Nafsika Alexiadou

Social Inclusion and Social Exclusion in England: Tensions in Education Policy.

Social exclusion is a key policy theme for the New Labour government, and has been closely associated with education policy. The emphasis is on the need to combat social exclusion by creating a globally competitive economy through the education system, and through responsible individual attitudes. However, this dominant discourse is interpreted differently at various levels of policy making that provide alternative conceptualizations of the problem, and suggest different roles for education. This paper draws upon a research project that explored the links between education governance and social exclusion, and seeks to illustrate different approaches to social exclusion and education, as these are articulated by politicians and civil servants involved in policy making, or policy implementation in England.

Policy learning and governance of education policy in the EU

Open methods for coordinating (OMC) education policies in the EU rely on a number of techniques, one of which is policy learning. This article examines how policy learning and governance transform each other. More specifically, policy‐learning in the education OMC becomes differentiated into four distinct learning styles: mutual, competitive, surface and imperialistic learning. While they overlap with some forms of policy learning discussed in the literature, they are also different by focusing upon interactions and political dynamics between the European Commission and the member states. In seeking to understand how governing through learning occurs, we argue that any ‘impact’ of EU‐level policy‐learning is co‐constructed by both the European Commission and the member states. The analysis of this article is grounded in a discourse analytical and institutionalist perspective. It draws on qualitative data derived from semi‐structured interviews with officials from the Directorate General for Education and Culture in the European Commission and on EU documents generated during policy‐learning activities.

The Europeanisation of Education Policy: Researching Changing Governance and ‘New’ Modes of Coordination:

This article explores how the European Union coordinates education policy making through the use of a mode of governance called the open method of coordination (OMC). Part One briefly presents and discusses the mechanisms of the education OMC and its key characteristics. Part Two draws on contemporary theories of Europeanisation and discourse analysis to provide a theoretical and methodological framework for researching the response of member states to this policy coordination. Member states of the European Union are not seen as passive recipients of policies from the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. Rather they engage in a complex process of selective adoption of policy measures that suit particular purposes, formulate various aspects of policy often in tension with other member states, and possibly reject those elements of policy that do not fit national priorities or timelines. Finally, the author briefly exemplifies these issues by operationalising key research questions around the issue of domestic response to the education OMC through a suggested research approach for the exploration of the process of Europeanisation of education policy.

Researching policy implementation: interview data analysis in institutional contexts

In this paper I am concerned with the analysis of semi-structured interview data that emerge from an inquiry rooted in institutional environments. The examples of data used to illustrate the procedures of analysis come from research carried out in Further Education Colleges in England, The focus is on individual actors (managers and teachers), mediating change within organizations. This focus provides scope for the exploration of social manifestations of political action, A number of epistemological questions arise with respect to the data and the nature of knowledge that is accessible through their analysis. The paper is practically oriented in that it presents an example of data analysis as part of researching the implementation of policy at the level of institutions, and the enactment of such a policy by individuals. The consideration of different traditions underpinning research and specific methodological techniques for data analysis has resulted in identification of a set of theoretically informed procedures that provide a framework for de-constructing, interpreting, and synthesizing interview data into accounts of policy implementation in the field. These procedures are presented and exemplified, while the theoretical assumptions underlying them and their implications for further research are discussed.

Education Policy Convergence through the Open Method of Coordination: Theoretical Reflections and Implementation in ‘old’ and ‘new’ National Contexts

This article addresses two key questions about the convergence of education policies in the European Union (EU). How does the open method of coordination (OMC), a new governance instrument for the Europeanisation of education policies, change existing national education policy making and how can the OMC and national responses to it be researched? The authors argue that the OMC brings to national policy making a particular set of ideas about education, such as an emphasis on the contribution of education to building competitive economies and a new public management approach. The authors further suggest that the significance of such policy ideas in national education policy making can be best analysed through a combination of sociological institutionalism and discourse analysis. Hence, ‘implementation’ of EU education measures — which have been developed through policy learning — should be understood as a combination of a ‘bottom-up’ and ‘top-down’ policy-making process that links EU and national levels. Finally, the article suggests — on the basis of a preliminary exploration of the implementation of education OMC measures in the United Kingdom and Slovenia — that education OMC policy ideas resonate to varying degrees in ‘old’ and ‘new’ member states.

Modernising Education Governance in England and Scotland: devolution and control

This article considers the impact of the neo-liberal agenda for modernising the government of education in two of the United Kingdoms education systems: England and Scotland. The article looks at differences between England and Scotland in the context of devolved education governance and concludes that there are significant and possibly ongoing differences in the ‘local’ interpretation of New Labours modernisation project.

