New directions in education? A critique of contemporary policy reforms

Abstract

This paper draws on facets of Foucault's theoretical resources to critique current education policy reform from within the Australian State of Victoria, namely the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's (DEECD) discussion paper New directions for school leadership and the teaching profession. Implicit in the reform effort is decentralization, including penalties for "underperforming" classroom teachers and "ineffective" teacher education courses. Principals will hold a pre-eminent rank in the reforms proposed as they are charged with their oversight and implementation, including intervening in the education and preparation of pre-service teachers.

School funding in Australia: A critical policy analysis of school sector influence in the processes of policy production

“…The silences in terms of representation across the panel and their professional backgrounds and experiences are worth highlighting. For example, those most impacted by the Review's recommendations: namely Public school teachers and principals (Skourdoumbis, 2016), were not represented on the panel in any way. Furthermore, illustrating Diem et al (2014) point that there are often differences between policy rhetoric and practiced reality, there was no Indigenous representation on the panel despite improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students being one of the central aims of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (Education Council, 2008).…”

The dispositif: a Foucauldian metaphor for educational research

“…Muchos de los textos que defienden la aplicación de algún aspecto concreto del legado filosófico de Foucault a la investigación educativa reflexionan sobre políticas educativas, en especial sobre el trasfondo de reformas puntuales a partir de nociones ya clásicas como las de "biopoder", "gubernamentalidad" o "normalización" (Bondy, 2016;Bye, 2015;Cohen, 2008;Hodge y Roger, 2012;Keller y Keller, 2014;Kollosche, 2016;Perryman, Ball, Braun y Maguire, 2017;Sharma, 2017;Skourdoumbis, 2016;Stickney, 2012). En esta línea, pueden resultar especialmente interesantes los trabajos que reflexionan sobre la educación para la ciudadanía (Nicoll, Fejes, Olson, Dahlstedt y Biesta, 2013;Ríos-Rojas, 2018).…”

Too much, too little: preschool teachers’ perceptions of the boundaries of adequate touching

“…Researchers have noted that care has received less space in many nations' policy documents covering educators' work (Halldén 2007;Drudy 2008;Taggart 2011). Policy documents have been the subject of many studies (Karila 2012;Skourdoumbis 2016). However, less interest has been paid to how educators and student-teachers themselves look upon care and physical touch as part of their work.…”