Showing papers in "Policy Futures in Education in 2016"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors draw attention to the insidious manner in which the deficit discourse and practices associated with neoliberal reform are de- or re-professionalising educationists through an acculturation process.
Abstract: A major aim of this paper is to draw attention to the insidious manner in which the deficit discourse and practices associated with neoliberal reform are de- or re-professionalising educationists through an acculturation process. In the context of Ireland, as elsewhere, the author identifies how the three ‘technologies’ of Market, Management and Performance have inconspicuously but harmfully changed the subjective experience of education at all levels. It is argued that the power of privatisation in service delivery gives rise to change in education as part of a slow burn; how management is altering social connections and power relations to less democratic and caring forms, and how performativity and accountability agendas are radically undermining the professionalism of teachers in the hunt for measures, targets, benchmarks, tests, tables, audits to feed the system in the name of improvement. The paper adopts a personal tenor exhorting all educationists to become increasingly critically reflexive, politi...
251 citations
71 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that mindfulness training's medicalizing effect is what transforms this otherwise health-beneficial meditative technique into a non-obvious means for reconstructing the educational subject in line with neoliberalism's ideological dictates.
Abstract: Teaching mindfulness meditation at school has been advocated by educational researchers and practitioners in order to proactively target the well-being of young people. By conceptualizing mindfulness meditation as a technology of the self, in Foucauldian terms, this article considers the ideological implications of implementing mindfulness programs within schools. Recent work by Kristin Barker, it is argued, provides insight into how mindfulness meditation functions as a forceful vector for medicalization. It does so by broadening the scope of illness to encompass the emotional ups and downs inherent to daily life. My thesis is that mindfulness training's medicalizing effect is what transforms this otherwise health-beneficial meditative technique into a non-obvious means for reconstructing the educational subject in line with neoliberalism's ideological dictates. Learning to become mindful is one way members of the younger generation become charged with a moral responsibility to augment their own emotiona...
68 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide an in-depth review of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) educational governance, focusing on the role of the OECD in educational governance.
Abstract: Given the influential role that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) plays in educational governance, we believe it is timely to provide an in-depth review of its educat...
32 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual framework for how education can promote adolescent girls' empowerment and, by mapping the field, highlights promising examples of empowering education programs, is proposed and analyzed.
Abstract: This article proposes a conceptual framework for how education can promote adolescent girls’ empowerment and, by mapping the field, highlights promising examples of empowering education programs. W...
31 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the degree, nature and consequences of bullying or inappropriate behaviour among faculty personnel (n = 303) in a Finnish university were investigated, where 15% of the respondents had experienced bullying; in addition, 45% had experienced inappropriate behaviour.
Abstract: This study focuses on the degree, nature and consequences of bullying or inappropriate behaviour among faculty personnel (n = 303) in a Finnish university. A total of 114 (38%) faculty members answered the email questionnaire. According to the results, 15% of the respondents had experienced bullying; in addition, 45% had experienced inappropriate behaviour. The person behind the bullying or inappropriate behaviour was a member of the teaching personnel (f = 26), a member of the administration staff (f = 23), a student (f = 13) or a member of the research personnel (f = 8). Bullying or inappropriate behaviour occurred during research work (f = 21), personnel meetings (f = 19), interaction situations (10), teaching (f = 7), counselling (f = 7) or during leisure time (f = 1). Factor analysis revealed three dimensions of bullying: exclusion and discrimination, person-related belittlement and professional undermining. These dimensions were consistent with the categories of the consequences of bullying or inappropriate behaviour based on open-ended answers. The consequences of bullying or inappropriate behaviour primarily have an influence at the individual level as affective disorders and as a decrease in professional self-confidence and work performance. These consequences are also temporally and communally linked to a declining working environment and further to a reduction in the profitability of the faculty. Language: en
22 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the rise of value-added as a measure of quality in education, and analyzes the relationship between value added and quality in the context of education and the concept of quality.
Abstract: This paper examines the rise of value-added as a measure of quality in education. As a point of departure, the paper begins with an analysis of the rise of the concept of quality in education and d...
21 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors shed light on the background of neoliberalism and the basic characteristics that underlie its approach to the "Entrepreneurial Self" and its relationship with the "consumers".
