{"title":"Informality as a resource: A systems-theoretical take on the open method of coordination in education","authors":"Vivien Gain","doi":"10.1177/14749041231168952","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041231168952","url":null,"abstract":"Several authors have underlined that processes of Europeanisation of education emerge despite the European Union’s lack of formal power in this area. This article argues on the contrary that its lack of power precisely enables the EU to open up a range of possibilities for its involvement in this sector, among which the ET2020 Working Groups (WG) of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). Based on observations of WG meetings and interviews with key actors, and using Niklas Luhmann’s systems-theory, we aim to show how the distance separating the ET2020 WG from the formal circuits of European decision-making acts as a resource for the development of a European discourse on education. Alongside the ordinary legislative procedure based on voting and implementing collectively binding decisions, the alternative political circuit of the OMC is based on the irritation of a set of education sector stakeholders through the creation and dissemination of reports of ‘good practices’. In doing so, the ET2020 Working Groups illustrate how politics transforms itself and redefines its boundaries when it is structured at the European level rather than at the level of the nation-state.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49194948","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Potentialising the potential: Dream of everything you can become, and become everything you dream of","authors":"N. Andersen, H. Knudsen, Jette Sandager","doi":"10.1177/14749041231167063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041231167063","url":null,"abstract":"In education, the child is often observed as a potential to be shaped and realised. In this article, we analyse the educational program, First Lego League. Surprisingly, its aim is not simply to realise a potential, but to potentialise the child to become unlimited potential. Children should become ‘a force for change’, and they are told that ‘you can be anything, just do it!’. To implement this program, First Lego League develops a transition medium that consists of non-representative, presentational symbols such as play, fun, innovation, dance and discovery. Such a program does not come without costs. Our analysis reveals how negativity is negated, knowledge is devalued and the children’s selfnarratives are decoupled. This could result in children being confronted with paradoxical demands, which are difficult to navigate. Analytically, the article draws on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory and in particular his concepts of form and medium.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49017669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Resisting Europeanisation: Poland’s education policy and its impact on the European Education Area","authors":"Gosia Klatt","doi":"10.1177/14749041231155219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041231155219","url":null,"abstract":"Since the 2004 accession to the European Union (EU), Poland, like many other post-communist countries, have gone through a significant process of convergence to the EU institutions, laws and processes. In this process, the European values, policies and institutions have become an important reference point for the legitimacy of major national system reforms. In education, there have been a significant number of reforms aligned with ‘European standards’ as integration with the EU was seen as a priority for Poland’s national interest. This paper is interested in the changing policy discourses that have been defining and legitimising Poland’s education policy objectives, with a particular attention given to the idea of ‘quality education’ and the role of education. In this way, it is also interested in the processes of Europeanisation and de-Europeanisation – turning away from ‘EU-isation’ of policies. The emerging picture from the analysis illustrates the tensions between the neoliberal and populist policy discourses pursued by a variety of Polish governments, including significant policy shifts under the government of the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) (Law and Justice) coalition.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42258652","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Choosing (not) to be a chemistry teacher: Students’ negotiations of science identities at a research-intensive university","authors":"Katia Bill Nielsen, L. Madsen","doi":"10.1177/14749041231157919","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041231157919","url":null,"abstract":"This paper explores how the culture within a Danish university study programme affects students’ aspirations of becoming a high school chemistry teacher. We draw on ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews to describe and analyse the culture of the programme. In the analysis we foreground the case of two students to understand their identity negotiations and changes in their teacher aspirations over time. By combining a ‘domains-of-power framework’ with the concept of ‘science identity’, we show how everyday practices formed a culture of power that positioned research in the centre and teaching as a less attractive career path. By unfolding the subtle mechanisms that together form a culture of power, which works both to include and exclude, we show the ways in which the two student’s aspirations for becoming high school chemistry teachers somewhat diminished over time. The study concludes that negotiating a science identity at a research-intensive university programme, makes it almost impossible to develop and keep an aspiration for becoming a high school teacher. To address the current and future shortage of science teachers across Europe, our findings underline the need for a more inclusive culture at the university to support science students’ diverse aspirations.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42414618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The politics of language: The case of national examinations in English in Russia","authors":"Nelli Piattoeva, Valeriia Smirnova, Íris Santos","doi":"10.1177/14749041231156039","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041231156039","url":null,"abstract":"This article analyses discussions in the Russian media of the proposal to introduce the Unified State Exam (USE) in English as a mandatory test in the last year of (high) school education 2010s. The decision not to implement the mandatory USE in English was taken in August 2020. In the aftermath of the decision, we investigate the decade-long media debates. Building methodologically on frame analysis, we examine the frames used in the online media to present the pros and cons of English testing, and the qualitative modifications of these frames over time. We argue that media coverage of English as a compulsory test parallelled changes in the politics of nation-building and language policies. First it reflected the idea of Russia as a global economic actor, striving to reap the benefits of a global economy, and framed the acquisition of English as part of the global economic and political community. However, as the state’s prerogatives changed, English began to be discussed as a threat to national unity, national security and the mastery of Russian. Moreover, the ‘national’ became associated, with separation from the rest of the world and its perceived threat.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":"22 1","pages":"666 - 682"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45924240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Leonor Bettencourt, Francisco Simões, B. Fernandes, J. Fonseca
