Book reviews [International Journal of Emotional Education, 7(1)]

Abstract

Given that internationalisation is an increasing influence on education systems across the world, there is a real need for more fora to offer critical exchange, dissemination and debate on policy reports in education that are purporting to address international audiences and influence a wide range of national education systems. Against this backdrop, the International Journal of Emotional Education has decided to add Policy Reports to the scope of reviewed works for its book reviews section. This issue focuses on a review by Neil Boland of the OECD’s Skills for Social Progress: The Power of Social and Emotional Skills. While the OECD’s PISA findings do include a limited focus on students’ perceptions of belongingness and sense of inclusion in school, this OECD report represents an expansion of the ambit of its previous concerns. The assumptions underlying this attempted expansion are interrogated by Boland. If there are other Policy Reports in Education that readers would like to review or have reviewed, please contact me at: paul.downes@dcu.ie Professor Erna Nairz-Wirth offers a review of the multidisciplinary book Winning Without Fighting which combines theoretically informed understandings with practical approaches for education and working in the classroom. It addresses key issues such as the need to go beyond stigmatising labels for children and to focus on interactional dimensions to experience and behaviour.