The European Union's discourse of ‘equality’ and its education and training policy within the post‐compulsory sector

This paper provides a critical overview of the development of European education and training policy and its relationship to the discourse of ‘equality’. This development reflects significant shifts within the European Union's discourse of economic growth and peaceful unity‐‐that is, the economic and social concerns of the European Commission. Interwoven into both these discourses is the European discourse of ‘equality’.

In the first section of the paper the historic development of the Commission's education and training policy is considered in relation to the discourses of equal opportunities and social exclusion, paying particular attention to the influence of the Action programmes for equal opportunities between women and men. This is followed by a brief section in which the recent interpretation of EC policy by the UK government is examined. In the final section the focus is on the equality discourse itself and the consequences of its application for under‐educated long‐term unemployed people. The paper concludes that although the differences between equal opportunities and social exclusion can appear as radical redefinition, they are nevertheless simply discursive shifts in a fundamentally unchanged equality discourse. Their significance, however, lies in the need for such an apparent shift.     

我国教育政策议程设置中社会排斥问题研究

由于体制封闭等因素的影响,我国教育政策议程的设置往往与其公共利益价值取向相背离,社会排斥问题显著。我国教育政策议程中的社会排斥主要表现为媒介排斥、制度排斥和自我排斥,这是由媒体自身话语系统的局限性、制度的封闭性以及公众自身等因素造成的。鉴于此,就需要强化媒体在教育政策议程设置中的公众性导向,逐步加大政府决策体制的开放性,不断提高社会公众参与的积极性,以消解或弱化政策议程设置中的社会排斥。     

布莱尔政府对教育的地位和作用的看法

在布莱尔政府所推行的各项社会改革政策中,尤其在应对全球化挑战、政府职能改造、福利制度改革等方面,教育都占据了一个重要的位置.政府把教育作为管理的主要内容,以管理经济的方式来管理教育,并利用教育来提升个人的能力,通过教育和宣传引导的方式来解决社会问题.     

Rethinking Social Policy

The swift nature of school reform enacted by the new Conservative-led coalition government has sparked debate over the future of state education in Britain. While the government rhetoric suggests a decisive break with past policies, there is evidence to suggest that these reforms constitute the next stage of a long revolution in education reform, centred around neoliberal market discourse. In the following paper, I examine the current government’s education policy discourse and, by employing techniques of post-structuralist discourse analysis, reveal the government’s attempts to rearticulate education around the logics of market, responsibilisation and self-esteem, which act to shift responsibility for social problems from the state to the individual. Furthermore, I shall argue that such rearticulation has been coupled with an ideological fantasy of ‘empowerment’, which conceals the subordination of actors to these neoliberal logics by constituting the parent and, more recently, the teacher as powerful actors who have been freed from legal and bureaucratic constraints forced upon them by central government.     

Globalization or Glocalization? Higher Education Reforms in Singapore

Globalization and the evolution of the knowledge‐based economy have caused dramatic changes to the character and functions of higher education in most countries around the world. However, the impacts of globalization on universities are not uniform though business‐like practices have been adopted to cope with competition in the global marketplace. The pressure for restructuring and reforming higher education is mainly derived from growing expectations and demands of different stakeholders in society. In recent years, widespread concerns over widened access, funding, accountability, quality, and managerial efficiency are perceived as the prominent global trends related to university education. Because of the divergent political, social, economic, cultural and historical backgrounds, national/local governments may adopt similar strategies in response to pressures generated from globalization. Nonetheless, through a close scrutiny of the ways that national policies are made, we may find that governments around the globe, particularly in East Asia, have tried to make use of the globalization discourse to address/justify the local policy/political agendas. This paper aims to examine the latest higher education reform initiatives proposed by the Singapore Government, with particular reference to reflect upon how the Singapore Government reforms its university systems in the context of globalization. It is argued that the latest comprehensive review of public university governance and funding brings about a changing role of the government in the regulation, finance and provision of higher education in Singapore and eventually alters the state‐university relationship.     

