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Showing papers in "Journal of Education Policy in 1994"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Policy archaeology as mentioned in this paper is a radically different approach to policy studies in education, drawn from the post-structuralist work of Foucault, which completely reconceptualizes policy studies and, thus, significantly expands it as a critical problematic.
Abstract: Policy archaeology is a radically different approach to policy studies in education, drawn from the post‐structuralist work of Foucault, which completely reconceptualizes policy studies and, thus, significantly expands it as a critical problematic. Rather than beginning after social and education problems have emerged into social visibility, policy archaeology studies the social construction of these problems. Rather than acquiescing to the range of policy solutions debated by policy makers and policy analysts, it interrogates the social construction of that range. Rather than accepting policy studies as a ‘neutral’ social science, it questions the broader social functions of policy studies. And, finally, rather than concluding that social and education problems, policy solutions and policy studies are created by the conscious interplay of the free agents of history, policy archaeology proposes that a grid of social regularities constitutes what is seen as a problem, what is socially legitimized as a poli...

209 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the concept, implications and dilemmas of school restructuring and analyses their implications for educational policy, including those of vision versus voice; trust in persons versus trust in processes; mandates of imposition versus menus of choice; and structural change versus cultural change.
Abstract: This paper examines the concept, implications and dilemmas of school restructuring. The meanings of restructuring are confusing and complex. Restructuring can be a synonym for top‐down reform or ruthless retrenchment. Or it can point to the redefinition of power relationships in the classrooms, staffrooms and communities of schooling. The paper identifies four different dilemmas of restructuring within which these different possibilities are contained and analyses their implications for educational policy. The dilemmas are those of vision versus voice; trust in persons versus trust in processes; mandates of imposition versus menus of choice; and structural change versus cultural change.

143 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The micropolitics of education: mapping the multiple dimensions of power relations in school polities is discussed in this article, where the authors present a micropolitian view of education.
Abstract: (1994). 9. The micropolitics of education: mapping the multiple dimensions of power relations in school polities. Journal of Education Policy: Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 147-167.

139 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the efficacy of Ball's theoretical eclecticism, highlighting the incompatibility in his readings, and application, of certain social and political theorists, and reappraising some of his own research findings.
Abstract: This article originates from our reading of Stephen Ball's theoretical and empirical contribution to contemporary ‘education policy sociology’. It interrogates the efficacy of his theoretical eclecticism, highlighting the incompatibility in his readings, and application, of certain social and political theorists, and reappraising some of his own research findings. It follows from Stephen Ball's call for papers in Journal of Education Policy (Vol. 7, No. 5) ‘on policy and theory, and dialogue and debate’ which contribute to understandings of ‘education policy analysis’.

108 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors take issue with Hatcher and Troyna's presentation of the theoretical stances of Althusser and Foucauk, and suggest that they employ a set of unhelpful conceptual binaries in their discussion which, if they are allowed to stand, can serve only to stultify the further development of policy sociology.
Abstract: This paper takes up some theoretical issues raised in Hatcher and Troyna's critical discussion (in this issue) of my work on education policy. I argue that many of their criticisms are misplaced and rest upon flaws and limitations in their own theoretical work. I suggest that they employ a set of unhelpful conceptual binaries in their discussion which, if they are allowed to stand, can serve only to stultify the further development of policy sociology. In particular, I take issue with Hatcher and Troyna's presentation of the theoretical stances of Althusser and Foucauk.

88 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is a frequent observation, particularly by European scholars whom I know, that the study of educational politics in the United States has been locked within an intellectual straightjacket, which is variously called pluralism, empiricism, pragmatism, behavioral science, or some other term meant to convey not a little derision as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: It is a frequent observation, particularly by European scholars whom I know, that the study of educational politics in the United States has been locked within an intellectual straightjacket, which is variously called pluralism, empiricism, pragmatism, behavioral science, or some other term meant to convey not a little derision.1 Most scholars who work within the field of the politics of education probably would acknowledge that there is some truth in this characterization, at least until very recently.

67 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the implications of the uneven distribution of minority pupils and the Dutch system of choice for policies on ethnic segregation at both the local and school level, based on a sample of 27 municipalities serving 23% of all Dutch primary school pupils.
Abstract: This paper examines the implications of the uneven distribution of minority pupils and the Dutch system of choice for policies on ethnic segregation at both the local and school level. The analysis is based on a sample of 27 municipalities serving 23% of all Dutch primary school pupils. Segregation to a large extent can be found in The Netherlands as elsewhere, and the constitutional freedom of education is precisely the factor that places important restrictions on solving this problem adequately. At the local level more than one‐third of all municipalities, for various reasons, do not take any action. Of the others that do take action the majority saddles the schools with the responsibility since the problems are mainly seen as of an educational nature. According to the school principals a percentage of minority pupils exceeding 50‐60% causes ‘white’ parents to leave and they are given every opportunity to do so by the Dutch system of free parental choice. Therefore a radical reorientation is required in...

