Pub Date : 2023-06-23DOI: 10.1177/14782103231186296
Bryan A. Mann, Jaclyn Dudek
Education policy scholars must consider spatial theories and related methodologies. Spatial theories encourage rich understandings of education policy because education and place are intimately connected. This article shows how scholars can use spatial imaginaries to enhance knowledge of place and education policy. We explain these connections in three ways. First, we outline theoretical concepts and analytical considerations of spatial imaginaries. Second, we provide examples of lines of inquiry related to spatial imaginaries and education policy. Third, we consider methodological techniques. Education policy is spatial policy, so building theory and methods about place and education policy is vital to the field.
{"title":"Education policy is spatial policy: Using spatial imaginaries to enhance education policy research","authors":"Bryan A. Mann, Jaclyn Dudek","doi":"10.1177/14782103231186296","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231186296","url":null,"abstract":"Education policy scholars must consider spatial theories and related methodologies. Spatial theories encourage rich understandings of education policy because education and place are intimately connected. This article shows how scholars can use spatial imaginaries to enhance knowledge of place and education policy. We explain these connections in three ways. First, we outline theoretical concepts and analytical considerations of spatial imaginaries. Second, we provide examples of lines of inquiry related to spatial imaginaries and education policy. Third, we consider methodological techniques. Education policy is spatial policy, so building theory and methods about place and education policy is vital to the field.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43584653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-23DOI: 10.1177/14782103231184930
Elham Yousefi Hamedani, Mohsen Taheri Demneh, Ahmadreza Nasr-Isfahani, Y. Abedini
In an increasingly complex and uncertain world of the future and aligned with the emergence of Society 5.0, exploring alternative futures of education and the curricula in terms of fulfilling the mission of education systems is necessary. Therefore, this study set out to do foresight for the primary school curriculum in Iran. The study was conducted using the scenario planning method, which resulted in four alternative scenarios. The first scenario, called “The Magic School Bus” represents “curriculum as a personal roadmap.” The second scenario, entitled “The Pursuit of Happyness” describes the “curriculum revival.” The third scenario, named “The Ice Age” represents the “curriculum collapse.” The fourth scenario, entitled “Dead Poets Society” narrates the situation of “curriculum in limbo.” The findings showed that innovation comes from agency of players rather than impeccable structures and requires a transformation in perspectives about the educational aims in the digital era, as well as an increase in the authority and empowerment of schools. A key policy priority should thus be developing practical ideas for reshaping the curriculum and producing prototypes of future-proof educational models.
{"title":"Educational futures: Alternative scenarios for the primary school curriculum","authors":"Elham Yousefi Hamedani, Mohsen Taheri Demneh, Ahmadreza Nasr-Isfahani, Y. Abedini","doi":"10.1177/14782103231184930","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231184930","url":null,"abstract":"In an increasingly complex and uncertain world of the future and aligned with the emergence of Society 5.0, exploring alternative futures of education and the curricula in terms of fulfilling the mission of education systems is necessary. Therefore, this study set out to do foresight for the primary school curriculum in Iran. The study was conducted using the scenario planning method, which resulted in four alternative scenarios. The first scenario, called “The Magic School Bus” represents “curriculum as a personal roadmap.” The second scenario, entitled “The Pursuit of Happyness” describes the “curriculum revival.” The third scenario, named “The Ice Age” represents the “curriculum collapse.” The fourth scenario, entitled “Dead Poets Society” narrates the situation of “curriculum in limbo.” The findings showed that innovation comes from agency of players rather than impeccable structures and requires a transformation in perspectives about the educational aims in the digital era, as well as an increase in the authority and empowerment of schools. A key policy priority should thus be developing practical ideas for reshaping the curriculum and producing prototypes of future-proof educational models.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45494844","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The aim of this paper is to explore how practical knowledge can enhance higher education and Bildung for the human service professions. The paper sheds light on how governance reforms such as New Public Management have influenced higher education, where we argue that scientific rationality has weakened the professional’s autonomy and responsibility. The paper is based on the three authors’ experiences as university teachers and researchers from three different fields, namely, nursing, social work, and special education. By using Foucault’s theory of the panoptic gaze, the analysis shows what is at stake in professional practice, education, and research and introduces perspectives from practical knowledge as a more functional understanding, highlighting 1) that subjective experiences are not being legitimized, 2) the inherent knowledge of practice, and 3) evidence and valid knowledge.
