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Key Idea: Refraction

Refraction is a concept which allows us to explore the mediations and negotiations which emerge when ‘world movements’ or global initiatives are embedded in national and local systems and structures.  In the study of seven national European systems carried out the book Professional knowledge and Educational Restructuring in Europe (Goodson and Lindblad, Eds,  2010) we explored the different national and regional responses to global movements of change and educational restructuring.

The ranges of refraction show how patterns of reinterpretation and re-contextualisation can substantially influence and potentially re-direct world movements and global initiatives which seek to reconstruct our systems and services.

References

Developing a concept of 'refraction': Exploring educational change and oppositional practice; Goodson, I. F., & Rudd, T. (Forthcoming)