67 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the various educational forms that have emerged now that governments have let the market 'genie' out of the bottle, identifying particularly those market forms to which information and communication technologies are integral and a range of ways in which education, markets and such technologies are coming together.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with ‘new times’, new policies for education in Australia and the new issues that they generate for education. More particularly, the paper's focus is upon the various educational forms that have emerged now that governments have let the market ‘genie’ out of the bottle. It identifies particularly those market forms to which information and communication technologies are integral and a range of ways in which education, markets and such technologies are coming together. In so doing, it offers a general sociological framework within which to understand these developments and a specific conceptual framework to assist in categorising such new educational forms.

61 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the "What?" of the politics of education, and propose a set of values to define the "what?" of education policy, including:
Abstract: (1994). 1. Values: the ‘What?’ of the politics of education. Journal of Education Policy: Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 5-20.

59 citations



Book ChapterDOI
Andy Green1
TL;DR: In the last five years the ideas of Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard have increasingly preoccupied intellectuals in Britain, America and other, predominantly English-speaking, countries as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Like other Parisian theoretical exports before it (structuralism and post-structuralism), postmodernism has been relatively slow to penetrate the intellectual discourse of Anglo-American sociology, and even slower to make its mark on the sociology of education. However, in the last five years the ideas of Jean-Francois Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard have increasingly preoccupied intellectuals in Britain, America and other, predominantly English-speaking, countries. While few writers outside the cultural studies heartlands of deconstructionism will unequivocally associate themselves with postmodernism — which indeed is hard to do since no one seems able to define it precisely — there are many who draw on its conceptual repertoire to add ‘cultural capital’ to a diversity of new theoretical commodities, and even more who vaguely allude to it as a signifier of cultural and social change. Indeed postmodernism has become so central to theoretical debates in the UK that it serves as the structuring paradigm of several new Open University Sociology Readers (Hall, Held and McGrew, 1992; Hall and Gieben, 1992). The discourse generally has now attained such currency that it can no longer be ignored. It has become a kind of theoretical benchmark against which all intellectual products have to be assessed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors express thanks to Edith Rusch and Jean Patterson for their substantive suggestions on this chapter, which they used for their own work on the same topic.
Abstract: 1The authors wish to express thanks to Edith Rusch and Jean Patterson for their substantive suggestions on this chapter.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article explored the background and context of the Australian federal government's new post-compulsory education and training policies and argued that the resulting policy directions, where goals of microeconomic reform are linked to equity issues, represent an ambiguous policy mix and offer contradictory possibilities for young people.
Abstract: This paper explores the background and context of the Australian federal government's new post‐compulsory education and training policies. It examines the social, economic and political context within which the policies have been developed, and the way in which competing interests have been ‘stitched’ together in the new consensual policy‐making process. It is argued that the resulting policy directions (expressed in the Finn, Mayer and Carmichael reports), where goals of micro‐economic reform are linked to equity issues, represent an ambiguous policy mix and offer contradictory possibilities for young people. The implications of these ambiguities for reform strategies will be discussed, together with considerations relating to the politics of educational change.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the regime of "perpetual training" (Deleuze 1992) is the new regime and system which now motivates and integrates education and industry in the western world.
Abstract: This paper begins with the assertion that the regime of ‘perpetual training” (Deleuze 1992) will become the new regime and system which now motivates and integrates education and industry in the western world. This notion is located in the national industry training strategy for New Zealand. The first section serves to provide the policy context, focusing on public sector restructuring and the significance of the Employment Contracts Act (1991). The industry training strategy is outlined and described in some detail within the main body of the paper. This strategy is explained in terms of the underlying human capital theory, in particular, with reference to a recent OECD survey of New Zealand's economy and in terms of general workplace reform. The paper then addresses the problems inherent in human capital theory and the way it legitimizes present Government policy in education and training. Human capital theory is the most influential economic theory of education, setting the framework of government poli...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The international arena: the Global Village as mentioned in this paper, Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 89-102, is a seminal work in the field of education policy and international education.
Abstract: (1994). 6. The international arena: the Global Village. Journal of Education Policy: Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 89-102.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a review of the recent empirical literature on the consequences of LMS with particular reference to the latter's potential for influencing school efficiency and effectiveness is presented, focusing on three areas: the effects of formula funding, patterns of resource allocation within schools and changing patterns of influence in school decision making.
Abstract: This paper reviews selected parts of the recent empirical literature on the consequences of LMS with particular reference to the latter's potential for influencing school efficiency and effectiveness It explores three areas: the effects of formula funding, patterns of resource allocation within schools and changing patterns of influence in school decision making It suggests that LMS may be efficiency enhancing, but the evidence primarily relates to input efficiency, which in some cases may represent little more than economy, while the implications of LMS for effectiveness have been little considered The paper explores some of the issues involved in examining these concepts more rigorously and concludes that greater consideration needs to be given to the interrelationship between efficiency and effectiveness and considerations of equity