{"title":"Cause for concern? The value of practical knowledge in professional education","authors":"Kjersti Sunde Mæhre, Bente Isabell Borthne Hvitsten, Catrine Torbjørnsen Halås","doi":"10.1177/14782103231184653","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231184653","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this paper is to explore how practical knowledge can enhance higher education and Bildung for the human service professions. The paper sheds light on how governance reforms such as New Public Management have influenced higher education, where we argue that scientific rationality has weakened the professional’s autonomy and responsibility. The paper is based on the three authors’ experiences as university teachers and researchers from three different fields, namely, nursing, social work, and special education. By using Foucault’s theory of the panoptic gaze, the analysis shows what is at stake in professional practice, education, and research and introduces perspectives from practical knowledge as a more functional understanding, highlighting 1) that subjective experiences are not being legitimized, 2) the inherent knowledge of practice, and 3) evidence and valid knowledge.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44797992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-19DOI: 10.1177/14782103231183282
Darren Cogavin
This article considers how neoliberalism has created a reductionist view of lifelong learning in the UK focused on upskilling workers for the labour market. This critical policy analysis uses Marx’s theory of labour-power, as conceptualised by Glenn Rikowski, to examine the Skills and Post-16 Education Act, 2022 and to identify its ideological roots, its distribution of power, resources and knowledge, and the potential effect it will have on inequality. Findings indicate that while the Act aims to make it easier for adults to study more flexibly, not all adults will have the labour-power attributes and financial resources to access the higher-level qualifications prioritised for funding. This article argues that the Act represents a general deepening of neoliberalism in lifelong learning that will further stratify adult education and increase inequalities. This article concludes that policy has shifted from widening participation in lifelong learning linked to social enrichment and the development of democratic citizenship, to widening participation in higher levels of education and training aimed at enhancing labour-power for the capitalist labour market .
{"title":"Labour-power production and the skills agenda in lifelong learning: A critical policy analysis of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022","authors":"Darren Cogavin","doi":"10.1177/14782103231183282","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231183282","url":null,"abstract":"This article considers how neoliberalism has created a reductionist view of lifelong learning in the UK focused on upskilling workers for the labour market. This critical policy analysis uses Marx’s theory of labour-power, as conceptualised by Glenn Rikowski, to examine the Skills and Post-16 Education Act, 2022 and to identify its ideological roots, its distribution of power, resources and knowledge, and the potential effect it will have on inequality. Findings indicate that while the Act aims to make it easier for adults to study more flexibly, not all adults will have the labour-power attributes and financial resources to access the higher-level qualifications prioritised for funding. This article argues that the Act represents a general deepening of neoliberalism in lifelong learning that will further stratify adult education and increase inequalities. This article concludes that policy has shifted from widening participation in lifelong learning linked to social enrichment and the development of democratic citizenship, to widening participation in higher levels of education and training aimed at enhancing labour-power for the capitalist labour market .","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43833496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-16DOI: 10.1177/14782103231184657
Joshua Sarpong, T. Adelekan
In his writing in the mid-nineteenth century – The Idea of a University, John Henry Newman argues that the university provides a platform for human advancement through teaching and research. Over a century later, our public university now hedged on several social, political, ecological and economic factors that bully its traditional mission daily. More recently, neoliberalism – a key feature of globalisation, knowledge economy, environmental crises and other economic logic – continues to significantly shift universities’ missions in another direction by creating winners and losers. Drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives, such as the glonacal agency heuristic, global economic and social forces, and empirical data, this paper examines the implications of these changes for equity in education, highlighting how global and national market-oriented policies, practices and outcomes continue to add to the stratification of higher education. Although the benefits of this global phenomenon are enormous, we maintain that the disbenefits are dire and could contribute to the narrowing of universities’ traditional missions, increased academic managerialism, the death of academic collegiality, and uneven development and unhealthy competition among universities locally and globally if not carefully considered. We admit that competition will continue to transform universities because the pressures of globalisation, as seen in recent times, increasingly influence higher education systems. However, since universities still operate mainly in their national context, we believe national educational policies can focus on reducing competition with other universities and promoting equity. To cement this way of thinking in universities both nationally and globally, we must understand the critical role of leadership as well as get it right.
