Elsa Guzman

Over the past three decades, a significant amount of research has sought to relate educational institutions, policies, practices, and reforms to social structures and agencies. A number of models have been developed that have become the basis for attempting to understand the complex relation between education and society. At the same time, national and international bodies tasked with improving educational performances seem to be writing in a void, in that there is no rigorous theory guiding their work, and their documents exhibit few references to groups, institutions and forces that can impede or promote their programs and projects. As a result, the recommendations these bodies provide to their clients display little to no comprehension of how and under what conditions the recommendations can be put into effect. The Education System in Mexico directly addresses this problem. By combining abstract insights with the practicalities of educational reforms, policies, practices, and their social antecedents, it offers a long overdue reflection of the history, effects and significance of the Mexican educational system, as well as presenting a more cogent understanding of the relationship between educational institutions and social forces in Mexico and around the world.

Interventions in Education Systems draws on research conducted in England, Mexico, Singapore and Finland to illuminate reform processes to education systems in a range of contexts, to develop a better understanding of intervention processes and to promote the development of more sophisticated models for reforming education systems. The authors compare policy implementations and interventions in countries with different socio-economic profiles and different levels of development, highlighting how these processes in practice all too frequently are side-tracked and distorted, often unintentionally, by political, economic and social forces.

Interventions in Education Systems draws on research conducted in England, Mexico, Singapore and Finland to illuminate reform processes to education systems in a range of contexts, to develop a better understanding of intervention processes and to promote the development of more sophisticated models for reforming education systems. The authors compare policy implementations and interventions in countries with different socio-economic profiles and different levels of development, highlighting how these processes in practice all too frequently are side-tracked and distorted, often unintentionally, by political, economic and social forces.