Book excerpt: This book envisions the formulation of critical perspectives on education reform using the Philippine experience, recognizing the need to address relevant issues and challenges particularly in an increasingly globalized twenty-first century setting. A specific education reform project, the Leaders and Educators in Asia Programme (LEAP), a joint effort between the Philippines’ Department of Education, the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, the National Institute of Education-Singapore and Singapore’s Temasek Foundation, serves as the analytical focus of how education reform as a globalized movement is implemented, interpreted and made sense of by stakeholders involved in the reform project. This inquiry proposes to examine the problematique of education reform – from a Philippine perspective – by focusing on three analytical starting points: (1) describing the most relevant and urgent issues of education reform; (2) diagnosing the causes and consequences of reform failures; and (3) developing critical and contextualized perspectives on reform trajectories. Mapping the Terrain of Education Reforms: Global trends and local responses in the Philippines discusses the following: Challenges against effective education reforms The oscillation between global and local imperatives The dissociation between policymakers and practitioners Education reform aid in the Philippines This book will be of interest to researchers interested in education policy, politics, and reforms. It will also appeal to scholars examining Asian, and particularly Southeast Asian, educational systems.