Abstract: Purpose – This text aims to shed light on the background of neoliberalism and the basic characteristics that underlie its approach to the “Entrepreneurial Self.” The neoliberal economy, and the con...
20 citations
TL;DR: Early years education in Europe and elsewhere around the world is currently in the spotlight due to political and economical changes and subsequent promises of effective investment into its provisi... as discussed by the authors,.
Abstract: Early years education in Europe and elsewhere around the world is currently in the spotlight due to political and economical changes and subsequent promises of effective investment into its provisi...
20 citations
TL;DR: The increase in higher education internationalisation has called for finding possible ways to understand and improve its related issues as discussed by the authors. But despite the financial, cultural, and social benefits that in...
Abstract: The increase in higher education internationalisation has called for finding possible ways to understand and improve its related issues. Despite the financial, cultural, and social benefits that in...
19 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the exam-oriented, ritualistic, and exemplary Chinese education system through a double-layered historical and ethnographic analysis, and examined three aspects of the examoriented and ritualistic education system.
Abstract: This article explores the exam-oriented, ritualistic, and exemplary Chinese education system through a double-layered historical and ethnographic analysis. Firstly, I examine three aspects of the e...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show how the global educational policy expectations of being a self-managing learner unfold in the context of two school organisations in Norway, and contribute to the exclusion of self-management learners.
Abstract: This article will show how the global educational policy expectations of being a self-managing learner unfold in the context of two school organisations in Norway, and contribute to the exclusion o...
TL;DR: In the European neo-liberal policy context, there has been an increase in pressure on teachers to exercise a type of professional responsibility that contributes to the development of a competitive education system as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In the European neo-liberal policy context, there has been an increase in pressure on teachers to exercise a type of professional responsibility that contributes to the development of a competitive ...
TL;DR: The American university is in transition, witnessing major changes to its institutional structures and processes as mentioned in this paper, while the 1960s and 1970s were decades of progressive democratization in American universities.
Abstract: The American university is in transition, witnessing major changes to its institutional structures and processes. While the 1960s and 1970s were decades of progressive democratization in American h...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the relationship between education, policy and philosophy in the design of policies, and suggest that some of the most important concerns are axiological, about what values should be elevated, followed, lived by (Peters and Tesar, 2016).
Abstract: In 1949, Hank Williams recorded the song ‘‘My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It’’. What can the philosophy of education, ethics and policy learn from this more than 80-year-old song, and this famous country singer’s performance, asking ‘Why does my bucket have holes in it?’ That is the concern that perhaps should be raised for our understanding and performance of ethics and philosophy in the design of policies. Paradoxically, there is an idea that thinkers, as governors of their epistemology, hold it as a precious possession, and need to resist and escape managerialism and instrumentalism, to clearly identify the harm and evil they can cause. However, the same thinkers, at the same time, feel they need to become more focused on thinking and managing their life and performance. Do thinkers become, or need to become, ‘‘ethical chameleons’’, in order to survive, and to achieve that balance? Policy and philosophy are intricately connected. What is the place of ethics, then? What is policy? What is philosophy of education? There is a constant struggle between re-defined and re-thought scholarships of these concepts through ever-new streams of thinking. Philosophy in Greek means ‘‘love of wisdom’’. Philosophy of education is very broad, with unclear boundaries, and it is often contested in terms of what counts as philosophy of education and what does not. As a branch of philosophy, it focuses on a subject: education. It asks important questions about learning, curriculum, knowledge, children, teachers and institutions. In addition, it influences policy. It asks important questions: What is learning? What is curriculum? What is knowledge? What is childhood? Who is a teacher, learner, child, leader? These concerns are metaphysical – about the nature of being, reality, existence – and epistemological – about the nature of knowledge, how we come to know something and, perhaps for the purpose of policy, some of the most important concerns are axiological – ethical, about what values should be elevated, followed, lived by (Peters and Tesar, 2016). Philosophy of education is important as it elevates concerns and attempts to answer these questions, from various perspectives. However, importantly, it asks foundational questions, which we need to think about in education, before we move to particular solutions, strategies and outcomes. Philosophy makes us think differently and leads to praxis that forms an informed, thoughtful person who thinks about what he/she does and why. Philosophy of education also often underpins everything that scholars do. It is an essential component of every life course and action, particularly because it asks those difficult, foundational questions that do not have expected, right or wrong answers. Thinking philosophically
TL;DR: In this article, a review of emerging initiatives and policies that have some bearing on the PhD in select sub-Saharan African nations, namely Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa, is presented; the findings show a shared optimism about the economic value of higher education, and explicate divergences and convergences in the framing of problems and policy responses related to doctoral education across the three nations.
