Dragon wings and butterfly wings: implicit gender binarism in early childhood

Despite explicit focus on addressing gender inequality in educational settings in Australia, without challenging gender binarism, inequality will persist. This article demonstrates the everyday and implicit means through which hierarchical gender binaries continue to be perpetuated. Observational fieldwork undertaken in three Australian early childhood settings with 13 members of staff and 53 children (ages 2–6) demonstrates how bi-gendered language, as well as wider discourses and practices, are being engaged in these settings. The data indicate that gender binarism continues to be (re)constructed and reinforced through subtle, but omnirelevant, invocations of gender. This happens in the constant categorisation and addressing of children by attributed gender alongside the hierarchisation of gendered attributes, and the sanctioned performativity of bi-gendered heteronormativity in play situations. This demonstrates how children continue to be encouraged into binary gendered practices in their most formative years and that this will, in turn, perpetuate gender inequalities.     

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     

National gender equity and schooling policy in Australia: Struggles for a non-identitarian feminist politics

This paper tracks the development of gender equity and schooling policy in Australia from theNational Policy on the Education of Girls in 1987, to current policy concerns with boys’ educational underperformance. The paper’s key focus is on the ways in which feminist informed equity policy has been undermined by broader imperatives of economic rationalism and anti-feminist discourses. Drawing on Nancy Fraser’s understandings of distributive and cultural gender justice and her notion of a nonidentitarian feminist politics, the paper critically examines the ways in which such imperatives have re-articulated equity and schooling concerns. Through these lenses, the limitations of the affirmative gender binary politics and remedies that have dominated gender and schooling reform in Australia are highlighted. The paper concludes with an illumination of the gender justice spaces currently being mobilised in Australian schools. Such spaces, it is argued, fostered within a context of increasing autonomy and self-management for schools, are providing avenues for creative and disruptive (pro)feminist activism.     

Girls' portraits of desire: picturing a missing discourse

This paper revisits the missing discourse of female desire [Fine, M. 1988. Sexuality, schooling and adolescent females: The missing discourse of desire. Harvard Educational Review 58, no. 1: 29–53] in secondary schools. Instead of echoing previous studies that have documented how female desire is missing, this research starts from the premise that female desire is an everyday (unofficial) presence at school. Through photo-diaries and photo-elicitation, this paper attempts to materialise [Butler, J. 1993. Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of ‘sex’. New York: Routledge] female desire to literally ‘see it’ through young women's own eyes. In articulation with feminist debates around young women's exercise of agency, it argues that in relation to female sexual desire, this may look different from what we expect. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari [2004. Anti-oedipus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. Trans. B. Massumi. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press], it explores how ruptures to normative female desire are constantly reterritorialised and subsequently more ‘frustrated’ than claims of easily perceptible change. In this way, it seeks to add to a more nuanced and complex theorisation of female desire at school, rather than only as an absence or a problem.     

The new compulsory schooling age policy in NSW,Australia: ethnicity,ability and gender considerations

The new schooling-leaving age policy in New South Wales, a state in Australia, requires all students to stay at school until they are 17?years old. The policy was introduced in January 2010, with little warning and, it appears, little consideration of its impact in complex contexts. In south-western Sydney, the most diverse region in the city, the impact is just being felt. In this paper, we draw on Ball’s approach to policy, maintaining ‘the complexity and scope of policy analysis – from an interest in the workings of the state to a concern with contexts of practice and the distributional outcomes of policy’. The paper explores the impact of the increase in school-leaving age on the curriculum, and the implications for ethnically diverse schools, and for students with learning and behavioural issues. Interviews with principals, teachers, parents and students suggest that there are dimensions of gender, ethnicity and ability to consider when responding to the new policy. Many schools find a lack of opportunity or too much competition for opportunities, and limited pathways. Whole school change is restricted by inadequate resourcing in some schools and by insufficient social networks in their communities.     

Non-government distance education funding: the need for equity in Australian schooling

This reflection outlines the problems associated with the Australian Government’s recurrent funding policy for non-government distance education. It demonstrates the policy’s inconsistencies with stated government educational policy and with commonly held expectations of fairness in a democratic society. A comparison of the current funding of non-government distance education to various long-standing educational delivery modes demonstrates that non-government distance education is yet to be appropriately funded by the Commonwealth. The discussion concludes by indicating that this emerging pedagogy is distinct from traditional schooling, that its students ought to be given the same educational opportunities as other Australian school students, and that the current policy ought to be redressed expeditiously.     

New partnerships and education policy in Asia and the Pacific

Forming more effective partnerships with national governments in the Asia-Pacific region has been an important policy focus for the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) since 2006. AusAID is increasingly engaging in sector-wide approaches and working through partner government systems. This paper explores how new partnerships are impacting education policy in the vastly different contexts of Lao PDR, Vanuatu, Indonesia, and the Philippines from 2006 to 2009. Conclusions are that policy discourse and current practice indicate an active effort to develop partnerships in education with donors and partner governments. But the reality in the field is that while sector-wide approaches are outlined in policy discourse, practice indicates loosely harmonized arrangements with like-minded donors, and slow progress toward sector-wide involvement.     

