Showing papers in "Journal of Education Policy in 2008"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focus on the identities and experiences of younger UK academic staff, those aged 35 and under who grew up during the 1980s (so-called Thatcher's children), and question whether they are the archetypal new subjects of audit and managerialism whose capacity for...
Abstract: There is a growing literature discussing the experiences and identities of academics working within the ‘new times’ of contemporary academia. Critiques have been levied at the impact of neoliberalism on the nature, organisation and purpose of higher education (HE), highlighting the negative consequences for ‘traditional’ academic identities and practices, and calls have been made for further investigation of the ‘lived’ experiences of academic workers. Most studies to date have focused on ‘older’ (mature) academics and their responses to the new performativity. But what about the ‘new’ generation of academics who have only experienced the current HE context and climate? This article focuses on the identities and experiences of ‘younger’ UK academic staff—notably, those aged 35 and under who grew up during the 1980s (so‐called Thatcher’s children). It discusses their constructions of academic identities and questions whether they are the archetypal new subjects of audit and managerialism whose capacity for...
334 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of term-time employment on students' actual attainment was explored and it was shown that the more hours students worked, the greater the negative effect of working.
Abstract: Term‐time employment among Britain’s undergraduates is a growing phenomenon but it has received scant attention from government and policy makers. Although there are numerous studies on the subject, few have explored the impact of term‐time employment on students’ actual attainment and those that have are limited. This article attempts to fill that gap. Using data derived from 1000 students in six UK universities, it quantifies the impact of students’ paid work on their actual marks and degree results, while controlling for their academic attainment on entry to higher education and other factors including their hours of work. It shows that irrespective of the university students attended, term‐time working had a detrimental effect on both their final year marks and their degree results. The more hours students worked, the greater the negative effect. Consequently, students working the average number of hours a week were a third less likely to get a good degree than an identical non‐working student. Some o...
207 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the characteristics of parents who consider choosing private schools for their children and those who do not, and found that parent satisfaction with their child's previous school was not a predictor of considering a private school.
Abstract: School choice survey data from the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, a large county‐wide school district, is analysed to examine the characteristics of parents who consider choosing private schools for their children and those who do not. We examine differences in background, including race, educational attainment and socioeconomic status, as well as differences in parent satisfaction with their child’s previous school, parent involvement in school, parents’ priorities in school choice, as well as parents’ social networks. After controlling for background characteristics, we find that parent satisfaction with their child’s previous school was not a predictor of considering a private school. Rather, parent involvement seems to be a more important indicator of whether or not a parent would consider sending their child to a private school. In this case, parents are not ‘pushed’ away from public schools, contrary to much public rhetoric that suggests private schools are somehow inherently ‘better’ than p...
195 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors apply Bourdieu's theory and methodology to research in education policy, focusing on developing his work to understand what we call cross-field effects and for exploring the emergence of a global education policy field.
Abstract: Bourdieu did not write anything explicitly about education policy. Despite this neglect, we agree with van Zanten that his theoretical concepts and methodological approaches can contribute to researching and understanding education policy in the context of globalisation and the economising of it. In applying Bourdieu’s theory and methodology to research in education policy, we focus on developing his work to understand what we call ‘cross‐field effects’ and for exploring the emergence of a ‘global education policy field’. These concepts are derived from some of our recent research concerning globalisation and mediatisation of education policy. The paper considers three separate issues. The first deals with Bourdieu’s primary ‘thinking tools’, namely practice, habitus, capitals and fields and their application to policy studies. The second and third sections consider two additions to Bourdieu’s thinking tools, as a way to reconceptualise the functioning of policy if considered as a social field. More speci...
146 citations
TL;DR: This paper argued that mixed-income strategies are part of the neoliberal restructuring of cities which has at its nexus capital accumulation and racial containment and exclusion through gentrification, de-democratization and privatization of public institutions, and displacement of low-income people of color.
Abstract: This article uses a social justice framework to problematize national and local policies in housing and education which propose to reduce poverty and improve educational performance of low‐income students through mixed‐income strategies. Drawing on research on Chicago, the article argues mixed‐income strategies are part of the neoliberal restructuring of cities which has at its nexus capital accumulation and racial containment and exclusion through gentrification, de‐democratization and privatization of public institutions, and displacement of low‐income people of color. The ideological basis for these policies lies in racialized cultural deficit theories that negate the cultural and intellectual strengths and undermine the self‐determination of low‐income communities of color. Neoliberal mixed‐income policies are unlikely to reduce inequality in education and housing. They fail to address root causes of poverty and unequal opportunity to learn and may exacerbate spatial exclusion and marginalization of p...