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The game goes on as mentioned in this paper : Educational politics and policy: and the game go on, and the games go on. Journal of Education Policy: Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 201-212
Abstract: (1994). 12. Educational politics and policy: and the game goes on. Journal of Education Policy: Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 201-212.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Rational choice theory has altered the face not only of political science, but also of sociology and organizational theory as mentioned in this paper, and has had profound effects on the practical world of policy.
Abstract: Few people would disagree that politics is a contest over ‘who gets what, when, and how’ (Lasswell 1936). Clearly and inevitably, it involves strategy and tactics, gamesmanship, bargaining, coalition building, and the like. How to ‘win’ at politics has fascinated humans since the dawn of history. But, until comparatively recently, the ‘how to win’ literature was mainly a collection of pithy insights and proverbs. It was far from anything resembling a science capable of analyzing, let alone predicting, the relevant strategic permutations. With the advent and development of rational choice theory-of which game theory (von Neumann and Morgenstern 1944), collective choice theory (Arrow 1951, Black 1958, Buchanan and Tullock 1962, Riker 1962), and economics are but three branches-all this has changed. Rational choice theory has altered the face not only of political science, but of sociology and organizational theory. While not dominant, and indeed often controversial in these fields (e.g., Lowi 1992), these new approaches, grouped under the rubric of rational choice theory, have permanently altered their landscapes. Moreover, beyond influencing the social science disciplines, the new approaches have had profound effects on the practical world of policy. The whole field of policy analysis (for better or worse) is heavily influenced by economic models and the cost-benefit paradigm. Government policies, big business strategies, and international calculations with respect to war and peace are increasingly influenced by mathematical modelling and game theoretic approaches (see, e.g., Bueno de Mesquita et al. 1985, Lewyn 1994).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss modular strategies for integrating academic and vocational education, such as those advocated in proposals for a unified system of post-compulsory education and training, focusing on the "aggregative" strategy, which allows students to combine "academic" and "vocational" modules flexibly in programmes designed to match their individual needs and circumstances.
Abstract: This paper discusses modular strategies for integrating academic and vocational education, such as those advocated in proposals for a unified system of post‐compulsory education and training. It focuses on the ‘aggregative’ strategy, which allows students to combine ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ modules flexibly in programmes designed to match their individual needs and circumstances. No pure example of a fully unified national modular system yet exists; to gain empirical evidence of how such a system might work we must analyse incompletely unified systems. This paper examines the recent experience of the Scottish system, which has some but not all of the characteristics of a fully unified modular system. It identifies three sets of practical issues which the modular strategy for overcoming academic/vocational divisions must face. These respectively concern the potential limitations of modular curricula, the coherence of institutionally diverse systems and the need to avoid ‘academic drift’.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The politics of education: from political science to multi-disciplinary inquiry as mentioned in this paper is a seminal work in the field of education policy, focusing on the intersection between political science and multi-disciplinarity.
Abstract: (1994). 2. The politics of education: from political science to multi‐disciplinary inquiry. Journal of Education Policy: Vol. 9, No. 5, pp. 21-35.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that policy making is more concerned with the social construction of policy problems than with their resolution and that in this respect the problem-solving image of policy-making is flawed.
Abstract: This paper is a study of the politics of policy making within the context of Australian university entrance policy. It argues that policy making is more concerned with the social construction of policy problems than with their resolution and that in this respect the problem‐solving image of policy making is flawed. Additionally, the paper explores the ways in which policy problems are constructed and how competing stories are resolved within policy making. The paper concludes that in this case such stories of university entrance were absorbed within the government's agenda for reform through the use of participative processes restricted to the consideration of best solutions rather than particular problems.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article explored neighbourhood resident participation in community-based interagency collaboration within the context of decentralization, and deconstruct the assumption that such a policy initiative is either empowering or constraining by suggesting that poststructural perspectives of power can flow between residents and agency team members.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine one community‐based, interagency policy effort from two contrasting perspectives: critical theory (modernist) and postmodernist. To illustrate this juxtaposition we explored neighbourhood resident participation in community‐based interagency collaboration within the context of decentralization. Using qualitative methodology, we observed team meetings and interviewed participants. While community‐based interagency collaboration could be considered an ‘empowering’ strategy for community residents, from poststructural perspectives it could be a way to maintain the status quo. Through the analysis, we unpack this dichotomy of critical versus poststructural perspectives ‐empowerment versus the reinforcement of existing power relationships ‐ by suggesting that poststructural perspectives of power can flow between residents and agency team members. We deconstruct the assumption that such a policy initiative is either empowering or constraining by suggesting it could be bo...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the pendulum pattern is attributed to the ups and downs of the radical group and the moderate group, each having its own background, goals, resources, and strategies, and the limitations of their orientations in educational policy are discussed.