{"title":"Globalisation and education equity: The impact of neoliberalism on universities’ mission","authors":"Joshua Sarpong, T. Adelekan","doi":"10.1177/14782103231184657","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231184657","url":null,"abstract":"In his writing in the mid-nineteenth century – The Idea of a University, John Henry Newman argues that the university provides a platform for human advancement through teaching and research. Over a century later, our public university now hedged on several social, political, ecological and economic factors that bully its traditional mission daily. More recently, neoliberalism – a key feature of globalisation, knowledge economy, environmental crises and other economic logic – continues to significantly shift universities’ missions in another direction by creating winners and losers. Drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives, such as the glonacal agency heuristic, global economic and social forces, and empirical data, this paper examines the implications of these changes for equity in education, highlighting how global and national market-oriented policies, practices and outcomes continue to add to the stratification of higher education. Although the benefits of this global phenomenon are enormous, we maintain that the disbenefits are dire and could contribute to the narrowing of universities’ traditional missions, increased academic managerialism, the death of academic collegiality, and uneven development and unhealthy competition among universities locally and globally if not carefully considered. We admit that competition will continue to transform universities because the pressures of globalisation, as seen in recent times, increasingly influence higher education systems. However, since universities still operate mainly in their national context, we believe national educational policies can focus on reducing competition with other universities and promoting equity. To cement this way of thinking in universities both nationally and globally, we must understand the critical role of leadership as well as get it right.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45720791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-16DOI: 10.1177/14782103231184103
Sonal Nakar
Literature has highlighted the importance of having a reasonable adjustment approach as a measure of social justice to provide inclusive education for all students. However, the growing globalisation and commercialisation of vocational education and training has tended to encourage provider organisations to use more flexible reasonable adjustments to attract and retain more students in this domain. The framework of this new reasonable adjustment approach expands on the previous reasonable management approach provided to facilitate disadvantaged students. By introducing innovative and flexible teaching and assessment, this notion of reasonable adjustment now incorporates market-like efforts to secure more income in the form of fees from students. However, there remains unanswered the question of how flexible the reasonable adjustment should be. This paper questions whether achieving a more diverse student population has delivered anything of value to the students who are making up that greater diversity. Perhaps the notion of reasonableness has been applied with too narrow a focus on a reasonable diversity of student entry characteristics, rather than also embracing their learning attainment and subsequent workplace success. Reasonable adjustment may well be a way forward, but perhaps more attention needs to be paid to the concept of reasonableness before that can happen.
{"title":"Reasonable adjustment: Is it a way forward to manage diversity and equity issues in vocational education and training?","authors":"Sonal Nakar","doi":"10.1177/14782103231184103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231184103","url":null,"abstract":"Literature has highlighted the importance of having a reasonable adjustment approach as a measure of social justice to provide inclusive education for all students. However, the growing globalisation and commercialisation of vocational education and training has tended to encourage provider organisations to use more flexible reasonable adjustments to attract and retain more students in this domain. The framework of this new reasonable adjustment approach expands on the previous reasonable management approach provided to facilitate disadvantaged students. By introducing innovative and flexible teaching and assessment, this notion of reasonable adjustment now incorporates market-like efforts to secure more income in the form of fees from students. However, there remains unanswered the question of how flexible the reasonable adjustment should be. This paper questions whether achieving a more diverse student population has delivered anything of value to the students who are making up that greater diversity. Perhaps the notion of reasonableness has been applied with too narrow a focus on a reasonable diversity of student entry characteristics, rather than also embracing their learning attainment and subsequent workplace success. Reasonable adjustment may well be a way forward, but perhaps more attention needs to be paid to the concept of reasonableness before that can happen.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45980199","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-15DOI: 10.1177/14782103231183485
Julie Flapan, J. Knudson, Candice Handjojo, Ashley Sunde, Roxana Hadad
The Computer Science (CS) for All national movement is increasingly relying on state-level change to broaden participation in computing. To foster an environment in which all students have opportunities to thrive in CS education, policy action is necessary to help create the learning conditions for success. CS education in California has grown substantially in the last decade, yet opportunity gaps remain for young women and Black, Latinx, and Native American students. Early grassroots efforts to advance equity in computing evolved into the Computer Science for California coalition of K–16 educators, industry leaders, and other equity advocates to promote the growth of equity-minded teaching and learning opportunities in K–12 CS education. New policies at the state level reflect an increasing commitment among Sacramento policymakers to expand CS education. Yet troubling disparities in CS access and success continue to exist between traditionally advantaged students and their historically underserved peers. By drawing on interviews with 20 individuals involved in CS education policy, this study illuminates the contributing factors to recent policy successes and considerations for achieving further progress. Interviewees described the importance of tapping into the values of influential decision makers, educating policymakers about the benefits of CS education, and identifying the problems and solutions that require policy attention. To build the capacity of key policy actors in making informed decisions, this research demonstrates the continued value of providing useful information, developing relationships with policymakers, and creating resources that are easy to consume and understand. The interviews also suggest that attention to funding, disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, equity, and ongoing stakeholder support will shape prospects for CS education policy success moving forward.