124 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is proposed as an emancipatory research tool that has the potential to destabilize the authoritarian discourses entrenched in educational policy agendas, thereby facilitating the linguistic and conceptual reinstatement of inclusion as a notion that unequivocally advocates the protection of the human rights of children with special educational needs.
Abstract: The legislative shift towards an inclusive education policy in Cyprus has allegedly been fragmented and contradictory. The textual hybridity of the ostensibly more inclusive policy documents prevents the realization of an inclusive discourse. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is proposed as an emancipatory research tool that has the potential to destabilize the authoritarian discourses entrenched in educational policy agendas, thereby facilitating the linguistic and, by implication, conceptual reinstatement of inclusion as a notion that unequivocally advocates the protection of the human rights of children with special educational needs (SEN). In the first section, the article concentrates on the theoretical perspectives of CDA within the context of inclusive education policymaking. For illustration purposes, CDA is used here to expose the power/knowledge grid and its subjugating attributes, enshrined in two official legislative documents. The aim is to answer the following questions: (1) In what ways doe...
96 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that race continues to guide both education and public housing policy in historically segregated places like Chicago, and that racism is masked by class claims that allow the interests of middle class to trump educational opportunities for poor.
Abstract: Older cities in the United States have long been trying to ‘bring back’ the middle class in order to increase tax base. The poor quality of schools and the presence of public housing often were cited as deterrents for attracting higher income families. When the 2000 Census data revealed improvements in many cities, some elected officials and scholars attributed the turnaround to policies such as those aimed at transforming public housing and urban schools. In this article the authors examine these strategies as they have played out in a Chicago community to illustrate how these policies also facilitate the displacement and containment of poor people of color. Utilizing critical race theory, they argue that race continues to guide both education and public housing policy in historically segregated places like Chicago, and that racism is masked by class claims that allow the interests of middle class to trump educational opportunities for poor.
90 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the experiences of different groups of parents in this new educational market and found that middle and upper-class parents are treated as sought-after customers who gain and retain positions of influence over the direction of the school once their children are admitted.
Abstract: This article examines an effort to use urban schools to promote the revitalization of a large northeastern city in the United States. In order to attract and retain professional families to a regenerated central city, downtown schools are re‐branded and promoted to such families as suitable for their children. The article draws on interviews and observation in a particular downtown elementary school to examine the experiences of different groups of parents in this new educational market. The data reveal how middle‐ and upper‐class parents are treated as sought‐after customers who gain and retain positions of influence over the direction of the school once their children are admitted. However, the same processes marginalize low‐income and minority parents. The article concludes that while the goals of the policy may be ostensibly worthy, one of its consequences is to reinscribe existing status positions and inequalities.
87 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the origins and development of the mixed communities policy and demonstrate the distinction between the principle of mix and the policy of mixed communities, while illuminating the political and discursive processes that conflate the two.
Abstract: Since 2005, the English government has adopted a policy of regenerating disadvantaged neighbourhoods by reconstructing them as mixed communities, in which schools appealing to higher income residents are a key feature. This creates some difficulties for those concerned with social justice, who support the notion of integrated schools and neighbourhoods, but are concerned that the re‐modelling of neighbourhoods and schools in this way could further disadvantage existing populations. Mix is supported but mixing is opposed. This article interrogates this ‘social justice dilemma’ by analysing the origins and development of the mixed communities policy. It demonstrates the distinction between the principle of mix and the policy of mixed communities, while illuminating the political and discursive processes that conflate the two. Finally the authors indicate how research can be mobilised in support of neoliberal discourses about neighbourhoods and schools and draw some broader conclusions for education research...
78 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the various links between social inclusion, educational policy and school leadership, and suggested the need for a school leader's perspective on social inclusion to be privileged by such conceptualisations.
