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The Prevent policy was singular and ‘simple’: to prevent individuals from getting drawn into terrorism, to identify and stop this process before it begins. In the context of the global war on terror and the shadow of terrorist attacks in the United States and England, this was an increasingly growing issue within the media and the broader public discourse. A central institution charged with enacting Prevent in the United Kingdom were education institutions (schools, colleges and universities), the rationale being that these places of learning house individuals during impressionable and vulnerable times and the Prevent policy can protect these individuals.

This chapter will provide an alternative critical discussion on Prevent by framing it as the securitisation of the UK education sector. As such, Prevent is a form of surveillance and a mechanism of power over educators and learners which carry counterproductive consequences for both. In doing so, this chapter will question how education professionals balance their professional identity and their new role in supporting and enacting the Prevent duty. Through developing a new multi-level ‘Critical Realist World Systems Model’, this chapter will provide a conceptual discussion of Prevent policy more broadly and how education professionals navigate the friction between their professional values and legal obligations. This chapter draws on a range of theoretical traditions to begin to question a well-established security policy within English and Welsh educational institutions providing a conceptual starting point to examine similar and future policies.

Professional learning networks (PLNs) involve teachers’ collaboration with others outside of their school to improve teaching and learning. PLNs can facilitate teachers’ professional growth and school improvement. This study aims to explore the drivers for participation within PLNs, the enactment process and the impact of PLN participation on teachers, students and schools in Greece.

A descriptive phenomenological study was conducted to explore the lived experience of primary school teachers participating in PLNs.

The findings showed that individuals who were open to change were driving innovation to address a need or a lack in their daily practice that was not satisfied within their usual community of practice. The key element of the participation was peer collaboration with openness of communication without attendant accountability pressures. The change was mainly identified in teacher skills and the school climate. An individual could bring change only if the school is already open to change. In some cases, resistance to change in schools was identified before enactment or during enactment. The transformation of teachers’ and leaders’ stances is discussed, enabling the opportunity to maximise school improvement.

The study examines PLNs as European Union-funded initiatives that are developed by teachers in centralised education systems under the phenomenological research paradigm. It explores the PLNs in a different setting compared to the existing conceptual theory of change for PLNs.

This chapter is about primary and secondary school teachers of history in England, and how they negotiate policy in order to teach sensitive and controversial issues which feature as part of the history curriculum. We present research conducted in two phases that used a bounded case study (Stake, 1995) as a methodological approach. In Phase One, two focus group interviews were undertaken; in Phase Two, six unstructured individual interviews were conducted. Participants were teachers of history in England from Key Stage 1–5 (children aged 4–18 years).

Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data which were informed by reflections on positionality and being a socially conscious researcher (Pillow, 2010). Three key policies were explored as part of this research: the National Curriculum (DfE, 2013), the Teachers' Standards (DfE, 2012) and the Prevent Duty (DfE, 2015). Research findings demonstrate how the context of the school is fundamental in how teachers enact policy in relation to their practice, particularly in light of political changes in society. Self-surveillance was identified as a key strategy, adopted in the teaching of sensitive and controversial issues. We frame this context around Kitson and McCully's (2005) theoretical continuum which indicates that there is a reluctance by some teachers to engage with the teaching of sensitive and controversial issues due to concerns with policy enactment.

The findings of this research illustrate that policy impacts on teachers in numerous ways. Policy was demonstrated to be ambiguous for teachers, and recommendations are made relating to policy and the need for clearer guidance for teachers to support them with their practice.

Widespread support exists for the view that teaching is a complex task (Schulman, 2004), that learning is a complex, dynamic phenomenon and that classrooms are ‘complex systems’ (Hardman, 2010). Systems behaving in complex, emergent ways cannot be successfully ‘managed’ by rigid, scripted practices but demand flexibility, responsiveness and in situ judgement. However, these dispositions appear only fleetingly, if at all, on professional standards rubrics and statutory descriptors of effective teaching. Discretionary judgement is implied but rarely emphasised. Drawing on the first author's doctoral study of ‘emergent learning’ in a primary school classroom, we demonstrate the importance of pre- and in-service teachers developing expert in-the-moment professional judgement to navigate the emergent and complex nature of classroom learning and argue that professional judgement should enjoy a more prominent, less tacit, position in pre-service initial teacher education (ITE) and in-service Continuing Professional Development (CPD). This chapter briefly describes and presents findings from the doctoral research which focused on how learning emerges bottom-up through classroom interactions, discusses the implications of this for teachers and concludes by setting an agenda for future research into teachers' experiences of agency and autonomy.

This study examines how compliance with government and firm's own policy and reverse logistics practices relate with firm environmental performance.

This study draws on insights from stakeholder theory, and follows a two-phase research approach. The first phase utilized an extended literature review that seeks to provide a qualitative and comprehensive understanding of the research problem. The 2001–2023 data was collected from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, complemented with Google Scholar. The second phase involved an empirical study—adopting a quantitative cross-sectional survey design with a self-administered questionnaire to validate the theoretical conceptualizations deriving from the literature review. The empirical data were collected from 203 food and beverages manufacturing firms in Uganda and analysed using the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach.

The study findings suggest that compliance with government policy positively influences firm environmental performance, both directly, and indirectly through fostering reverse logistics practices, and that the relationship between compliance with government policy and reverse logistics practices is contingent upon compliance with the focal firm's own policy.

