of current and archival data sources, I compiled a list of 92 experimental alternative schools established in NSW, between 1900 and 2020.Findings As anticipated, a modest first wave of schools was aligned with the global Progressivism of the 1920s and 1930s, followed by a larger second wave associated with the counter-cultural movements of the 1970s. Interestingly, the language of these earlier periods has been adopted by a third wave of schools over the past two decades, where alternative approaches are being used to address the social issue of young people disengaging from school. I argue that these waves have been produced by a combination of broader sociocultural trends, government funding, and compliance requirements.Originality/value The history of alternative schools informs our understanding of how education has developed, and provides insight into contemporary opportunities for educational innovation. Despite this, there has been little historical research beyond studies of individual schools since the 1970s. This article addresses this historiographic gap by presenting a statewide overview and extended history of the establishment of experimental alternative schools.
PurposeThis paper investigates the German concept of Hilfsschulbedürftigkeit which can be considered the crucial reference for the exclusion of pupils from the regular school system. This category was created during the times of National Socialism; as such Hilfsschulbedürftigkeit also constituted the first step towards eugenic measures (e.g. sterilization, euthanasia). Design/methodology/approachThis paper works with a variety of archival sources, such as the Magdeburger Verfahren, student assessment forms from different areas in Germany, as well as additional contextual sources. Due to the source's context of creation, a source-critical approach (source criticism) has been employed. Additionally, the paper draws from conceptual as well as social history. FindingsThe analysis of the Magdeburger Verfahren as well as the additional sources illustrate that a conceptual shift – from medical-psychological diagnostics to pedagogically minded assessment – regarding the identification of special needs children took place. Additionally, it can be seen that the newly created category of Hilfsschulbedürftigkeit lacks conceptual precision and that this lack of precision also manifests itself in the applied diagnostic procedures. Originality/valueThe history of special education can be considered an under-researched field in and of itself. This case study not just focuses on a special time and place (Germany during National Socialism) but also highlights the intermingling of disciplinary, political and ideological dynamics.
