Consuming education.docx

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Consumingeducation

JCEPS:

Vol.1No.1（March2003）

[printnow]

Consumingeducation:

acriticaldiscourseanalysisofsocialactorsinNewLabour’seducationpolicy

JaneMulderrig

UniversityofLancaster

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author:

JaneMulderrig

JournalforCriticalEducationPolicyStudies

Volume1,Number1（March2003）

ISSN1740-2743

Abstract

Thisarticlecriticallyassessesthesocialidentities,relationsandpracticesofparticipantsineducationunderNewLabour.Itcombinessociologicalcritiqueofeducationpolicyreformandanalysisofthediscourserepresentationofgovernment,teachers,andpupilsintwopolicytexts.Educationistheoreticallypositionedintermsofitsrelationshipwiththeeconomyandbroaderstatepolicy.Itispostulatedthataninstrumentalrationalityunderlieseducationpolicydiscourse,manifestedinthepervasiverhetoricandvaluesofthemarketintherepresentationofeducationalparticipantsandpractices.Thisistheorisedasanindicatorofageneralshifttowardsthecommodificationofeducationandtheconcomitantconsumerisationofsocialactors.Further,itisarguedthatdiscourseplaysasignificantroleinconstructingandlegitimisingpost-welfarelearningpolicyasakeyaspectoftheongoingprojectofglobalization.

Introduction

‘Education,education,education’.Withthisnowfamouselectoralslogan,NewLabourplacededucationatthevanguardofsocialandpoliticalchange.Addressingprimaryeducationfirst,mostnotablywithitsNationalLiteracyandNumeracyStrategies,thegovernmentthenmovedontosecondaryeducation,thesubjectofthepoliciesexaminedinthisarticle.Initsownwords,itsmissionis“Openingsecondaryeducationtoaneweraofengagementwiththeworldsofenterprise,highereducationandcivicresponsibility”[1].ThisarticleexaminesthereformproposalssetoutintwoconsultationdocumentsfromthebeginningofNewLabour’ssecondterminoffice.Drawingonrecenteducationpolicyresearch,thesearetheorisedintermsoftheirroleinlatecapitalistsocialpolicy.Inastudycombingcorpusanalyticaltoolsandcriticaldiscoursemethods,therepresentationofkeysocialactorsineducationwasanalysed.Thefindingsarediscussedinrelationtotheirimplicationsfortheidentities,rolesandrelationsofsocialactorsineducation,thestatusofknowledge,andtheplaceofeducationincontemporarysocialpolicy.Itisarguedthatthecriticalanalysisofdiscoursecanaddtoeducationpolicyresearchbyuncoveringtheprocessesbywhicheducationalreformsarebothenactedandlegitimised.

Thetextsanalysedinthispaperarethe2001WhitePaperSchools:

AchievingSuccess,andthe2002GreenPaper14-19:

ExtendingOpportunities,RaisingStandards.Theyweredigitisedtoformaminicorpusof58,739words.IrefertothisastheNL（NewLabour）corpus.Inordertoyieldamoreaccuratepictureofthespreadanddistributionofparticipantsinthetexts,WordsmithTools（Scott,1997）wereusedtogeneratewordlistsforthecorpus.Inordertoassessthekeyness[2]ofparticularwords,comparisonwasmadewiththeFLOBcorpus,containingapproximately1millionwordstakenfromvarioustypesoftextrangingfrompress,generalprose,learnedwritingandfiction.Threekeyparticipantsinthecorpus-government,teachersandstudents-wereanalysedintermsoftheirmaincollocates[3]andtheirfunctionaldistributioninthesentenceandclause.Inordertoexaminetheirgrammaticalfunction,concordanceswerethereforeexpandedtofivelinestodisplaytheirtextualenvironments.Althoughnotadiachronicstudyofeducationpolicydiscourse,occasionalcomparisonwasmadewiththe1958WhitePaperSecondaryEducationforAll:

ANewDrive,publishedunderPrimeMinisterHaroldMacmillan’sconservativegovernment（1957-1963）.ThispaperwasalsodigitisedandcomparedwiththeFLOBcorpus.Theresultsofkeywordandconcordanceanalysesarethereforethebasisofanycomparisonsmadewiththisdocument.Thepurposeofcomparisonwastwofold:

firstly,toyieldapictureofcontinuityorchangeintheroleofsocialactorsineducation;andsecondly,toeliminatethepossibilitythatapparentstatisticalsignificanceofcertainfindingswasindicativesimplyofthegenreofpolicytexts.The1958paperwaschosenbecause,liketheNLcorpus,itdealswitheconryeducation,andbecauseitfallswithintheepochofeducationpolicystillbroadlyalignedwiththepost-wareducationalsettlement（Ainley,1999;Dale,1989）.