Abstract: This paper first outlines the developmental stages and the ‘pendulum pattern’ of the educational policy in the People's Republic of China. It then inquires into the dynamics of the pendulum pattern by employing the political influence framework. This inquiry reveals that the pendulum pattern is attributed to the ups and downs of the radical group and the moderate group, each having its own background, goals, resources and strategies. The limitations of their orientations in educational policy are discussed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a new deal for the management of public expenditure in the welfare state, in particular education, which replaces the concept of a professional partnership for that of a business partnership.
Abstract: This paper is concerned with the management of public expenditure in the welfare state. It refers in particular to education. Faced with fiscal overload, the government is seeking to curb expenditure in such a way that both professionals and parents come to be complicit in that very endeavour, even though it may have adverse consequences for some of them. In order to illustrate this argument, the example of the self‐managing school is given, with reference to Scotland. The government's case rests on a rhetoric of choice and ownership, and is unsupported either by educational theory or by most of the extant research. The policy marks a profound change in the management of consent in Scottish education, substituting the concept of a professional partnership for that of a business partnership ‐ in sum, a ‘new deal’.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the recent innovation in Pakistan of the grant of financial and administrative autonomy to selected colleges in Punjab and concluded that negative perceptions from staff outweigh any optimistic interpretations from user groups.
Abstract: This paper explores the recent innovation in Pakistan of the grant of financial and administrative autonomy to selected colleges in Punjab. The origins and rationale behind the privatization scheme are analysed, together with its actual organizational structure. A pilot study of two autonomous colleges, based on participants’ reactions, is described. Seven themes emerge: alternative types of autonomy desired; financial and administrative problems; political interference; social divisiveness; teacher insecurity; standards and discipline; and competition between institutions. It is concluded that the ‘autonomy’ is not working as intended, and that negative perceptions from staff outweigh any optimistic interpretations from user groups. Theoretical perspectives which examine the use of the ‘market’ to deepen the social control function of education are implicated.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider how TVEI affected the culture of teaching, learning and curriculum in ways unintended and not envisaged at the time by teachers, schools, LEAs, unions and government.
Abstract: This paper analyses some of the policy‐practice lessons learned from the Technical and Vocational Education Initiative as its influence comes to an end. Historically, perhaps, TVEI will be remembered as a moment in education policy and practice, characterizing the transitional phase from local to central determination of the curriculum. This paper considers how TVEI affected the culture of teaching, learning and curriculum in ways unintended and not envisaged at the time by teachers, schools, LEAs, unions and government. It argues, however, that if TVEI radically embodied crucial changes going on in British society its influence has been limited. The fact that there has been resistance and opposition to the straitjacket of the National Curriculum and testing nevertheless suggests that there is a critical lesson to learn from TVEI: namely, that education policy which fails to engage with the culture of the school, college and teaching profession is unlikely to achieve meaningful reform.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The most recent example of this inclination in the report of the Commission on National and Community Service, What You Can Do for Your Country, is explored in this paper, where a case study of community building in a middle school in Indiana is presented.
Abstract: When faced with any of a number of societal problems, 20th‐century American intellectuals and public officials have found a ready answer in the ideal of community. Whatever the difficulty, these thinkers argue, the solution hinges on restoring a sense of community to American society. In this essay, the most recent example of this inclination in the report of the Commission on National and Community Service, What You Can Do for Your Country, is explored. As the Commission sees it, the best vehicle for establishing this sense of community is the introduction of programmes of national and community services in schools and in society at large. The essay examines the recommendations of the Commission and employs a case study of community building in a middle school in Indiana to consider the difficulties involved in such efforts.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the government reform of initial teacher training for primary education and propose Squaring the Circle, a method to round the circle of the teacher training process in primary education.
Abstract: (1994). Squaring the circle?: government reform of initial teacher training for primary education. Journal of Education Policy: Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 369-380.