The Lifecycle of Reform in Education, From the Circumstances of Birth to Stages of Decline: Causes, Ideologies and Power Relations

Reform policies and plans have become a recurrent theme in the educational systems of many countries. In this lecture, Maria Ben-Peretz presents several frameworks that provide possible explanations for this phenomenon; discussing major social, economic and political issues that lead to reform agenda. The lecture analyzes the nature of different stakeholders in the reform process and their impact on the initiation and implementation of reforms. Ben-Peretz uses the metaphor of lifecycle to describe the decline of many reform ventures, based on the notion of changing power relations among the various participants in the system. Several examples of reform movements demonstrate the complexities of reform development.