Revolting families: The Catalan ‘opt out’ movement and practices of resistance against Standard Assessment Test (SAT). Some exploratory research

Abstract

Neoliberal policy technologies are spreading across the globe. Most go unrecognised and unopposed, but in some cases, they have provoked reactions and movements that reject or resist them. In this article we focus on one such movement of resistance, consisting of a network of families (the ‘opt out’ movement) that is boycotting the Standard Assessment Tests of primary education in Catalonia. We draw on exploratory research based on in-depth interviews with six of these families, as well as a review of articles, websites and documents produced by or about the movement. The participation of these families is examined in the light of Foucault’s notion of resistance in two different respects: resistance as a ‘tactical reversal’ and refusal as an ‘aesthetics of existence’. We begin with an outline of the global ideological context in which the Standard Assessment Tests are set, and then examine the background to the opt out movement’s resistance to the Standard Assessment Tests in Catalonia. This is followed by a Foucauldian analysis of this resistance, and then a description of the methodology used and the families interviewed. We make no significant empirical claims in the paper but rather seek to theorise certain paradoxes and tensions in relation to opting out and end with some remarks on the significance of the movement.