Legitimising Educational Reforms: Strategic Documents and Competing Knowledge Regimes

Abstract

The article focuses on knowledge regimes within the normative discourse of the reform of Czech educational curricula. Engaging with the relational ontology of 'third-wave sociology of education', the article presents a qualitative analysis of strategic documents that sheds light on the divergent systems of reasons for particular educational changes. The research traced legitimising (justifying and criticising) strategies in authorised documents (governmental organisations) and non-authorised (NGOs and transnational organisations) in the 2010-2017 period. These findings point to the existence of several significantly divergent knowledge 'micro-regimes' that produce various contradictions and tensions on the level of regimes, documents, and the meaning of 'competent' actors. The research tracked the different relationships between managerial, expert, revisionist, revising, and adaptation regimes. It demonstrated that contemporary Czech attempts to reach a consensus over the goals of education across society are paralysed by a number of contradictory legitimisations rather than one hegemonic discourse.