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Catherine Mangez

Bio: Catherine Mangez is an academic researcher from Université catholique de Louvain. The author has contributed to research in topics: Accountability & Power structure. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 16 publications receiving 65 citations.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the diffusion of enquetes participe d a mouvement plus large visant une forme de rationalisation de l’action publique en matiere d education.
Abstract: La promotion des enquetes a grande echelle ne peut etre dissociee du contexte d’evolution des rapports entre connaissance et politique. Outre l’incidence que ces etudes internationales comparees ont au niveau de la globalisation des politiques educatives, que nous ne traiterons pas ici, il nous semble important de relever que la diffusion de ces enquetes participe d’un mouvement plus large visant une forme de rationalisation de l’action publique en matiere d’education. Elles se developpent en...

17 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe Belgium as a consociational democracy, a society organized around integrated pillars of society (Catholic, secular), each of which provides a wide range of services (educational, training, health, health insurance, social care, family planning, leisure) to 'its' people.
Abstract: This is an article about the struggle for control of knowledge in a divided society. It starts off by describing Belgium as a consociational democracy - that is, a society organized around integrated pillars of society (Catholic, secular), each of which provides a wide range of services (educational, training, health, health insurance, social care, family planning, leisure) to 'its' people. This special politico-institutional arrangement inherited from the past, though it has evolved, still has profound implications for the way knowledge circulates (or not) and for the way it is used (or not) and perceived both within pillars and across the policy realm: the co-existence of distinct communities requires a form of discretion. The article then goes on to describe the specific incidents that occurred in the course of a recent research project: the authors' written reports produced unexpected effects. They try to make sense of these events by reflecting on how the specific Belgian context can affect and be affected by the production of knowledge about itself. Finally, they extend their reflection to other contexts by emphasizing the general process behind their observation: the transformative effect of knowledge. Knowledge needs to be understood as an act (of construction) that can affect its very object of analysis. The Belgian Context, its Elites and the Rules of their Game The article is an attempt to reflect on a couple of critical incidents that occurred in the course of the KnowandPol research project in Belgium. The incidents took place when the people (academics, researchers, top civil servants, inspectors, policy-makers, school principals) we had interviewed and their colleagues and hierarchy were informed about the results of our research, which included an analysis of their situation. In order to understand the events we wish to reflect upon, it is necessary to present the context of education research in Belgium, the nature of the consociative democracy and pillarization, as these structure the specifics of the research-policy relationship in Belgium. Belgium has often been described as a consociational democracy stemming from a sharply segmented society (Lijphart, 1979). It is both a federation and a consociation. Its linguistic divisions account for the fact that it is a federation. Its denominational divisions (which have existed for a much longer time) account for the fact that it is a consociation. Our focus here is on the consociational arrangements within French-speaking Belgium alone. Consociational democracies usually arise in societies where several integrated but sociologically distinct communities live side by side on the same territory (Lijphart, 1977; Boogards, 1998; Papadopoulos, 2003). These communities can be based on race, language or philosophical inclination. In Belgium, they are based on philosophical preferences: they constitute denominational segments of society (pillars). Historically, two separate communities (Catholic and non-Catholic) upheld different values, and viewed the world and their place in it differently. They agreed to live together solely on the

8 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, two contrasted processes of construction and implementation are compared regarding the extent to which they have an impact on the level of decoupling between the formal structure of evaluation and the teachers' practices.
Abstract: Accountability policies have become more important in the educational sector over the last two decades. Arguing that these policies focus increasingly on the technical core, some scholars have recently challenged the enduring finding that classroom activities and teachers� practices are largely decoupled from their institutional environment. In this paper, we argue that this discussion could be enriched by taking into account the processes through which accountability policies are developed and implemented. Two contrasted processes of construction and implementation are compared regarding the extent to which they have an impact on the level of decoupling between the formal structure of evaluation and the teachers� practices. The results show that compared to the bureaucratic approach to educational reform, the network model of organizing is more favourable to the emergence of social and cognitive changes, which contribute to reduce the level of decoupling between the evaluation�s mechanism and the teachers� practices