Social exclusion, and educational opportunity : The case of British education policies within a European Union context

This paper first examines the New Labour governments redefinition of equality of opportunity in Britain, mainly with regard to education and the ways in which it mediates ‘opportunity’. In doing so, it also draws on wider social policy issues, such as the use of education policies to combat social exclusion. Second, the paper reviews European Union policies and selected documents that address questions of social inclusion, social cohesion and the role of education in achieving those policy goals. The main argument is that both New Labour policies in Britain and the examined EU documents promote rather minimal understandings of the term ‘equality of opportunity’, while, education, in both cases, is given an enormous burden to carry in balancing increasingly liberalised market‐driven economies, with the requirements of a socially just society.This paper first examines the New Labour governments redefinition of equality of opportunity in Britain, mainly with regard to education and the ways in which it mediates ‘opportunity’. In doing so, it also draws on wider social policy issues, such as the use of education policies to combat social exclusion. Second, the paper reviews European Union policies and selected documents that address questions of social inclusion, social cohesion and the role of education in achieving those policy goals. The main argument is that both New Labour policies in Britain and the examined EU documents promote rather minimal understandings of the term ‘equality of opportunity’, while, education, in both cases, is given an enormous burden to carry in balancing increasingly liberalised market‐driven economies, with the requirements of a socially just society.

Managing Inclusion in Competitive School Systems: The Cases of Sweden and England.

The last 40 years have seen great political attention paid to issues of inclusion in education, both from international organisations and also individual nations. This flexible concept has been adopted enthusiastically in education reforms concerned with increased standardisation of teaching and learning, decentralisation of education management, reduced teacher autonomy and marketisation of school systems. This paper draws from a research project that explores inclusion as part of the education transformations in England and Sweden. These two countries have been very different in their state governance and welfare regimes, but have been following similar directions of reform in their education systems. The paper evaluates the changing policy assumptions and values in relation to inclusion in the schooling changes of the last few decades, through an analysis of policy contexts and processes, and a presentation of selected empirical material from research in the two countries. We argue that, despite the similar dominant discourses of competition and marketisation, the two education systems draw on significantly different paradigms of operationalising inclusion, with distinct outcomes regarding equality.

Deflecting European Union Influence on National Education Policy-Making: The Case of the United Kingdom

Abstract This article examines how education policies developed in the European Union (EU) through the open method of co-ordination (OMC) are received at the member state level of the United Kingdom (UK). We argue that the UK’s response to the education OMC can be understood mainly in terms of deflecting EU influence on the process and content of national education policy-making. We focus on three manifestations of deflecting EU influence on national education policies. On a level of institutional structures, first, few organizational resources are made available for responding to the education OMC. Second, there is limited communication between domestic policy teams and UK civil servants involved in international work. Third, on a level of discourse UK education policy-makers have retained a commitment to the continued sovereignty of the UK over education policy and its role as a potential leader of education policy agendas in the EU. Deflecting the education OMC involves here constructing images of ‘fit’ between UK and EU OMC education policies.

Policy Space and the Governance of Education: Transnational Influences on Institutions and Identities in the Netherlands and the UK.

This article presents a comparative analysis of two country-specific cases. The comparative analysis is situated within the broad domain of the changing knowledge economy landscape for educational policy. The two cases examine the transfer, embedding and enactment of policies during the interactions between supranational, national, institutional and individual levels. Case study one concerns policy transfers and their mediation between the EU and the national levels, drawing from empirical research on the UK. Case study two explores the experience and interpretation of higher education mobility practices from the point of view of individual mobile academics located in, or connected to, the Dutch frameworks of higher education. We employ the concept of space to illuminate the effects on education policy and practice of the changing relationships between the national and inter-, supranational levels of discourse and practice. Our central thesis is that even though EU member states have lost sovereign power over defining education goals and outcomes, hindering dynamics remain. The extent to which policies and discourses from ‘outside’ the national level are integrated and adopted ‘within’ depends on the interaction between education–political discourses with existing institutionalised practices. In the case of the EU education policies we observe a weak form of policy transfer to the national level. In the UK there is a combination of a dense institutional field in education and a Eurosceptic political discourse. In the Dutch case of individual academics, on the other hand, we found a positive discourse around international academic mobility. A moderately adapted set of regulatory frameworks and emerging support structures facilitate to varying degrees the Dutch practice of academic mobility.