Policy Discourse Analysis Research Articles

Choice and control: corpus-based discourse analysis of teacher education policy in England (2010-2021)

Education policy in recent years has dramatically repositioned the role and status of teachers, trainee teachers and teacher education in the UK and beyond. This paper focuses specifically on education policy in England; however, it has broader significance for those interested in education and teacher education in international policy contexts. Two corpora were constructed for the project; one collated education policy documents in 2010–2021, and another collated education policy documents in 1970–2009. The analysis used the corpus linguistic tool Wordsmith 8. Keywords, concordance, and collocation, were used to examine themes within the discourse of the focus corpus, supported by a critical policy discourse analysis frame. The themes identified in this analysis were governance (control) and marketisation (choice). These themes have strong connections to analyses of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) and contribute to understanding how education policy discourses can frame teacher education. The positioning of trainee teachers as both product and subject of initial teacher education in education policy documents is explored in the analysis.

Intermediary Organizations, Technocratic Discourses, and the Rise of Accountability Regimes in Teacher Education

Intermediary organizations’ (IOs) involvement in teacher education policies has grown in recent years. Apart from advocating for the introduction of alternative routes into the teaching profession, IOs have facilitated the spread of outcomes-based teacher preparation accountability. While previous studies examined the neoliberal market-based logic of their proposals, less is known about technocracy as a discourse informing teacher education redesign. To address this gap, I use the tools of critical policy and critical discourse analysis to examine how IOs advocated for and participated in the construction of outcomes-based accountability regimes. This analysis captures key elements of technocracy, such as the depoliticization of social issues, scientism, and the dismissal of opposition on which accountability regimes are built. By attending to the assumptions and inherent contradictions of technocratic discourses, I shed light on the ways in which accountability regimes dismiss opposition and seek to refashion governance structures in teacher education.

“Don’t mince words”: analysis of problematizations in Australian alternative protein regulatory debates

Alternative proteins, including plant-based and cell-based meat and dairy analogues, are discursively positioned as a new form of meat and dairy and as a solution to the myriad of issues associated with conventional animal agriculture. Animal agricultural industries across various nations have resisted this positioning in regulatory spaces by advocating for laws that restrict the use of meat and dairy terms on the labels of alternative proteins products. Underlying this contestation are differing understandings of, and vested interests in, desirable futures for animal agriculture. In Australia, this broader contestation led to a national-level inquiry by a Senate parliamentary committee entitled Definitions of meat and other animal products (the Inquiry). This paper reports findings from a study of the problematizations developed through the Inquiry using a framework for policy discourse analysis referred to as Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be’ methodology. It shows how the dominant discourse throughout the Inquiry moved away from the initial problematization of alternative proteins as a threat to animal agriculture. Instead, both industries were ultimately positioned as not in competition and only labelling laws were problematized with the solution being amendments to ensure ‘consumer clarity’. This outcome ignored a range of alternative problematizations related to the ethical, environmental, health, social and economic issues raised by animal agriculture and by alternative proteins. This lack of scrutiny benefits both industries, by closing off the policy discourse to consideration of a range of alternative interests, voices, and potential solutions, such as stricter health and welfare regulation.

Complexities of multispecies coexistence: Animal diseases and diverging modes of ordering at the wildlife–livestock interface in Southern Africa

The transmission of diseases between wildlife and livestock poses a major challenge to both conservation and livestock sectors in Southern Africa. Focusing on the cases of foot and mouth disease and trypanosomiasis in the Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, this article explores the complexity of coexistence between humans, livestock, wildlife, vectors and pathogens. Multispecies coexistence, we suggest, is best understood not only through the relations between species, but also as characterized by a collision of modes of ordering. Drawing on expert interviews and a discourse analysis of policy documents and reports, we identify three modes of ordering coexistence: a categorical and increasingly disfavoured mode of species eradication, a territorial mode focused on containment and separation, and an infrastructural mode premised on connectivity between populations, landscapes and ecosystems. Together, these different modes of ordering pose a challenge to scientific knowledge production; where uncertainties present themselves not so much in the form of ignorance or knowledge gaps, but rather in the form of ambiguity: of knowing diseases and species differently. In this view, living with pathogens becomes a matter of recognizing the partiality of knowledge and the positionality of knowledge producers and users, as well as highlighting potential sites of alignment.

