School Reform in an Era of Standardization

Ian Hardy's book is a compelling account of the challenges that characterize contemporary education in an era of increasingly standardised schooling practices. The book provides substantial empirical insights and ethical depth to the terrors of performativity that attend accountability agenda but also the possibility of accounting for education differently, and how teacher agency is vital to this work. School Reform in an Era of Standardization is an important contribution to debates about the educative potential of schools into the future-Professor Stephen Ball, Emeritus Professor, The Institute of Education, The University of London This is exactly the correct time for Ian Hardy's important book. By providing us with a detailed and insightful analysis of the truly worrisome effects of the policies and processes of standardization in education - and of how educators actually respond to them - Ian Hardy has significantly advanced our understanding of what educational reality is like for so many educators-Professor Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor of Education Emeritus, University of Wisconsin, Madison Ian Hardy's School Reform in an Era of Standardization provides a richly theorised and empirically-based exploration of how contemporary modes of performative accountability disaffect the work of teachers and school leaders. While the data are Australian, the insights are essential to all those interested in researching and reconstituting authentic educational accountabilities that place trust in teachers, and have educative effects-Professor Bob Lingard, Emeritus Professor, The University of Queensland, & Research Professor, Institute for Learning Sciences & Teacher Education, Australian Catholic University