Balancing basic and post-basic education in Kenya: National versus international policy agendas

The article traces the policy history of Kenya over more than 40 years (1963–2006) in order to tease out the tensions between the key themes of its own national agenda and the priorities of its principal development partners. The national concerns with the education-and-employment connection and with the orientation of schooling towards skills for work in the formal and informal economies can be contrasted with the aid agency priorities on quality and on education-for-poverty reduction. Equally, national preoccupations have been with the whole of the education and training system—from early childhood, to technical, to university. By contrast, external donors have frequently prioritised a particular sub-sector such as primary schooling. In the most recent period, 2002–2006, the paper identifies the emergence of common ground between the national and external agendas. Thus the international education agenda, as marked out by the UN Millennium Project, the Commission for Africa, and the World Bank's most recent education policy paper, is not dissimilar in its priorities to the latest Kenyan education agenda, as expressed in the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme. There is also an agreement that the education sector, on its own, cannot deliver the many benefits so often associated with schooling; rather, there needs to be an enabling environment in other sectors of the economy, if the investment in education is to be most productive. The one area where there is serious divergence, between the Government of Kenya, and, at least, its principal Western donors is on the treatment of corruption. At the point of writing, the extent of corruption remains a major threat to the external funding so necessary to Kenya's large educational ambitions.     

Aiming higher: Learning profiles and gender equality in 10 low- and middle-income countries

Global education goals have many aims, among them universal basic schooling, universal literacy and numeracy, and gender equality. We use unique, nationally representative data on adult learning outcomes to examine the link between schooling and literacy in ten low- and middle-income countries. We simulate scenarios of increasing school grade attainment, increasing learning per year, and achieving gender equality, and examine learning outcomes in each. In six of the ten countries only about half or less of younger adults (aged 18−37) with primary completion as their highest schooling can read a few sentences without help. Simulations show that achieving universal primary completion would still leave many adults functionally illiterate: in India nearly a third of adults would still be unable to read. Our simulations further show that, while achieving equality of schooling attainment would produce improvements in women’s literacy, in many countries this would still leave a third of women unable to read. Gender equality of learning per year produces very little gain as, once in school, girls’ learning nearly matches that of boys. In nearly all countries steepening the learning profiles for all students to the best-performing of the ten countries would lead to greater gains in literacy for women than achieving gender equality in both schooling and learning. Achieving learning for all will require both eliminating gender gaps but also improving how much is learned while in school.     

Navigating the demands of the English schooling context: problematics and possibilities for social equity

The English schooling context has seen radical and rapid reform in recent times with the processes of devolution or deconcentration of centralised school governance, on the one hand, and the instating of ever-increasing and rigid external accountabilities, on the other. These reforms driven as they are by neo-liberal and neoconservative ideologies have created a new kind of ‘system’ of schooling in England, one that is ‘heterarchical’ in governance, increasingly complex in its overlap, multiplicity and asymmetric power dynamics, but one that remains strongly tied to and regulated by the reductive and narrow measures of ‘success’ imposed by the state. Against this complex and changing backdrop, what constitutes quality and equitable schooling has been transformed. This special issue explores these concerns and, in particular, focuses on how the current demands of the English schooling context construct student achievement and identity, teachers' work, conceptualisations of knowledge and pedagogy, and school organisation and collaboration. The issue has a strong equity focus. Many of the papers to this end focus on how teachers and schools are navigating through the demands of current policy reform to mobilise spaces of possibility for equity and good schooling. In this paper, we provide a context and framework to set the scene for the subsequent papers in the issue.     

Girls' secondary education in Uganda: assessing policy within the women's empowerment framework

This paper makes the case that policies, such as the National Strategy for Girls' Education in Uganda (NSGE), intended to achieve gender equity in education for girls in developing countries, have limited relevance to, and impact on girls' actual educational experiences. Recent considerations of girls' education acknowledge that gender equity within education is more than access to schooling; it entails the cultivation of capabilities necessary for girls to participate fully, actively and equally in all aspects of their societies. Drawing on a longitudinal, ethnographic policy research case study with 15 Ugandan schoolgirls in rural Masaka District, Uganda, from August 2004 to September 2006, I explore the girls' educational experiences in relationship to the NSGE. I employ the Women's Empowerment Framework (WEF) to evaluate the NSGE with respect to the extent to which its interventions are ‘empowering’ for girls.     

Addressing gender violence among children in the early years of schooling: insights from teachers in a South African primary school

This paper explores how teachers in a poor township primary school in South Africa construct meaning regarding gender violence among children, and how they talk about addressing that violence. The paper argues that major influences on the endemic violence include complex societal structures that are inscribed with cultures of violent masculinities, extreme socio-economic conditions and gender inequality. It shows how primary school teachers recognise violent masculinities and gender power imbalances but simultaneously uphold the notion of children’s innocence as a rationale for refuting the primary school as a site of violence. The paper explores contradictions embedded in some of the solutions which the teachers suggest as a way of addressing violence. For example, while they highlight the importance of teaching peace, respect and equality, they also advocate the use of corporal punishment as an effective means of dealing with violent conduct among school children.     