The study findings will enhance the theoretical and conceptual development of the ideas that underpin stakeholder theory and applications. The Ugandan government will come up with better mechanisms for enforcing compliance with policy regulating the application of reverse logistics practices. In addition, the study advances the use of multi-method approaches in investigating interesting research aspects requiring in-depth examination. However, considering the fact that the empirical study was conducted in a single country context, and focused on firms more or less from the same sub-sector, the findings of the study might not be generalizable globally.

This study provides useful insights to logistics and supply chain managers involved in reverse logistics activities in food and beverages manufacturing firms. These managers can know how to leverage reverse logistics practices to enhance environmental performance of firms amidst environmental policies in the industry where they operate.

This study contributes to the built body of knowledge in operations, logistics and supply chain management literature; understanding about reverse logistics practices as a mechanism through which compliance with government policy influences environmental performance of firms. The interaction between compliance with government policy and compliance with firm policy is essential in explaining the performance effects of reverse logistics practices. In addition, the study advances the use of multi-method approaches in investigating interesting research aspects requiring in-depth examination. Complementing extended literature review with and empirical research to investigate reverse logistics practices influences on firm environmental performance, and incorporating the role of policy in explaining this relationship should make considerable contribution. Besides, the study highlights important areas for future research.

Eco-entrepreneurship is a topical issue in academic and professional literature over the past decade. In Africa, it is a relatively new concept fast gaining momentum with wide applicability and acceptance given its benefits in promoting consumer adoption of sustainable lifestyles, resilient environment, economic empowerment, and a win–win balance in the ecology and economy nexus. Amidst the growing impact of climate change and environmental degradation, eco-entrepreneurship has become a necessity, with emerging opportunities being in urban waste management, recycling, and renewable energy technologies. Regardless of the benefits of eco-entrepreneurship, regulatory and governance structures inform the viability of any initiatives. This chapter presents how political ecology structures intersect and impact eco-entrepreneurship in Africa. Given that nations’ approaches can differ, this study provides a case study synthesis of two major African economies namely Nigeria and South Africa. The authors document the predominant political orientation and attitude toward eco-entrepreneurship. First, the authors argue that the political environment is indifferent to the potential of the eco-entrepreneurial framework, hence applying a one-size-fits-all approach. Second is that the attention to eco-entrepreneurship by policymakers is economically inclined, they focus mainly on economic growth opportunities; equally, that eco-entrepreneurship offers opportunities for the protection of social and environmental integrity cannot be ignored. Third, is the bandwagon effect associated with eco-entrepreneurship initiatives, where the need to align with international bodies and states drives a Eurocentric concern? The authors conclude that fostering enabling policy environment can help enhance the productivity of current eco-entrepreneurial initiatives as well as attract new ones needed to explore eco-entrepreneurship benefits.

Carbon reduction in the construction supply chain can critically affect the construction industry’s transition to an environmentally sustainable one. However, implementing carbon reduction in all parties is restricted because of the poor understanding of the drivers influencing the low-carbon construction supply chain (LCCSC). The purpose of this paper is to systematically identify the drivers of LCCSC, analyze their causality, and prioritize the importance of their management.

A decision-making analysis process was developed using an integrated decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)–analytical network process (ANP). First, the hierarchical drivers of the LCCSC were identified through a literature review. The DEMATEL method was subsequently applied to analyze the interactions between the drivers, including the direction and strength of impact. Finally, the ANP analysis was used to obtain the drivers’ weights; consequently, their priorities were established.

Various factors with complex interactions drive LCCSC. With respect to their influence relationships, incentive policy, regulatory policy, consumers’ low-carbon preference, market competition, supply chain performance, and managers’ low-carbon awareness have more significant center degrees and are cause drivers. Their strong correlations and influence on other drivers should be noticed. In terms of weights in the driver system, regulatory policy, consumers’ low-carbon preference, supply chain performance, and incentive policy are the key drivers of LCCSC and require primary attention. Other drivers, such as supply chain collaboration, employee motivation, and public participation, play a minor driving role with less management priority.

Despite some contributing studies with localized perspectives, the systematic analysis of LCCSC drivers is limited, especially considering their intricate interactions. This paper establishes the LCCSC driver system, explores the influence relationships among the drivers, and determines the key drivers. Hence, it contributes to the sustainable construction supply chain domain by enabling decision-makers and practitioners to systematically understand the drivers of LCCSC and gain management implications on priority issues with limited resources.

Alain Verbeke is one of the world’s leading thinkers on international business (IB) and globalization, a renowned scholar and educator who contributes to creating a better global business environment by addressing some of today’s most critical challenges. He was one of the first scholars to advance a theoretically rigorous and practically significant perspective on international corporate social responsibility (CSR). Verbeke’s work on international CSR is particularly impactful because it is rooted in IB theory and based on a realistic set of assumptions about the behavior of managers, policymakers, and other market and nonmarket stakeholders. In this chapter, the authors apply theoretical principles central to Verbeke’s research – most notably behavioral assumptions of bounded rationality and bounded reliability – to analyze businesses’ and societies’ pace of progress in relation to stated environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. The authors argue that bounded rationality and reliability challenges create misalignment between stated/imposed commitments toward ESG performance, and economic actors’ ability to deliver on these commitments. The authors discuss examples of such misalignment, focusing on tensions among stakeholders, between stakeholder organizations and firms, and within firms. The authors propose that to be relevant for policy and practice, the sustainability research should be based on realistic microfoundational assumptions.