Theory and texts of educational policy: Possibilities and constraints

Abstract

In our paper we aim at reflecting upon the extent to which educational theory may be used as a framework in the analysis of policy documents. As policy texts are ‘heteroglossic in character’ (Lingard and Ozga, in The Routledge Falmer reader in education policy and politics, Routledge, London and New York, 2007, p. 2) and create ‘‘circumstances in which the range of options available in deciding what to do are narrowed or changed’’ (Ball in, Education policy and social class: The selected works of Stephen J Ball, Routledge, London and New York, 2006, p. 46), they need to be theoretically tackled in their underlying assumptions and implications. This proposal draws on an analysis of two sets of documents of the European Union: texts produced between 2000 and 2006, underlying the European Union programmes; and texts produced by a working group focusing on the key competences of Lifelong Learning (2003–2006). Initially, the framework for the analysis of different documents was grounded on the existing research in the field of educational policy. Now we attempt a secondary analysis of the collected data by transposing the borders of this particular and highly prolific field. We argue that what is outside the texts may reshape what is inside the texts. Educational theory allows us to define some conceptual tools in order to question the documents as political apparatus which open and constrain possibilities. Therefore, we will use educational theory as an arena where different matters, perspectives and possibilities may be explored and assembled. We have engaged in a conversation with both the data and some theoretical approaches. Central to this conversation are the concepts of ‘‘ignorant schoolmaster’’ (Rancie`re, in The ignorant schoolmaster five lessons in intellectual emancipation, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1991), ‘‘learning contexts’’ (Edwards, in Rethinking contexts for learning and teaching, Routledge, Oxon and New York, 2009a, b), and ‘‘experience’’