{"title":"Power surge: How a multistakeholder coalition promotes equity in computer science education policy","authors":"Julie Flapan, J. Knudson, Candice Handjojo, Ashley Sunde, Roxana Hadad","doi":"10.1177/14782103231183485","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231183485","url":null,"abstract":"The Computer Science (CS) for All national movement is increasingly relying on state-level change to broaden participation in computing. To foster an environment in which all students have opportunities to thrive in CS education, policy action is necessary to help create the learning conditions for success. CS education in California has grown substantially in the last decade, yet opportunity gaps remain for young women and Black, Latinx, and Native American students. Early grassroots efforts to advance equity in computing evolved into the Computer Science for California coalition of K–16 educators, industry leaders, and other equity advocates to promote the growth of equity-minded teaching and learning opportunities in K–12 CS education. New policies at the state level reflect an increasing commitment among Sacramento policymakers to expand CS education. Yet troubling disparities in CS access and success continue to exist between traditionally advantaged students and their historically underserved peers. By drawing on interviews with 20 individuals involved in CS education policy, this study illuminates the contributing factors to recent policy successes and considerations for achieving further progress. Interviewees described the importance of tapping into the values of influential decision makers, educating policymakers about the benefits of CS education, and identifying the problems and solutions that require policy attention. To build the capacity of key policy actors in making informed decisions, this research demonstrates the continued value of providing useful information, developing relationships with policymakers, and creating resources that are easy to consume and understand. The interviews also suggest that attention to funding, disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, equity, and ongoing stakeholder support will shape prospects for CS education policy success moving forward.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42094253","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-15DOI: 10.1177/14782103231178069
Rafi Santo, Leigh Ann Delyser, June Ahn
While a small number of school districts across the United States are well into the process of implementing system-wide computer science education (CSed), most districts are only just getting started. But what does it look like to “get started” on CSed for a whole district? This manuscript presents a single case study of a district’s process of initiating their CS instructional initiative, highlighting a distinct set of instructional leadership practices and the institutional conditions they were responding to. Early implementation research around CSed shows that in some districts, leadership practices are less often the focus of early activities. This study sheds light on what such leadership practices can look like in the early stages of a district’s CSed initiative. Our analysis, based on qualitative data collected longitudinally over 18 months of the district’s work, identified eight intertwined leadership practices that aimed to support instructional coherence, and in our findings, we share a narrative of the district’s initiation of its CS initiative around them. The case begins with the (1) initial leadership team formation and details how that team engaged in (2) content-specific instructional capacity building for its members and (3) sensemaking of ideas around CS with their relationship to existing district activities. It moves on to the team’s (4) development of an instructional vision and an (5) associated implementation strategy, which fed into processes of (6) sensegiving to foster buy-in among teachers, and providing encouragement to engage in (7) instructional piloting. Finally, leaders engaged in (8) landscape analysis activities in order to understand existing district resources and teacher perceptions related to CS. Throughout the case, we highlight the motivations behind these practices, what resources they drew on, intersections, and dependencies among them. We close our analysis exploring a number of tensions and unintended consequences associated with these leadership activities.
{"title":"Booting the system: Leadership practices for initiating and infrastructuring district-wide computer science instructional programs","authors":"Rafi Santo, Leigh Ann Delyser, June Ahn","doi":"10.1177/14782103231178069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231178069","url":null,"abstract":"While a small number of school districts across the United States are well into the process of implementing system-wide computer science education (CSed), most districts are only just getting started. But what does it look like to “get started” on CSed for a whole district? This manuscript presents a single case study of a district’s process of initiating their CS instructional initiative, highlighting a distinct set of instructional leadership practices and the institutional conditions they were responding to. Early implementation research around CSed shows that in some districts, leadership practices are less often the focus of early activities. This study sheds light on what such leadership practices can look like in the early stages of a district’s CSed initiative. Our analysis, based on qualitative data collected longitudinally over 18 months of the district’s work, identified eight intertwined leadership practices that aimed to support instructional coherence, and in our findings, we share a narrative of the district’s initiation of its CS initiative around them. The case begins with the (1) initial leadership team formation and details how that team engaged in (2) content-specific instructional capacity building for its members and (3) sensemaking of ideas around CS with their relationship to existing district activities. It moves on to the team’s (4) development of an instructional vision and an (5) associated implementation strategy, which fed into processes of (6) sensegiving to foster buy-in among teachers, and providing encouragement to engage in (7) instructional piloting. Finally, leaders engaged in (8) landscape analysis activities in order to understand existing district resources and teacher perceptions related to CS. Throughout the case, we highlight the motivations behind these practices, what resources they drew on, intersections, and dependencies among them. We close our analysis exploring a number of tensions and unintended consequences associated with these leadership activities.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45660294","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-13DOI: 10.1177/14782103231184306