Abstract: After decades of decline, African higher education is now arguably in a new era of revival. With the prevalence of knowledge economy discourse, national governments in Africa and their development partners have increasingly aligned higher education with poverty reduction plans and strategies. Research capacity has become a critical development issue; and widening participation to doctoral education is seen as an instrument for enhancing this capacity. Against this backdrop, this paper presents a review of emerging initiatives and policies that have some bearing on the PhD in select sub-Saharan African nations, namely Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa. The findings show a shared optimism about the economic value of higher education, and explicate divergences and convergences in the framing of problems and policy responses related to doctoral education across the three nations. In the conclusion we reflect on challenges and policy omissions in the pursuit of the African PhD.
TL;DR: In this article, the idea of historicising and materialising policy futures is discussed. But the focus of this paper is on the future potential of the linguistic turn by re-fashioning the identity of policy futures, through a movement that is known as new materialism, posthumanism and new empiricism.
Abstract: The philosophical underpinning of policy futures has been explicitly and implicitly examined in education in the past decades. This idea encompasses a number of notions that emerge as potential and productive outputs of ‘thinking with philosophy and policy’. It is this thinking that this short paper is concerned with and attempts to articulate. In thinking with policy, we need to always historicise and work with a genealogy of ideas that have led to the contemporary conditions and future shapings – our educational futures. This idea of ‘historicising’, perhaps in a Foucauldian sense of the histories of the present, may also be understood as an idea of past developments, articulations and thoughts that lead to policy statements and the emergence of hegemonic and subjugated policy discourses. However, are discourses enough? Do they provide us with enough opportunities to explore and exemplify what policy is and what it will look like, what shapes it comes in and what potential impacts it might have? In this sense, perhaps it is important not only to ‘historicise’, but also to ‘materialise’, and to focus on the future potential of the linguistic turn by re-fashioning the identity of policy futures, through a movement that is known as ‘new materialism’, ‘posthumanism’ and ‘new empiricism’ (Dolphijn and Van der Tuin, 2012). Indeed, contemporary concerns lead us to think differently than in the past: in 2016, the dream of the European Union and its attempts to maintain a uniting policy network is being challenged; refugee crises and immigration have once more become major policy problems, shaping the direction of nations; and education policy repeatedly finds its way into election campaigns and string statements around the world. So, thinking of philosophy and policy together, no matter how complex their relationship may be, is a productive space. It is a space in which the human subject can be challenged, a space where the tension in the growth of the human subject as an intellectual, gaining morethan-human and social capital at the same time, is at the heart of any inquiry. Policy that operates on a knowledge base of ‘what works’ in education will always decay, and the production of policy futures will need to constantly secure ways for new policies to evolve, as ideas, contexts, discourses and materials change. Policy, at times, gets caught up in positivist discourses, of easy, nice solutions, trying to return to the era of objective truth and simplistic answers. The idea of ‘evidence’ in policy thus becomes the most prevalent concern: how do we define, collect, categorise and use it to shape our policy futures? Policy exerts its power within the norms of particular contexts. It is the actors in
TL;DR: The idea of freedom as non-domination was introduced by the neo-republican political philosophy (sometimes referred to as civic republicanism) as mentioned in this paper, in an attempt to provide democracy with a solid normative foundation.
Abstract: The neo-republican political philosophy (sometimes referred to as civic republicanism) advances the idea of freedom as non-domination, in an attempt to provide democracy with a solid normative foun...
TL;DR: The current recessionary economic climate in Ireland has re- awakened a neoliberal agenda that is changing the dynamic of what is being valued within research assessment exercises, specifically across Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) disciplines in higher education as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The current recessionary economic climate in Ireland has (re-) awakened a neoliberal agenda that is changing the dynamic of what is being valued within research assessment exercises, specifically across Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) disciplines in higher education. Research assessment exercises in AHSS disciplines now place a greater emphasis on measuring performance in terms of quantitative research metrics (such as: bibliometrics, impact factors and/ or citation indices), in an attempt to demonstrate greater accountability and value-for-money within this age of austerity. This practice has the potential to impact negatively on the quality and diversity of research, as well as on the independence and autonomy of those undertaking AHSS research in Ireland and elsewhere. This article critically reviews research assessment exercises, with particular reference to the assessment of educational research in Ireland. It examines issues in the assessment of research within the neoliberal agenda that...