7 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compare two modes of construction and mise en œuvre of a politique d'evaluation dans deux zones d'inspection.
Abstract: Depuis une quinzaine d’annees, on assiste en Belgique francophone au developpement d’une politique d’evaluation externe des ecoles. Notre etude analyse la reception de cette politique par les acteurs locaux (directeurs et enseignants d’ecoles primaires) et intermediaires (inspecteurs) et montre comment les outils de regulation bases sur les connaissances mis en place par ces acteurs affectent la reception et la legitimite de la politique d’evaluation dans son ensemble. A l’aide de la sociologie de la traduction (Callon & Latour) et de la theorie neo-institutionnaliste, nous comparons deux modes de construction et de mise en œuvre de cette politique dans deux zones d’inspection. Dans la premiere, le dis­positif repose pour l’essentiel sur la bureaucratie, tandis que dans la seconde la politique est construite par un reseau d’acteurs locaux et intermediaires. Nous montrons que 1) les roles et les strategies des acteurs intermediaires different considerablement ; 2) les differences constatees dans la construction de la politique d’evaluation (co-construction des outils par un reseau d’acteurs intermediaires d’un cote, mise en œuvre hierarchique et bureaucratique de l’autre) sont liees aux differents effets des outils de regulation sur les pratiques des enseignants et sur la legitimite de cette politique.

5 citations


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01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them, and describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative.
Abstract: What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

2,134 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed an analytical framework from a critical sociology angle for analyzing the effects of market and accountability educational reforms within schools, based on a literature review of 130 papers, and focused particularly on a smaller body of critical sociology research.
Abstract: Market and accountability educational reforms have proliferated around the globe, along with high expectations of solving countries' school quality deficits and inequities. In this paper I develop an analytical framework from a critical sociology angle for analyzing the effects of these policies within schools. First I discuss conceptually the configuration of this quasi-market schema and develop the notion of the 'performing school'. Additionally, I study the effects of these policies within schools, based on a literature review of 130 papers, and focused particularly on a smaller body of critical sociology research (56 papers). The aim is not to produce a comprehensive overview of policy benefits and disadvantages, but to understand school transformations within the current policy scenario. Schools, in this context, are placed within a competition-based schema, where managers and teachers continuously have to compete, marketize and perform 'successfully' according to external criterion. These policies are not only changing school practices and triggering 'secondary' effects, but, moreover, they are transforming school life, ethics and teaching profession subjectivities in complex and deeply-rooted ways. In this paper I attempt to challenge policy assumptions and a technocratic view of policy implementation, and invite readers to rethink the nature and consequences of these policy formulae.

62 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the cognitive reception of PISA in six European countries which were studied in the European collective research project KNOWandPOL (Knowledge and Policy in Education and Health Sectors).
Abstract: The aim of this article is to open discussion by analysing the cognitive reception of PISA in six European countries which were studied in the European collective research project KNOWandPOL (Knowledge and Policy in Education and Health Sectors). Reception does not mean here a simple vertical transmission of messages from the international level to the national one, but a cognitive activity when messages are constantly accepted, refused or renegotiated by actors. The adjective ‘cognitive’ means that the focus is on the cognitive aspects of this constant process of redefinition, trying to understand what kind of knowledge actors talking about PISA in the public debate mobilise, in which context and for what reasons. To do so, the author proposes a specific theoretical framework which largely draws on some concepts and theoretical tools from the sociology of translation and their adaptation in policy analysis).

61 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the development of PISA is part of a broader transformation of equilibria within the field of knowledge, i.e. a move away from its autonomous pole towards its heteronomous pole.
Abstract: This article is about the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and its actors. It analyses the development and role of PISA as a ‘cultural product’ from the perspective of Bourdieu’s field theory. The authors attempt to answer the following questions: Of which field is PISA the product? In which field and by whom is PISA used and ‘consumed’? The authors argue that the development of PISA is part of a broader transformation of equilibria within the field of (education) knowledge – i.e. a move away from its autonomous pole towards its heteronomous pole. Such a move transforms the very form and shape of the field of knowledge: it has expanded and attracts a growing number of internal and external actors around its heteronomous pole. This (cor)responds to a transformation of the equilibrium within the general field of power, where the ntellectual bourgeoisie (artists, professors, academics, writers) is increasingly subordinated to – indeed, sometimes working for – economic and political interests. The authors further argue that the incorporation of PISA at the level of education policy fields also transforms their form and shape in two main ways. Within policy fields, the diffusion and reception of PISA reinforces a heteronomous understanding of education which is defined mostly in terms of its contribution to external interests. The diffusion of PISA also extends and, in a sense, dissolves the very boundaries of (national) education policy fields. Specifically, the authors underline that such an internationalisation of the education policy fields progresses mainly at their heteronomous poles and through a heteronomous definition of education.

51 citations