{"title":"Designing vocational training policies in an outermost European region: Highlights from a participatory process","authors":"Leonor Bettencourt, Francisco Simões, B. Fernandes, J. Fonseca","doi":"10.1177/14749041231157445","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041231157445","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a systematic framework of the most needed Vocational Education and Training (VET) reforms in The Azores, a Portuguese outermost region. Our report is based on a participatory research approach involving the perspectives of five different groups of stakeholders. Our data was collected in 18 virtual world-café sessions ( n = 164 participants—58 trainees; 21 trainers; 42 institutional representatives; 21 unemployed people registered at local public employment agencies; and 22 businesspersons; M age = 45.20; 60.37 women). Based on content analysis, we identified three main priorities to restructure vocational training policies: (a) VET perception and valorization, comprising strategies to disseminate a more positive social representation of VET in the region; (b) horizontal coordination between stakeholders, including effective ways of coordinating and sharing information; and (c) vertical coordination in terms of VET improvements of curricula, funding models, and investments in the sector’s human capital. Our correspondence analysis did not show significant differences regarding the prevalence of the three priorities across the five groups of stakeholders. We interpret and contextualize our results according to relevant publicly available data about the region, and an integrated governance lens to inform policy design in outermost territories.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47297461","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Europeanisation in Teacher Education: A Comparative Case Study of Teacher Education Policies and Practices, Review essay","authors":"Ece Cihan Ertem","doi":"10.1177/14749041231158165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041231158165","url":null,"abstract":"This essay is a review on the book titled Europeanisation in Teacher Education: A Comparative Case Study of Teacher Education Policies and Practices, by Vasileios Symeonidis, which is a valuable contribution to the field of international and comparative education investigating the interaction between local and general, in this sense “European” trajectories in teacher education.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":"22 1","pages":"870 - 873"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41545371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Two instruments, one melody: The parallel evolvement of European and German alliances for apprenticeships","authors":"Judith Rohde-Liebenau, L. Gráf","doi":"10.1177/14749041221148282","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041221148282","url":null,"abstract":"European education and training policies have gained momentum with the debt crisis and soaring youth unemployment. In 2013, the ‘European Alliance for Apprenticeships’ was launched. In Germany, a role model for apprenticeship training in Europe, a national ‘Alliance for Initial and Further Training’ was signed just one year later. Both Alliances represent a new, experimentalist governance mode, in which a novel steering entity orchestrates stakeholder cooperation. What explains the parallel evolvement of alliances for apprenticeships in Germany and at the EU level? Studying developments around the Alliances in the last two decades, we trace and critically discuss four theorised drivers: (1) German-driven VET governance reforms with a strong influence of German best practices, (2) EU-driven cooperation that influences German VET policies, (3) cross-fertilising reforms and (4) externally driven, parallel reforms in response to governance mega-challenges. Our analysis supports a prevalence of the fourth driver: increasingly complex policy problems push both the EU and Germany to implement policy innovations such as the Alliances for apprenticeship training. In an experimentalist setting that often entails a governance by (seemingly neutral) numbers, benchmarking and learning, this also gives leeway to Germany to present itself as a pioneer of the EU’s focus on dual training.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-02-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49367640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Has Peak PISA passed? An investigation of interest in International Large-Scale Assessments across countries and over time","authors":"John Jerrim","doi":"10.1177/14749041231151793","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041231151793","url":null,"abstract":"International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have had significant impact on education policy across the globe. But has interest in ILSAs now started to wane? This paper presents new evidence on this issue, exploring how the amount of attention three major ILSAs receive compares across countries, between studies and over time. Using information on Google searches made for ILSAs over time, we illustrate how results from TIMSS and PIRLS results receive significantly less attention than those from PISA. Globally, interest in ILSAs seems to have peaked in 2012 and has been on the decline since. There is however substantial cross-country variation, with increasing interest in some countries over the last decade (e.g. Sweden, Turkey) offsetting some of the fall in others (e.g. Japan, German). Moreover, while changes in scores seem to be related to the attention that ILSAs receive, other factors – including their current position in political and policy narratives – are also likely at play.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47339503","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Candido Helena Hinke Dobrochinski, Piia Seppänen, M. Thrupp
{"title":"Business as the new doxa in education? An analysis of edu-business events in Finland","authors":"Candido Helena Hinke Dobrochinski, Piia Seppänen, M. Thrupp","doi":"10.1177/14749041221140169","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/14749041221140169","url":null,"abstract":"The trend towards seeing education as a commodity and part of a global industry has transformed the field of education. We argue that these transformations are reducing the autonomy of the field of education as it has incorporated business rhetoric, logic and practice. We examine this through an analysis of discursive formations manifested in two major international edu-business events in Finland – Dare to Learn and XcitED. The performativity existing in these events, combining actions and interactions, objective and subjective elements and materialized and symbolic interests and outcomes, enables convergences between business and education. In Finland, where education is overwhelmingly public, there is a subtle marketization, increasingly integrating business rationales and attitudes in education. We employed event ethnography and discourse analysis to examine points of diffraction between education and business. A transversal movement between the field of education and the field of business is enabled by symbolic power. Dare to Learn and XcitED discursive formations reveal the penetration of business in education, which reframes the field of education and fosters the global education industry in Finland and abroad, challenging notions and practices of democracy and citizenship in education.","PeriodicalId":47336,"journal":{"name":"European Educational Research Journal","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2023-02-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43667160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}