“Those in the know”: primary school literacy as a corporate field of knowledge?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Using our re-readings of Margaret Meek Spencer’s work and career, we connect her scholarship to our mapping of contemporary changes in knowledge and our investigations of so-called “knowers”: those mobilising knowledge to underpin and control professionals’ enactment of policy in primary school literacy. Working from the theoretical resources of Basil Bernstein, we develop an analysis of these knowers’ production of knowledge, navigating from his conceptualisations of “official” and “pedagogical” fields into what we define as a “corporate” field of knowledge. Presenting data from our research into two groups - (i) commercial consultants, retailing policy solutions to professionals; and (ii) a Chief Executive officer and leaders within multi-academy trusts - we argue that working in a corporate field, these knowers have influence on professionals’ knowledge and positioning. We draw out speculative implications for readers of this journal concerning potential contributions to resistance as well as developing a reflexive approach to our own work.