Abstract: Although much research has focussed on how various educational policy initiatives have attempted to improve problems of social exclusion, little research has systematically examined, categorised and synthesised the types of leadership in schools that might assist improving social inclusion. Given the importance of school leadership in New Labour educational policy for bringing about education change and improvement, it seems rather strange that this is the case. This article attempts to set out an analytical framework for undertaking such research by exploring the various links between social inclusion, educational policy and school leadership. At one level the framework develops questions about the nature of the conceptualisations of social inclusion that educational policy, schools and its leaders might have, and in particular what knowledge and view of equity might be privileged by such conceptualisations. The framework then suggests the need for a school leader’s perspective on social inclusion to be ...
78 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the experience of new teachers is conceptualized as personal stories of identity formation with a clear emotional-relational dimension and a sense of self and intrinsic purpose in which others, especially colleagues and children, are central.
Abstract: This article has the apparently contradictory aims of describing a discourse of new teachers that is at odds with the policy-derived competence-based discourse of the professional standard for teachers, but of also seeking to find some points of connection that may help start a dialogue between policy and research. The experience of new teachers is conceptualized as personal stories of identity formation with a clear emotional-relational dimension and a sense of self and intrinsic purpose in which others, especially colleagues and children, are central - themes not visible in the standard. The empirical context is that of new teachers in Scotland but the argument is supported through a wider literature that extends beyond the traditional limits of teacher education, drawing on, for example, notions of self-identity, pure relationship and ontological security in the work of Giddens. Whether a more constructive dialogue can begin depends partly on the extent to which the formal standard can be expected to capture the complex, personal nature of the beginner’s experience, and partly on the possibility of research identifying particular areas of competence, such as understanding difference, that connect in some way to the standard.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the results of a study into the utility of the SVI model, a model in which internal and external evaluation are balanced, and they found that both self-evaluation and visitation have improved their insight into the quality of the school.
Abstract: This article describes the results of a study into the utility of the SVI model, a model in which internal and external evaluation are balanced. The model consists of three phases: school self‐evaluation, visitation and inspection. Under the guidance of school consultants, 27 Dutch primary schools have built up two years of experience with the SVI model. The results show that the school leaders developed a positive attitude towards school self‐evaluation and visitation. They found that both self‐evaluation and visitation have improved their insight into the quality of the school. However, a content analysis of the school self‐evaluation reports shows that the school self‐evaluations are often of low quality. For example, it appeared that most of the self‐evaluation reports do not provide answers to questions the schools have formulated at the beginning of the self‐evaluation. Moreover, the teams of critical friends and the inspectors concluded that the school self‐evaluations do have many shortcomings. Ba...
TL;DR: The evidence presented in this paper suggests that VET provision in Australian schools is of relatively poor quality and furthermore is associated with significant levels of social selection -rather than democratisation. But if the central debate is one between the competing demands of achieving equity and that of achieving quality VET, then, sadly, Australia fails to deliver effectively on either of these aims, and the Australian policy framework, strait-jacketed by the belief that it must avoid narrow instrumentalism, has allowed and assisted the evolution of a low quality, low-intensity VET regime which serves a
Abstract: Historically grounded in a tradition of meeting local skills needs and training the children of the poor, vocational education and training (VET) in schools continues to struggle in terms of esteem and parity of status. Associated in the literature with the training of a reliable and compliant class of workers, it has also been tainted by its links to the processes of social selection and its lowly status in the hierarchy of school subjects. However, VET has also been proposed as a means of democratising the school curriculum and improving accessibility for marginalised populations. The evidence presented in this article suggests that VET provision in Australian schools is of relatively poor quality and furthermore is associated with significant levels of social selection - rather than democratisation. The Australian policy framework, strait-jacketed by the belief that it must avoid narrow instrumentalism, has allowed and assisted the evolution of a low quality, low-intensity VET regime which serves a mainly working-class clientele in mainly working-class schools. In reviewing the current Australian evidence, it argues that if the central debate is one between the competing demands of achieving equity (which is associated with comprehensive provision) and that of achieving quality VET (which is associated with tracked provision) then, sadly, Australia fails to deliver effectively on either of these aims.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that risk colonising of regulation has not effectively addressed societal risks to children in early childhood education and care (ECECEC) services, and has generated its own risks to quality standards through a preoccupation with institutional risk.
