Fantasies of Empowerment: Mapping Neoliberal Discourse in the Coalition Government's Schools Policy

Autor/in	Wright, Adam
Titel	Fantasies of Empowerment: Mapping Neoliberal Discourse in the Coalition Government's Schools Policy
Quelle	In: Journal of Education Policy, 27 (2012) 3, S.279-294 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0268-0939
DOI	10.1080/02680939.2011.607516
Schlagwörter	Neoliberalism; Empowerment; Discourse Analysis; Educational Change; Social Problems; School Restructuring; Fantasy; Self Esteem; Political Attitudes; Educational Policy; Ideology; Commercialization; Parent Role; Teacher Role; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Neo-liberalism; Neoliberalismus; Diskursanalyse; Bildungsreform; Social problem; Soziales Problem; Schulreformplan; Schulumwandlung; Fantasie; Self-esteem; Selbstaufmerksamkeit; Political attitude; Politische Einstellung; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Ideologie; Parental role; Elternrolle; Lehrerrolle; Großbritannien
Abstract	The swift nature of school reform enacted by the new Conservative-led coalition government has sparked debate over the future of state education in Britain. While the government rhetoric suggests a decisive break with past policies, there is evidence to suggest that these reforms constitute the next stage of a long revolution in education reform, centred around neoliberal market discourse. In the following paper, I examine the current government's education policy discourse and, by employing techniques of post-structuralist discourse analysis, reveal the government's attempts to rearticulate education around the logics of market, responsibilisation and self-esteem, which act to shift responsibility for social problems from the state to the individual. Furthermore, I shall argue that such rearticulation has been coupled with an ideological fantasy of "empowerment", which conceals the subordination of actors to these neoliberal logics by constituting the parent and, more recently, the teacher as powerful actors who have been freed from legal and bureaucratic constraints forced upon them by central government. (Contains 1 note.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10