Social exclusion,and educational opportunity: the case of British education policies within a European Union context1

This paper first examines the New Labour government's redefinition of equality of opportunity in Britain, mainly with regard to education and the ways in which it mediates ‘opportunity’. In doing so, it also draws on wider social policy issues, such as the use of education policies to combat social exclusion. Second, the paper reviews European Union policies and selected documents that address questions of social inclusion, social cohesion and the role of education in achieving those policy goals. The main argument is that both New Labour policies in Britain and the examined EU documents promote rather minimal understandings of the term ‘equality of opportunity’, while, education, in both cases, is given an enormous burden to carry in balancing increasingly liberalised market‐driven economies, with the requirements of a socially just society.     

Adopting and implementing globalised policies of intercultural education: the example of Cyprus

Globalisation has heavily influenced the terrain of intercultural education policy development and implementation in multiple countries around the world. To this end, in this article, we seek to introduce a broader focus of analysis encompassing not only the development of globalised policies of intercultural education, but also the adoption, implementation, and enactment of such policies. Our aim is to bridge the macro–micro gap by providing an in-depth and multi-level examination of the issue of intercultural education by moving the locus of analysis from the macro-structures of the supranational state to both the level of the national state and the micro-level of the school. To do so, we focus on the phases of adoption and implementation of globalised intercultural education policies by critically examining and reflecting upon the findings of previous research carried out in the context of Cyprus.     

Education,social class and social exclusion

This paper begins by noting the centrality of the issue of working-class school failure within the sociology of education in Britain. It argues that recent government policies have taken insufficient account of sociological work on the impact of social class on educational success and failure. It also suggests that sociologists should pay more attention to middle-class education. The importance of this is illustrated through reference to research on the trajectories of pupils receiving different forms of secondary education. The paper then argues that social inclusion policies need to address a variety of forms of middle-class self-exclusion from mainstream public provision as well as working-class social exclusion. It concludes that education policy needs to be located within a broader social policy framework.     

Life at the margin: education of young people,social policy and the meanings of social exclusion

This paper explores the term ‘social exclusion’ in the context of new social and education policies being constructed in the UK. It examines the links with terms such as ‘poverty’, ‘deprivation’ and ‘equality’ and the implications of policy developments for those identified as socially excluded. Tensions and contradictions appear to be emerging between the UK government's stated policy intentions to address social exclusion, and local knowledge and experience. Issues of power, market power, participation and inclusiveness are explored specifically in the context of education. The paper draws on research being undertaken in a deprived inner-city area with voluntary sector organizations that provide education for marginalized young people.     

中国共产党百年劳动教育政策的演进逻辑和未来展望

中国共产党成立之后,我国劳动教育政策经历了以探索教劳结合为中心的政策萌芽起步阶段、促进工农业生产的政策发展初期阶段、偏向政治化的政策偏执发展阶段、促进经济建设的政策转变阶段、体现个体价值的政策发展阶段。呈现出以社会需求为主要推手的劳动教育政策形成机制、以兼顾社会发展与个体发展为导向的劳动教育政策价值取向、以政府为主导的政策过程保障、以经济学话语为主导的政策话语规则。新时代劳动教育政策应坚持"以人为本"的政策形成机制、以育人为主继续倡导社会价值与个人价值共存的政策价值取向、加强资源开发与师资建设的政策过程保障、民众参与的政策话语规则,建立起中国特色的劳动教育体系,使学生得到全面发展。     

Learning in the home and at school: How working class children ‘succeed against the odds’

This paper presents data collected in individual case studies that aimed to investigate children and their families who succeeded against the usual ‘odds’ of disadvantage. Funded as an extension of EPPE 3–11 by the Cabinet Office for the Equalities Review, the study focused particularly closely upon the performance of disadvantaged children from White and minority ethnic groups. The study found that disadvantaged families often have high aspirations for their children and provide significant educational support through ‘concerted cultivation’. The paper discusses the implications for policy and for practice and argues that much of the popular criticism of state policies related to social exclusion fail to acknowledge the need to engage with the policy in action as well as in theory. It is also argued that these policies offer significant and valuable contexts for supporting efforts on the part of families and individuals to achieve success in education ‘against the odds’.     

