Is Anyone Listening? Educational Policy Perspectives on the Social Foundations of Education

Abstract

This article examines to what extent, if any, educational policy documents cite or support the inclusion of the social foundations of education (SFE) within teacher preparation when discussing how to enhance "teacher quality." A review of ten major educational policy reports over the last two years reveals an almost complete lack of attention to SFE. These reports span the political spectrum and boast a who's who of top educational scholars and policymakers. The attention that is given (when it is given at all) is perfunctory and almost always attendant to multicultural code words of "diversity" and "culture." This analysis suggests that SFE has minimal visibility, and by implication minimal voice, in contemporary educational policy deliberations. Yet, interestingly, arguments and conclusions within several reports could very easily and productively be appropriated by the SFE field. This article thus concludes by explicating the implications of the marginalization of SFE as well as the potential opening for SFE within contemporary educational policy discourses and debates.