Boris Vezjak
Slogans in education are designed to promote educational goals. One of the finest remarkable examples in Slovenian history demonstrates that political slogans can sometimes cover a whole range of social areas and operate as a central ideologeme, through which a very specific political and educational ambition was promoted in an otherwise inarticulate way. The concept of relaxedness (in Slovenian sproščenost), taken from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and his notion of Die Gelassenheit (releasement), after the victory of the right-wing SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party) party in 2004 is perhaps one of the best illustrations in Slovenian politics of how an ideology, in this case a philosophically inspired one, operated already through the slogan and, above all, through its semantically ambiguous and undefined content. The sproščenost of the Slovenian school, as it was named, became a motto for political change within the educational system as well, where the very essence of it manifested through complete vagueness or, in other words, openness to meaning. In line with the uncommon slogan ‘Za sproščeno Slovenijo’ (‘For a relaxed Slovenia’) the SDS, as the leading opposition party in Slovenian history, not only won the elections for the first time, but also tried to completely transform the social and political space in the country. The Slovenian example shows how a unique political slogan can occupy the whole social field, including education, with its effects, thus creating a specific political and at the same time educational moment in its social action.
{"title":"Philosophy, hidden in slogans: The case of relaxedness of Slovenian educational system","authors":"Boris Vezjak","doi":"10.1177/14782103231184306","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14782103231184306","url":null,"abstract":"Slogans in education are designed to promote educational goals. One of the finest remarkable examples in Slovenian history demonstrates that political slogans can sometimes cover a whole range of social areas and operate as a central ideologeme, through which a very specific political and educational ambition was promoted in an otherwise inarticulate way. The concept of relaxedness (in Slovenian sproščenost), taken from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger and his notion of Die Gelassenheit (releasement), after the victory of the right-wing SDS (Slovenian Democratic Party) party in 2004 is perhaps one of the best illustrations in Slovenian politics of how an ideology, in this case a philosophically inspired one, operated already through the slogan and, above all, through its semantically ambiguous and undefined content. The sproščenost of the Slovenian school, as it was named, became a motto for political change within the educational system as well, where the very essence of it manifested through complete vagueness or, in other words, openness to meaning. In line with the uncommon slogan ‘Za sproščeno Slovenijo’ (‘For a relaxed Slovenia’) the SDS, as the leading opposition party in Slovenian history, not only won the elections for the first time, but also tried to completely transform the social and political space in the country. The Slovenian example shows how a unique political slogan can occupy the whole social field, including education, with its effects, thus creating a specific political and at the same time educational moment in its social action.","PeriodicalId":46984,"journal":{"name":"Policy Futures in Education","volume":"21 1","pages":"790 - 799"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2023-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46593867","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-12DOI: 10.1177/14782103231181617
T. Hall, M. Millar, Connie O’Regan
Futures research is gaining increased prominence in educational research and development ( Tesar, 2021 ), and particularly now as we emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has provided a lever for change and an opportunity for innovation in learning, teaching and assessment ( Hall et al., 2020 ; Jandrić et al., 2022 ; Tesar, 2020 ). Designing Futures (DF) is an initiative that aims to transform the student learning experience at university, including through promoting student entrepreneurship and enhanced interaction with enterprise, industry and the innovation sector, supported by a national employability policy agenda, and concomitant, significant government funding. Ireland’s Higher Education Authority has invested €7.57 m in the DF programme at University of Galway for a period of 5 years, 2020–2025. However, introducing such a programme as DF within higher education raises problematic tensions around the purpose of higher education today, as set amidst the current policy futures perspective. Specifically, how do we balance policy imperatives to work more closely with enterprise and industry, while at the same time protecting the essential role of higher education, which must be to provide a formative context for all students to reach their fullest potential as active citizens? This paper helps to position the concept of student engagement, taking DF as an exemplar initiative, and examining the concept as it is construed and deployed in an innovative, futures-oriented educational programme. This review is critical for DF, to ensure we remain fundamentally focused on education, and not just for the world of work, which is of course important, but beyond enterprise and industry: to ensure students’ readiness for the complex and challenging world of today and tomorrow. Furthermore, this constitutes an important contribution to the literature, at a time when the identity of the university and purpose of higher education are the focus of an educationally problematic neoliberal agenda ( Mintz, 2021 ).
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