TL;DR: In this paper, the situation of teacher professional development in Taiwan, including the history and the framework of teacher development, is described, with diversification of teacher education, and the history of teacher training is discussed.
Abstract: This article describes the situation of teacher professional development in Taiwan, including the history and the framework of teacher professional development. With diversification of teacher educ...
TL;DR: State education policy changes have contributed to a reduced interest in teaching and a decreased enrollment in education degree programs in North Carolina, USA as discussed by the authors, and pressure to cut budgets and generat...
Abstract: State education policy changes have contributed to a reduced interest in teaching and a decreased enrollment in education degree programs in North Carolina, USA. Pressure to cut budgets and generat...
TL;DR: It is argued that the next generation of education data systems should integrate longitudinal, individual-level administrative records with learning management platforms, and incorporate an extended repertoire of analysis and reporting tools in order to support richer types of diagnosis and provide enhanced feedback to stakeholders.
Abstract: Data use is becoming a prominent strategy for educational innovation and improvement across countries. However, the fragmentation of data collection often hinders the capacity of policymakers, researchers and practitioners to access and analyse the wealth of data routinely generated in educational institutions. A critical step towards realising the potential of education data is thus to set up a strong data infrastructure at the national/state level. Longitudinal data systems represent a promising solution to this challenge. We discuss the capabilities and limitations of current education data systems, drawing on a survey of 64 systems in 30 countries. We argue that the next generation of education data systems should integrate longitudinal, individual-level administrative records with learning management platforms, and incorporate an extended repertoire of analysis and reporting tools in order to support richer types of diagnosis and provide enhanced feedback to stakeholders. The potential of longitudina...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the provision of education in Argentina in systemic terms using the concept of quasi-monopoly and the notions of exit, voice and loyalty, and study the logic of organization and...
Abstract: This paper analyses the provision of education in Argentina in systemic terms. Using the concept of quasi-monopoly and the notions of exit, voice and loyalty, we study the logic of organization and...
TL;DR: In this article, private tutoring refers to additional instruction out of school, with its determinants and effects, and has received increasing attention from scholars over the past decades. Because o...
Abstract: Private tutoring refers to additional instruction out of school. With its determinants and effects, private tutoring has received increasing attention from scholars over the past decades. Because o...
TL;DR: For example, Northern Ireland is emerging from a violent period in its troubled history and remains a society characterized by segregation between its two main communities as mentioned in this paper, and it is this more apparent than ever.
Abstract: Northern Ireland (NI) is emerging from a violent period in its troubled history and remains a society characterized by segregation between its two main communities. Nowhere is this more apparent th...
TL;DR: In 2010, the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture formulated Finland's first education export strategy as mentioned in this paper, which attributed Finnish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) a significa cation.
Abstract: In 2010, the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture formulated Finland’s first education export strategy. This policy document attributed Finnish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) a significa...
TL;DR: The European Union, comprising 28 member states with individual sovereignty in the formation and implementation of education policy, has developed research and communication strategies to facilitate the creation and execution of education policies as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The European Union – comprising 28 member states with individual sovereignty in the formation and implementation of education policy – has developed research and communication strategies to facilit...
TL;DR: The authors analyzes the various ways that Filipino American students have navigated the system of higher education in lieu of expanding neoliberal public policies in an era where neoliberalism has been widely criticised.
Abstract: This article analyzes the various ways that Filipino American students have navigated the system of higher education in lieu of expanding neoliberal public policies. In an era where neoliberalism h...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze several aspects of educational competition within the perspective of post-colonialism and post-colonization. But they do not discuss the role of race in the competition.
Abstract: Educational competition has always been the puzzle issue of educational researches. In this article, I analyze several aspects of educational competition within the perspective of post-colonialism ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the recent history of the globalisation of human rights with reference to education, particularly for girls and women, but also looking more broadly to include edu...
Abstract: This literature review will trace the recent history of the globalisation of human rights with reference to education, particularly for girls and women, but also looking more broadly to include edu...