Position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research

Saarinen, Taina

doi:10.1080/03075070802457090

Cited by 87 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…As stated above, we are not suggesting that the conceptualizations of teachers that are constructed automatically lead to policy change. Rather, we suggest that policy texts can be seen from the angle of a "language game," that does not just describe social processes and structures but also creates and supports them (HACKING, 2007;SAARINEN, 2008). Studies of concepts are important for our understanding of how international discourses on teachers are constructed.…”

Section: Methodological Approachmentioning

confidence: 97%

Professores Do Pisa: A Esperança E a Realização Da Educação

Pettersson

Mølstad²

2016

Educ. Soc.

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Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) activities and their effects are diverse, and it can be said that PISA both creates and forms a specific reasoning (HACKING, 1992) about how to argue, talk, and think about education. In this study of PISA activities, ideas about teachers, the activities they perform, and how these are conceptualized within a textual PISA narrative are analyzed. The results show that teachers are highlighted as being important in and crucial for educational transformation and development. Teachers are also interpreted as being essential for closing a measured "achievement gap" among students in terms of how they perform in PISA tests. Moreover, "good" teachers and "effective" teaching are described as teachers and strategies that facilitate the closure of measured "achievement gaps". Consequently, the main PISA reports emphasize teachers as developers of education and educational strategies, rather than deliverers of state determined policy. As such, teachers are regarded as indicators of the effectiveness of the education system, and as important factors for raising the performance standards, thereby regarding them as the hope and the process of education.Keywords: PISA. Teachers. Teaching. Professores do PISA:a esperança e a realização da educação RESUMO: As atividades do Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) e os seus efeitos são diversos, sendo possível dizer que o PISA cria e forma uma fundamentação específica (HACKING, 1992) para discutir, falar e pensar sobre a educação. Neste estudo sobre as atividades do PISA, são analisadas as ideias sobre os professores, as atividades que realizam, e como estas são conceitualizadas no interior de uma narrativa própria ao PISA. Os resultados mostram que os professores são apresentados como sendo importantes e cruciais para a transformação e para o desenvolvimento da educação. Os professores também são representados como sendo essenciais para reduzir as "disparidades no 1 University of Gävle -Suécia. E-mail: daniel.pettersson@hig.se desempenho" dos alunos medidas pelo teste PISA. Ademais, os "bons" professores e o ensino "eficaz" são descritos como os professores e as estratégias que conduzem a tal redução. Consequentemente, os principais relatórios do PISA enfatizam uma imagem dos professores como os atores que desenvolvem a educação e o ensino, e não como executantes de políticas determinadas pelo Estado. Deste modo, os professores são considerados como indicadores da eficácia dos sistemas de educação e importantes para elevar os padrões de desempenho, sendo assim considerados como a esperança e a realização da educação.Palavras-chave: PISA. Professores. Ensino.

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Section: Methodological Approachmentioning

confidence: 97%

Professores Do Pisa: A Esperança E a Realização Da Educação

Pettersson

Mølstad²

2016

Educ. Soc.

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“…In this chapter I consider language policy and HE policy documents as social artefacts that do not necessarily provide a neutral description of the reality they aim to modify and describe, but rather co-construct this reality, shape it, and redefine it (Saarinen 2008). That is, I take the analysed policy documents as nodes of complexity that discursively project a particular image of reality which incorporates and encompasses a particular stakeholder's representation and ideology about reality.…”

Section: A Holistic Approach To Lpp Analysis and The Internationalisamentioning

confidence: 99%

English-Medium Instruction in European Higher Education

Dimova¹,

Hultgren²,

Jensen³

2015

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“…Available at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10734-014-9819-9 multiple ways (Ball 1994;Nudzor 2009). Second, the policy implementation approach is criticised for treating policies as responses to problems in the real world, whereas critical policy researchers seek to understand the ways in which policy texts seek to establish ways of seeing the world that lead to the recognition of particular kinds of problems and not others (Ball 1994;Bacchi 2000;Ozga 2000;Vidovich 2007;Weaver-Hightower, 2008;Saarinen 2008;Simons;Olssen, & Peters 2009;Saarinen and Ursin 2012;Taylor Webb 2014). Finally, implementation studies are criticised for treating policies as if they are located at the level of the government, regional or institutional agency that has produced them rather than in terms of the relations between these policies and the many levels of practices that are enacted in response to them (Ball 1994;Lingard and Sellar 2013).…”

Section: The Importance Of Policy Textsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Researcher creations? The positioning of policy texts in higher education research

Ashwin

Smith

2014

High Educ

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In this article we explore the way in which policy texts are positioned in a selection of higher education journal articles. Previous research has suggested that policy implementation studies have taken an uncritical approach to researching policies. Based on an analysis of articles published in higher education and policy journals in 2011, we argue that whilst these criticisms do appear to be valid, there is a bigger problem with the ways that policy texts are analysed and used in higher education research. This is that rather than subjecting particular policy texts to a sustained analysis, the majority of articles appear to focus on having an impact on policies that are very broadly conceived. We explore the implications of this and conclude by calling for more sustained, in-depth, analytical and critical research into the development and impact of higher education policies on higher education practices.

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Position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research

Cited by 87 publications

References 31 publications

Professores Do Pisa: A Esperança E a Realização Da Educação

Professores Do Pisa: A Esperança E a Realização Da Educação

English-Medium Instruction in European Higher Education

Researcher creations? The positioning of policy texts in higher education research

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