Children's participation in school grounds developments: creating a place for education that promotes children's social inclusion

This paper advances the idea that ‘education for the social inclusion of children’ is similar but different to ‘inclusive education’ as it has come to be understood and used by some authors and UK government documents. ‘Inclusive education’ tends to carry an inward emphasis on the participation of children in the education system (with discussions on school culture, transitions, truancy, exclusion rates, underachievement, and school leaving age). In contrast, education for the promotion of children's social inclusion requires an outward emphasis on children's participation in ‘mainstream’ society while they are still children. The latter emphasis is seen to be lacking in educational policy discourse in Scotland though a recent shift in policy towards education for active citizenship is noted. Examples are provided to show how many policy statements enact a limitation on the scope for education to promote children's social inclusion by emphasizing children's deficits as social actors and focussing on the ‘condition’ of social exclusion. The paper draws on an empirical study of children's participation in changing school grounds in Scotland. The analysis shows how the enclosure of learning in books, classrooms and normative curricula was challenged. Learning from school grounds developments was constructed relationally and spatially, but the scope of what was to be learned was often delineated by adults. The paper closes with a discussion of how education that promotes the social inclusion of children will benefit from seeing both children and adults as current though partial citizens and using socio-spatial opportunities for the generation of uncertain curricula through their shared and/or differentiated participation.     

State of rhetoric: neoliberal discourses for education in state of the state addresses and gubernatorial press releases

ABSTRACT

Policy elites use rhetoric in speeches and press releases to provide framing that is intended to influence public opinion. These rhetorical events can be treated as instances in which speech usefully promotes particular discourses. Indeed, elected officials are able to influence how individuals think about problems and solutions through speeches and press releases. Two important rhetorical events in which political elites advance frames for social issues are annual state of the state addresses (SoSA) given by U.S. governors and gubernatorial press releases that inform media reporting about state policy. This study employed policy discourse and rhetorical analyses to examine SoSAs and press releases as rhetorical events within the context of educational policy. Our findings show that governors framed the roles of state government, governors, and educational stakeholders within a discourse that perpetuates a neoliberal version of education. In this framing, governors situated education’s purpose as being workforce and economic development, ignoring its role in addressing social issues and preparing informed, engaged participants for democratic society. Given that individuals make decisions about how to address social issues and understand public institutions based on framing provided by political elites, these findings raise implications for state educational policies and the public purposes of education.     

More policies,greater inclusion? Exploring the contradictions of New Labour inclusive education policy

The era of New Labour government has witnessed unprecedented growth in inclusive education policies. There is, however, limited evidence that policies have increased disabled children’s inclusion. This article explores reasons for this contradiction. Drawing on sociological insights, it is argued that New Labour policies on inclusive education take their cues from wider neo‐liberal constructions of social exclusion; ideas that point to the personal deficits of the excluded rather than social barriers and inequalities that systematically exclude. Increasingly narrow definitions of educational success are likely to add to this exclusion. This mirrors New Labour’s broader social inclusion agenda in emphasising ‘conditional’ inclusion and an increasingly utilitarian approach to social policy. New Labour, it is argued, needs to review the lessons of history in reducing disabled children’s educational exclusion if real progress is to be made. Warnock’s recent attack on the principle of inclusive education makes this review all the more urgent.     

Teachers in the news: a critical analysis of one US newspaper's discourse on education, 2006–2007

Public education discourse in the USA has been characterized by messages of crisis shaping education policies across national contexts. Education policy solutions target a lack of qualified teachers and insufficient oversight of teacher practice as central factors in the crisis, placing teacher identity as knowledgeable, authoritative professionals at the center of educational reform debates. Mainstream news media is a key site for education policy debate. I employ critical discourse analysis of education news published in a major US newspaper, uncovering how grammar patterns in news discourse situate teacher identity in relation to knowledge and authority. I demonstrate how the paper's discourse frames teacher identity in terms of Accountability and Caring and discuss how, in the context of larger economic and social policy debates, Accountability gains authority over caring to shape education policy. I call for teachers to integrate critical participation in public education debates as key element of professional identity.     