Abstract: This article problematises the construction of regulation as an effective manager of risks to children in early childhood education and care (ECEC) services. Adopting a Foucaldian, governmentalist approach to regulation and risk, the authors suggest that governments in Australia have ‘risk colonised’ regulation to meet their own interests rather than make effective use of regulation as a mechanism for quality assurance. They propose that the risk colonising of regulation has not effectively addressed societal risks to children in ECEC services, and has generated its own risks to quality standards through a preoccupation with institutional risk. In these ways, ‘the laugh of Foucault’ resounds in the regulation of ECEC services.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore policy implementation in relation to a particular case of teacher professional development in Queensland, Australia, and investigate the effects of this complex policy ensemble, drawing upon the experiences of principals and a group of teachers engaged in professional development across a cluster of six schools in south-east Queensland.
Abstract: This article draws on Bourdieu’s field theory and related concepts of habitus and capitals, to explore policy implementation in relation to a particular case of teacher professional development in Queensland, Australia. This implementation process is described as an effect of the interplay between what is called the policy field and the field of teachers’ work. The policy field demonstrates intra‐field tensions between the federal Quality Teacher Programme (QTP) and a raft of state policies, particularly those associated with the Queensland meta‐policy, Queensland State Education 2010 (QSE2010). To investigate the effects of this complex policy ensemble, the article draws upon the experiences of principals and a group of teachers engaged in professional development across a cluster of six schools in south‐east Queensland, Australia. The specific focus is on the ‘Curriculum Board’, a cross‐school body created by the principals in the participating schools, and its mediated work in policy implementation and...
TL;DR: Choice Paths in the Swedish Upper Secondary Education: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Recent Reforms as mentioned in this paper is a critical discourse analysis of recent reform proposals in Swedish upper secondary education.
Abstract: Choice Paths in the Swedish Upper Secondary Education : A Critical Discourse Analysis of Recent Reforms
TL;DR: This article explored the ways in which working class mothers negotiate mothering and paid work and found that mothers in the labour market remain at risk of being defined as inadequate mothers because of a middle class emphasis on intense maternal engagement with the child as a key aspect of good mothering.
Abstract: This paper explores the ways in which working class mothers negotiate mothering and paid work. Drawing on interviews with 70 families with pre-school children, we examine how caring and working responsibilities are conceptualised and presented in mothers’ narratives. Mothers showed a high degree of commitment to paid work and, in contrast to findings from an earlier study with middle class and professional mothers, did not feel that keeping their children at home with them was always the best option for the children. We suggest that working class mothers in the labour market remain at risk of being defined as inadequate mothers because of a middle class emphasis on intense maternal engagement with the child as a key aspect of ‘good’ mothering.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the way in which EU policymaking operates, explain the relevance of "lifelong learning" for the European Commission and analyze the mechanisms by which the Commission has advanced policymaking in education and training since the Lisbon Summit.
Abstract: The article addresses the way in which EU policy‐making operates, explains the relevance of ‘lifelong learning’ for the European Commission and analyses the mechanisms by which the Commission has advanced policy‐making in education and training since the Lisbon Summit. The article reviews in particular the alleged lack of effectiveness of the Open Method of Coordination in education and, second, the notion that the EU advances ‘slowly and persistently’ in its acquisition of competences in this area.
TL;DR: This paper examined the claims made within Creative Partnerships (CP) about innovation and indicate the rhetorical means by which the impression of radical change is married to the standards agenda, and argued that this rhetorical recuperation of the ideals of an earlier period is a sign of a more general policy adjustment in English education.
Abstract: Facing difficulties in the implementation of its ‘standards’ agenda, the English government has recently introduced a set of policy strategies and initiatives which seek to promote enjoyment, innovation and creativity in education. One such initiative is Creative Partnerships (CP). Funded predominantly from the Arts portfolio, CP brings creative practitioners into schools with the intention of bringing change to teaching and learning, and, more widely, of achieving whole school change. Using a corpus of policy texts and interviews, we examine the claims made within CP about innovation and indicate the rhetorical means by which the impression of radical change is married to the standards agenda. In particular, we highlight the ways in which texts re‐work traditions of progressive change. We argue that this rhetorical recuperation of the ideals of an earlier period is a sign of a more general policy adjustment in English education. However, since it is combined with a continuing commitment to market‐driven change, it cannot be said to be indicative of a new policy settlement.
TL;DR: In this paper, an attempt to conceptualise educational policy-making as a form of emerging governmentality or governmentality-in-the-making on the level of the state, using Ukraine as a case study, was made.