Mobilities of policy and mobile parents – creating a new dynamic in policy borrowing within state schooling

ABSTRACT

In this article, we focus on the transformations imposed on schools by individual parents, arguing that schools as modern organisations change not only through top-down pressures orchestrated by an array of international organisations, for-profit companies and media as shown in previous research, but also through the agency of mobile parents, who seek to import reforms from elsewhere, based on their previous schooling experiences abroad. We focus on a specific group of middle class parents, who are continuously mobile, moving between global cities for employment. This paper brings into the discussion the role of individual parental strategies as they seek to promote education policy-borrowing. By applying the theoretical lens of stakeholder identification and salience, using a multi case study research design, we suggest that parents express high levels of power, legitimacy and a sense of urgency, thus being able to successfully advocate for change. We argue that while exploring organisational reform occurring due to the globalisation of education, we must view parents as central actors in this new space.     

The legacy of a pioneer of female education in Ireland: tercentennial considerations of Nano Nagle and Presentation schooling

ABSTRACT

This article examines some of the legacy of the Irish education pioneer Nano Nagle, foundress of the Presentation congregation of nuns. The congregation spread rapidly in the nineteenth century, not only in Ireland but also in Newfoundland, India, England, Tasmania, Australia and continental North America. This year, Presentation schools globally mark the tercentenary of Nagle’s birth, and it is therefore timely to consider approaches to writing about her life and her contribution to education. The article discusses existing biographical studies of Nagle and argues that a more nuanced study of this educator and her legacy is possible, through the careful and systematic use of convent archives and oral histories. The article considers how such research can offer new perspectives on the agency and innovation of individual teaching Sisters, and on ways in which these women became resilient and adaptable, in order to function effectively within a patriarchal Church.     

Gender and Education for All: Progress and problems in achieving gender equity

The paper explores the effects of rapid increases in gender parity in primary schooling in Bangladesh and Malawi on gender inequities in schools and communities. Based on an analysis of comparative case studies of marginalized communities, we argue that educational initiatives focused on achieving gender parity provide limited evidence that girls’ educational experiences modeled significantly different gender norms than in communities, or that by being educated, girls experienced a transformation of the inequitable gender relations they faced in society. The data illustrate persistent gender discrimination related to educational attainment and learning, and gender-based violence in schools. These patterns of gendered discrimination and violence largely mirrored those that girls and boys experienced in their homes and communities, raising important questions about the transformational capacity of current gender parity and schooling models.     

Quality and equality: the mask of discursive conflation in education policy texts

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 egalitarian commitment.     

Saving the world through neoliberalism: philanthropic policy networks in the context of Spanish education

This article analyses the processes of ‘neoliberalisation’ in education as directed by Teach For All. Specifically, we explore the case of Empieza por Educar, the Spanish policy network included in Teach For All. The first section seeks to clarify what we understand by the term neoliberalism, using a theoretical dimension through different perspectives. The second section explores the meaning of the new philanthropy. Methodologically, in the third section, the piece of research is categorised under what is defined as ‘Network Ethnography’, an approach which unifies social network analysis with some traditional ethnographic methods. The fourth section explores the meaning Teach For All and its foundation in Spain (Empieza por Educar) as a philanthropic foundation which is changing the political arena. The fifth section explores how Neoliberalism (with big ‘N’) is constructed by means of a complex interconnection of actors and policies that establish the policy network within the Spanish context. The sixth section analyses how neoliberalism (with small ‘n’) is implemented in the curriculum through three aspects: hegemonic truths; the conduct of the conduct (performativity culture); and the modes of formation of the subject with practices of oneself (entrepreneur of oneself).     

江苏省普通高中教育公平现状考察与问题分析

推进教育公平是我国教育改革与发展的基本策略。江苏省普通高中教育在走向普及化的过程中,还存在着诸多不公平的问题,包括教育资源配置的区域差距、城乡差距、校际差距,高中教育机会获得中的家庭阶层差距,以及择校对高中教育公平的不利影响。江苏高中教育在发展过程中,需要不断地解决这些问题,促进高中教育公平的发展,提高教育公平的品质。     

'The centre cannot hold': complexity and difference in European Union policy towards a learning society

The notions of lifelong learning and a learning society have been an important policy driver in the European Union at both the Commission and national government levels for a number of years. Overall, these policies aim to promote the twin goals of competitiveness in international markets and social cohesion within the still-expanding borders of the Union itself. To date, however, the impact of this emphasis on lifelong learning has been relatively slight. This article argues that this is in part because the policy process in relation to the development of a learning society is based on a view of governance and power that is open to reasoned dispute, and is, therefore, bound to disappoint in relation to its espoused goals. It is suggested that, rather than implementation being the main ‘problem’ of policy, the policy context inevitably generates many recontextualizations and renegotiations of meanings according to the situations and the actors involved, thereby undermining the notion of ‘implementation’ as a technical-rational process. It is argued that the complex negotiations enacted at local level reveal and are fashioned by tensions between the membership resources available to actors. This emphasizes complexity, diversity, and difference in policy processes, bringing to the fore a communicative and distributed approach to policy rather than one that is technical and centralizing.