Education policy: explaining, framing and forming

Abstract

This paper presents a new heuristic device for the analysis of educational policy. Through an examination of the Evaluative State and the work of Brian Fay, the paper considers the way in which educational policy is subject to rational and linear forms of policy action and implementation. To counter this, positioning theory is deployed to consider the way in which we are produced both by discourse and the language of the 'moment' in discursive acts. Using the work of Gee, the paper contends that policy texts and policy Discourse 'themselves form policy, that is, they position policy-explanation and policy-framing within the bounds of the institution and so give policy form'. Problematically, such mechanisms may succumb to the 'death of subject' and accordingly I offer a third method by which we might conceive of education policy: the discursively produced position call. Subsequently, I propose a tri-partite theory for the examination and understanding of policy: policy-explaining, the production of policy texts; policy-framing, the ways in which all can be positioned by texts and Discourse to produce the meanings imbued upon policy; and, policy-forming, the impact of moment-by-moment conversational acts for their production of the policy text itself, that is, the ways in which policy is locally formed rather than locally mediated.

Inferences on Turkish Education Policies in the Light of International Education Policy Studies following the Compulsory Education Reform

“…Market principles have started to be incorporated in the center of education as the education systems in countries adapted the principles of efficacy, performance and standard. In this process, the objective is to train the labor force with the quality required by the economy or the outputs of schooling are determined (Adams 2016). The necessity of having the skills required by the labor market make it important to have access to a good education (Murnane 2012).…”

“…Performance in education is becoming more and more important as a result of globalization. Student performance is measured via national tests, teacher performance via administrative mechanisms, and school performances by way of inspection results or exams (Adams 2016). Such effects of globalization on education policies strengthen political interactions as well as political adaptations and borrowings among countries.…”

Student access to the curriculum in an age of performativity and accountability: an examination of policy enactment

“…The influence of neo-liberal thinking in the process of policy implementation appears to give decision-making powers and resource to those at the local level (Adams 2016;Olssen and Peters 2005). However, the use of 'policy technologies' (Ball, 2003), such as arms-length governance, are designed to ensure that reforms are implemented and their impact monitored; targets are set and performance is measured, and the results are then used to count, classify and measure outcomes, and ultimately dictate further policy decisions (Ball 2015).…”

Discursive narratives of comprehensive education politics in Finland

“…The article contributes to the current discussion of the socio-historical formation and development of Finnish comprehensive education (e.g. Mølstad and Karseth, 2016; Simola et al, 2017) and education policy and politics in general (Adams, 2016) from a narrative angle.…”