Neoliberalism and the marginalisation of social justice: the making of an education policy to combat social exclusion

The paper analyses how the establishment of neoliberalism, as the new global orthodoxy, in the field of education implies a substantial subjugation and marginalisation of policies and practices informed by the values of social justice and equity. The evidence from a case study on an inclusive education policy enacted to combat social exclusion and dropout in a disadvantaged inner-city area in the south of Italy are presented. The study shows how neoliberalism is increasingly re-defining the domains of validity, normativity and actuality according to an economic rationale; within these domains the actors frame the problems of social exclusion and dropout and choose the solutions to address them. It is argued that the overall framework of discourses of human capital, individualisation, school improvement, performativity and standardisation impedes any contextualised, multidimensional and critical approach to social exclusion as well as the pursuing of any egalitarian outcomes, be they (re)distributional, cultural or associational outcomes.     

Reculturing schools in England: how ‘cult’ values in education policy discourse influence the construction of practitioner identities and work orientations

The imperative of continuous improvement has now become normative in education policy discourse, typically framed as setting ‘aspirational’ targets for pupil performance as a prerequisite for gaining competitive advantage in the global economy. In this context, teachers, leaders, teacher assistants and other practitioners working in schools across England have been under increasing pressure to raise standards. This article focuses on how values are deployed in reculturing and regulating practitioners to develop identities and work orientations which are congruent with the policymakers’ agendas. G.H. Mead’s concept of ‘cult’ values illuminates the process of fostering homogeneity with the dominant policy discourse through an inclusion/exclusion dynamic. Interview data collected in two primary schools revealed a significant convergence of practitioner discourse with policy objectives. Delivering improvement affects how practitioners talk about their work and see themselves as educators. The ‘cult’ of continuous improvement appears to inhibit a critical approach to the implementation of education policies by school practitioners in their everyday work.     

The imagined subject of schooling in the logic of policy

ABSTRACT

National education policies reference a representation of an imagined subject of schooling derived from a broader social imaginary that underpins the projects of the state, in a process which I refer to here as ‘the logic of policy’. I offer an account of how this representation is derived and propose three conceptual elaborations of this view. I then consider ways in which shifts occur in this social imaginary, especially at moments of substantial social, economic and political change, and ways in which these shifts are communicated. This imagined subject is referenced in processes involving both state and non-state entities, mediated by historically specific governance instruments.

The main part of this paper offers an illustrative historical example of the working of this logic in the context of the Cape Colony and apartheid South Africa, where the instrument of governance that was central to this process was the commission of enquiry. The concluding section briefly considers whether the logic of policy works in much the same way in a contemporary policy environment, where new policy technologies have largely displaced the commission of enquiry     

Understanding reason in policy reform: engaging ‘problematic’ families

This paper seeks to examine current policy reforms that situate education as a means of addressing social inclusion. Borrowing from the work of Popkewitz and Lindblad, the paper takes the form of a cross‐disciplinary literature review that informs understanding of the relationship between educational governance and social inclusion/exclusion in policy research in Australia. To do so, the author examines the assumptions, omissions and contradictions in policy direction via two problematics – the engagement problematic and the early intervention and prevention problematic – to emphasise how policy discourse produces ways of thinking about inclusion/exclusion. The author argues that discourses of engagement and intervention and prevention reinscribe each other, acting as a palimpsest which produces notions of the ‘proper’ family and ‘proper’ participation. These notions of propriety ironically exclude particular types of individuals and families by situating them outside of possibilities for ‘success’ in social and systemic participation. Therefore, the author seeks to examine the ‘systems of reason’ that enable these discursively produced notions of propriety to become normalised.     

Path Dependency and the Politics of Quality Assurance in Higher Education

National policy agendas for quality assurance in higher education (HE) are increasingly influenced by supra-national trends and decisions. Taking Spain, Switzerland and The Netherlands as examples, the paper analyses how supranational trends are re-interpreted at the national level and how recently formulated national policies combine the demands for cross-national harmonisation with the long-lasting influence of decisions and procedures run in the past in the domain of quality assurance. In this perspective, the paper argues that cross-national policy harmonisation, a key prerequisite for the construction of the European Area of Higher Education, is challenged by the long-lasting influence of national path dependent policies.