The French have a saying ‘plus ca change plus c’est la meme chose’. The English colloquial equivalent ‘same old same old’ conveys a sense of the inevitable, a reminder that if we haven’t learned the lessons of history we are doomed to repeat them. In over half a century, what have we learned about education, about schools as places for education, about learning and teaching and the relationship between them? What have we learned about policy making and the policy process? Has the growing impact of globalisation informed or constrained radical change?

Written in an easily accessible style, and drawing on the author’s personal experiences of working in education as teacher, researcher, government adviser and consultant with international agencies, each chapter of the book illuminates deeper lying issues about the nature of schooling, learning, leadership, research, and the impact of globalisation on the lives of schools, teachers, children and families. This first-hand account, spanning fifty years, addresses key questions through seven different lenses:

- policy making: ideology, insiders, outsiders and dissenting voices

- research and the myths of scientific rigour

- international agencies and agents provocateurs

- academics conferring and the power of place

- New enlightenment and a university for children

- being and becoming a teacher, and the end of idealism

- going to school: plus ca change?

Each of the seven lenses offers a unique perspective of the education system, but all are drawn together to consider the greater implications for policy and practice in the UK and beyond. The book will be of value to teachers and school leaders, as well as to academics and students on education programmes.

John MacBeath is Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, UK, Director of Leadership for Learning: the Cambridge Network and Project Director of the Centre for Commonwealth Education.