1.TheoreticalConnections

Thispaperseekstounderstandgovernmenteducationpolicydiscourseinitssociopoliticalcontext,anditsroleinthe（re）productionandlegitimationofcapitalism.Thisapproachispremisedontheviewthattheoriginsandsocialeffectivityofdiscoursecanonlybeunderstoodbyexaminingtherangeofsocialpracticesandhumanrelationswithwhichitsharesadialecticalrelation.ItisthissocialembeddednessofdiscoursewhichdetermineswhichDiscourses[4]willbetakenupinagivenpolicytext,andwhicharelikelytobecomenaturalisedandacceptedinvariouscontexts.Thus,forinstance,ifwearetounderstandthepostulatedincreaseineducationpolicytextsofcommercialvaluesandDiscourses,wemustalsorecognisethechangesingovernancestructuresthatallowrepresentativesfromthecommercialsectoranunprecedentedvoiceinpolicy-makingprocedures,throughaburgeoningofadvisoryandinterventionistpowers.Equallyhowever,sociologicalanalysesofeducationpolicythatignorediscourse,riskoverlookingitsimportantroleinshaping,enactingandlegitimisingthatpolicy.AsBall（1990）putsit,bothcontrolandcontentofpolicyaresignificant;boththestructuralmechanismsandthediscourse.

InaGramsciananalysisoftherelationshipbetweentheStateandcapitalism,Dale（1989）identifiesthreecore‘problems’fortheStatethatstemfromtheintrinsicinabilityofthecapitalistmarkettosustainitself.Theseare:

supportingthecapitalistaccumulationprocess;guaranteeingacontextforitscontinuedexpansion;andlegitimisingcapitalismandtheState’sroleinit.Applyingtheseproblemstotheeducationsystem,viewedasanapparatusoftheState,itisseenasservingcontradictoryfunctionsinsupportingcapitalism.Forinstance,itsupportstheaccumulationprocessbyproducinganelitistsystem,whichfosterstalentsandencouragesinstrumentalcompetition.Butthisposesaproblemforitslegitimationfunction,whereinitsitsalongsidethewelfaresystemindemonstratingcapitalism’sabilitytoprovideequalityofopportunityandcivilrights.Thuseducationpolicyembodiesthesecontradictorytensionsthatarisefromitsrelationshipwiththeeconomy.

Followingtherapidriseinoilpricesintheearly1970sandthesubsequentdownturnintheUKeconomy,thestatewaslessabletolegitimisecapitalismthoughwhatHabermastermsdeliveryof‘value’,thatistheprovisionofadequatewelfareservices.Therewasfromthisperiodasubstantiveshiftinschoolspolicyrhetorictowardsgreatereconomicresponsiveness,andultimatelyanewpost-welfareeducationalsettlementmarkedbythe1988EducationReformAct（Ainley,1999;Aldrich,1996;Apple,1993;Ball,1990;Dale,1989;Hill,1999;Tomlinson,2001）.Akeythemerunningthroughreformsineducationsincethistimehasbeenitscentralfunctionineconomiccompetitiveness,manifestedintheproliferationofeducationalstrategiesaimedatproducingabetterskilledworkforce,andinanescalatingrhetoricaboutthelinksbetweenschoolingandeconomicproductivity.Reproduction（oftheconditionsandskillsnecessarytotheeconomy）andlegitimationofthosepracticesgohand-in-hand.Thereforeananalysisofpolicytextswhichaimstounderstandtheroleofdiscourseinchangingtheeducationsystemmustrecognisethisduality.Moreoverreproductionnotonlyinvolveschangingthecurriculumandthemethodsofitsdelivery,butinthecontextofapost-welfarestate,involvesmanymorecomplexandsubtleprocessesinwhichdiscourseplaysakeyrole.Aswelfareceasestobeastate-runeconomicsystem,theeducationsystemarguablybeginstoplayamoreimportantrole,sincewhatJessop（2002）callsthe‘Schumpeterianworkfareregime[5]’partlyinvolveschangingpeople’sbehaviourandvaluesinordertocreateanewself-reliant,risk-prepared,enterpriseculture.Governmentdiscoursebecomesacentraltoolinlegitimisingandenactingthistransition;inasupply-sideeconomicsystem,wherethegovernmentnolongermakesguaranteesoffinancialsupport,‘welfare’mustbecastinanegativeevaluativeframe,wherereceivingitbecomes‘dependency’andremovingtheneedforitbecomes‘empowerment’.Socialservicesthemselvesmoreover,arereorganised（or‘modernised’）accordingtomarketmodels,inwhichinternalcompetitionisusedtoimprovestandardsofdeliveryforusersofthatservicewhoarerecastasits‘consumers’.Such‘modernisation’ofpublicservices,includingeducation,entailsareconceptualisationofsocialpracticesandrelationsfollowingthemodelofthecommercialsectoranditslogicofexchange-value.Iwouldthereforearguethatafocusontheroleofdiscoursecanenrichourunderstandingofsocialpolicy,bycapturingnotonlytheprocessesofinculcationandhegemoniccontrolintrinsictothereforms,butalsothecontradictionsinherentintherhetoricwhichconstitutetheintersticesaroundwhichcounter-hegemonicstrugglemaycoalesce.

2.NewLabourinContext

Initselectoralcampaignof1997,NewLabourplaced‘modernising’educationatthetopofitspolicypriorities.InpracticethishasinvolvedafurtherentrenchmentoftheThatcheritepoliciesofpriva