Abstract: Educational policy‐making in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is still building upon the ambivalences and uncertainties of post‐communist transformation. The international support, expertise and discourses – coupled with communist legacies, stalled democratic developments and national discourses – produce unique effects on education in each of these countries. This paper is an attempt to conceptualise educational policy‐making (with its disparities between ‘democratised’ discourses and ‘Sovietised’ practices) as a form of emerging governmentality or governmentality‐in‐the‐making on the level of the state, using Ukraine as a case study. Analysing policy‐making through the perspective of emerging governmentality brings into focus the genealogy of post‐independent reforms, which is (as a part of the technologies of government) threaded into a broader governmental project of restructuring the state and legitimising its rationality. The final empirical part of the paper presents a discourse analysi...
TL;DR: The positional competition reflected in the current parental choice fever in China is highlighted by the introduction of market mechanisms: buying houses near preferred schools, paying choice fees or co-founding fees, giving donations and spending money on spare time training classes, etc as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The positional competition reflected in the current parental choice fever in China is highlighted by the introduction of market mechanisms: buying houses near preferred schools, paying choice fees or co‐founding fees, giving donations and spending money on spare time training classes, etc. All of these work effectively together with the traditional tools of power and guanxi in carrying out one’s parental choice. The involvement of huge amounts of choice fee money has resulted in changes in government policies that work to the middle classes’ advantage by giving the green light to the intake of choice students in senior middle schools and allowing the former key primary schools and junior middle schools to change into ‘converted schools’ for the sake of charging high choice fees in a legal way. The development of the series of government policies has resulted in a shift of the parental choice process from being a meritocratic competition to a largely private competition between families based in large part...
TL;DR: This article explored the gender awareness and perceptions of one cohort of trainee teachers, to establish their emerging beliefs about pedagogy, curriculum and whole school strategies, and argued that there is a need to re-activate debates about gender identity and inclusivity within initial teacher education and training in the UK, and to reconnect research within the academic community and teaching on such courses.
Abstract: The debate in the UK about gender equity and equal opportunities for girls and boys has been ‘captured’, in the last two decades, by an overriding concern with the issue of boys’ apparent under‐achievement. More recently, however, there has been a reaction to essentialist approaches related to ‘boy‐friendly’ pedagogies and strategies, and attempts to return the debate to consider gender relational and gender‐inclusive approaches. This article focuses upon these issues within the context of the initial training and education of primary school teachers in the UK, exploring the gender awareness and perceptions of one cohort of trainee teachers, to establish their emerging beliefs about pedagogy, curriculum and whole school strategies. On the basis of our findings, we argue that there is a need to re‐activate debates about gender identity and inclusivity within initial teacher education and training in the UK, and to reconnect research within the academic community and teaching on such courses, if the seducti...
TL;DR: In this paper, an independent review of policy making and implementation is recommended so that schools and colleges are enabled to contribute more effectively to improvements in the quality of education, and the conclusion is drawn that since 1988 the national government apparatus has itself become an important obstacle to further progress.
Abstract: There is growing concern that almost 20 years after the 1988 Education Act, top‐down, large‐scale reform has stalled. The policy mix of choice, competition, markets, regulation, accountability and leadership seems not to have closed the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged areas and individuals, while most variations in school performance can be explained in terms of intake differences. This paper reviews policy and progress since 1988 and assesses the extent to which central government has achieved its educational aims. Unacknowledged tensions and contradictions are identified in structures and practices that are supposed to constitute a reliable framework for sustainable improvement. The conclusion is drawn that since 1988 the national government apparatus has itself become an important obstacle to further progress. An independent review of policy‐making and implementation is recommended so that schools and colleges are enabled to contribute more effectively to improvements in the quality of education.
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the contradictory location of the professional and managerial new middle class within the rising tension between old systems of the industrial capitalist model of education, epitomized by a reliance on high-stakes, standardized testing and the newer forms of production associated with the ‘fast’ capitalism of the global economy.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the contradictory location of the professional and managerial new middle class within the rising tension between old systems of the industrial capitalist model of education, epitomized by a reliance on high‐stakes, standardized testing and the newer forms of production associated with the ‘fast’ capitalism of the global economy. The author argues that the professional and managerial new middle class is faced with a dilemma since they benefit from systems of high‐stakes, standardized testing, yet require schools to also teach the types of skills and flexibility associated with knowledge economy. The analysis suggests that this dilemma represents the contradictory class location of the new middle class relative to both discursive and productive resources.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine how local context, the charter school's organizational form, and state policies may influence material and human resources obtained by charter schools and their capacity to innovate, finding marked differences among charter schools situated in different US states in terms of teacher qualities, student-staff ratios, length of the school day, and the propensity to unionize.
