Session Information
23 SES 09 B, Education Policy Formation and Contestation
Paper Session
Contribution
This paper explores the extent to which Human Capital Theory has become embedded in European state education policy and the implications of such a development. The paper explicitly probes the effect of this in terms of how it has served to reshape current conceptualizations of state education and reformulate its scope and aims. This paper aims to identify the nature of this reformulation and the ways in which it marks a shift from previous and traditional conceptions of education, such as that of liberal humanism. As Human Capital Theory has a global reach, this phenomenon is identifiable across Europe and beyond.
The research study is informed by the thinking of two main theorists in its analysis of the chosen policy texts. It makes use of the work of Foucault (1984, 2002) in its critical stance and in its probing of the way in which the subject is framed in this policy discourse. Secondly, it makes use of the work of Fairclough (2003, 2005) in seeing the analysis of discourse as not simply an exercise in critical linguistics but as involving analysing relationships between the text and wider social practices.
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Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse. London: Routledge. Fairclough, N. (2005). Governance, partnership and participation: cooperation and conflict. Paper given at the Conference of the International Association for Dialogue Analysis, Bucharest, Romania. Foucault, M. (1984). What is enlightenment? In P. Rabinow (Ed.), The Foucault Reader (pp. 32–50). London: Penguin. Foucault, M. (2002). The ethics of the concern for self as a practice of freedom. In P. Rabinow (ed.) Michel Foucault Ethics. London: Penguin. Gillies, D. (in press). Economic goals, Quality discourse, and the narrowing of European state education. Education, Knowledge, and Economy. Olssen, M., Codd, J., & O’Neill, A-M. (2004). Education policy, globalization, citizenship, and democracy. London: Sage.
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