Abstract: Recent findings show that students attending charter schools in the United States achieve at comparable or lower levels to those enrolled in regular public schools, perhaps due to uneven quality and disparities in the levels of resources acquired by charter schools. But little is known as to what state and local factors contribute to disparate levels of resources in the charter school sector. This article examines how local context, the charter school’s organizational form, and state policies may influence material and human resources obtained by charter schools and their capacity to innovate. We find marked differences among charter schools situated in different US states in terms of teacher qualities, student–staff ratios, length of the school day, and the propensity to unionize, drawing on data from the US Schools and Staffing Survey for the 1999/2000 school year. Charter schools rely less on uncredentialed teachers in states that more tightly regulate the sector, and state spending is associated with ...
TL;DR: The authors argued that the focus on equality in terms of school provision paradoxically risks entrenching social inequalities despite the appearance of egalitari...and argued that this has led to a failure to distinguish between the goals of quality management and the ends of egalitarianism.
Abstract: Two key themes of recent UK education policy texts have been a focus on ‘quality’ in public sector performance, and on ‘equality’ in the form of New Labour’s stated commitment to equality of opportunity as a key policy objective. This twin approach can be seen at its most obvious in the concept of ‘excellence for all’. This paper contends that in recent policy texts the vocabularies of quality management discourse and egalitarian discourse have become conflated, serving to mask key issues relating to educational inequality, seen at its most stark in the attainment gap. The paper argues that this has led to a failure to distinguish between the goals of quality management and the ends of egalitarianism. Discursive conflation of this sort risks obscuring the significance of socio‐economic context and the limited impact of within‐school action. The paper also suggests that the focus on equality in terms of school provision paradoxically risks entrenching social inequalities despite the appearance of egalitari...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors build upon and examine critically the framework for analysing accountability set forth in the World Bank's World Development Report 2004 (WDR04) through a review of selected literature studying accountability-focused reforms in three Latin American countries -Brazil, Colombia and Chile.
Abstract: We build upon and examine critically the framework for analysing accountability set forth in the World Bank’s World Development Report 2004 (WDR04) through a review of selected literature studying accountability‐focused reforms in three Latin American countries – Brazil, Colombia and Chile. We examine the successes and pitfalls of the three accountability‐related reforms (which also involve some type of decentralization) in fostering institutional environments in which the key actors involved in provision are held responsible for fulfilling their roles in providing education services. We apply the WDR04 framework in our analysis of the process of implementation and impact of different types of accountability‐focused reforms in the three countries. The framework was conceptualized by analysing case studies such as ours for a broad range of sectors, and now has widening influence in the policy‐making community, thus justifying a critical assessment. We discuss common challenges impeding implementation of th...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine education policy and the policy process in the light of two key concepts: governmentality from the work of Michel Foucault (1991) and political spectacle from the works of Murray Edelman (1985, 1988) and suggest that education policy needs to be seen as a modern stress in governance which recognises that "the conduct of the conduct of conduct" (the management and presentation of policy) is not only of electoral relevance but has considerable implications for education and policy.
Abstract: This article examines education policy and the policy process in the light of two key concepts. The first is the concept of ‘governmentality’ from the work of Michel Foucault (1991). The second is the concept of ‘political spectacle’ from the work of Murray Edelman (1985, 1988). Taking note, further, of recent work by Fairclough (2000) on political ‘spin’ and rhetoric, the article suggests that education policy needs to be seen in the light of a more modern stress in governance which recognises that ‘the conduct of the conduct of conduct’ (the management and presentation of policy – the conduct3 of the title) is not only of electoral relevance but has considerable implications for education and policy. The article probes the ways in which current education policy in the UK is affected by conduct3 and attempts to place it within the Foucauldian governmentality framework. It suggests that while conduct3 can be understood as a modern variant of the Machiavellian concern with sovereignty, it is also associate...