“Wanna Be Provoked”: Inner Peripheries Generators of Social Innovation in the Italian Apennine

The article examines the territorial conditions, actors, and processes that facilitate or hinder the emergence of social innovation in the inner peripheries. It investigates three social innovation initiatives taking place in the Italian Apennine through a discourse analysis of policy documents and a number of semi-structured interviews of project promoters and local actors. The research findings show that social innovation emerges as an act of territorial provocation practiced by a coalition of actors that weave strong ties with the local community. Provocation takes the form of an adaptive response of the local community to the dynamics of territorial marginalization, a reaction to tackle what we called the “wanna be” feeling, namely, a sense of constriction and frustration found in local inhabitants and linked to conditions of physical and social isolation, inertia, and a lack of future perspectives. This reaction has allowed them to shape new socio-institutional networks and structures that have catalyzed local communities’ capacity to mobilize particular resources or specific assets existing in places, improving their living conditions.

Obfuscating systemic racism: A critical policy discourse analysis on the operation of neoliberal ideas in media representation of a school district state takeover

Education reform in the United States has unwisely focused attention on standards and accountability to the state as determined by standardized testing (Berliner & Biddle, 1995; Mehta, 2013). Stemming from the emphasis on standards-based accountability are the ideas of rapid school turnaround and the state’s role in this process (Peck & Reitzug, 2014; VanGronigen & Meyers, 2019). The current study employed critical policy discourse analysis to examine the media’s portrayal of the 2019 determination to continue or terminate state control of the Little Rock School District. The analysis highlights two argumentative frames—one that emphasized neoliberal values in support of continued state control of the district and another that focused on systemic racism as the basis for advocating for local control of the district. These frames, along with their implications for future actions within the educational policy making process, guide the discussion. Our findings suggest sustained community and media participation is needed to bring attention to education policy issues while underscoring the importance of taking a critical stance to assess media coverage.

Discourse Analysis of Policies to Prevent Violent Radicalization in Ten European Countries and their Impact on Educational Systems

After the 9/11 attacks, Western societies and institutions try to respond to terrorist attacks. The fight against radicalization has gained prominence on international agendas. The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) proposes a new learning objective: global competence. This research analyses how the attitudes of global competence, are reflected in government plans for the prevention of radicalization in ten European countries: Spain, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and Finland. A lexicometric analysis was performed using clustering techniques. Iramuteq program is used. A quantitative analysis was also carried out on a qualitative data corpus to facilitate comparative analysis. While European socio-educational policies are, theoretically, a fundamental pillar in the pursuit of integration, in practice, the network of correspondence shows a policy focused on the threat of terrorism, where police intervention is prioritized, and the role of education is insignificant. We conclude that policies for the prevention of radicalization in Europe do not reflect the characteristics that define democratic, interculturally competent citizenship and are not aligned with global competence. We suggest promoting transversality and unity of policies which encourage integration and social cohesion and reassessing the value of schools as a proactive measure for inclusion.

Gender and higher education in African universities: A critical discourse analysis of key policy mandates in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda

In this comparative project, we analyze three policy documents that have guided gender-based higher education initiatives in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Two research questions guided our work: (1) How do key policy documents conceptualize gender equity? and (2) How is gender equity discussed in relation to economic priorities and sociopolitical realities in each country? To address these questions, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of the following: Kenya’s Education and Training Gender Policy in Kenya, Rwanda’s Education Sector Strategic Plan 2018/19–-–022/23, and Uganda’s Gender in Education Policy. Corroborating the work of other scholars, we found that all three documents shared (1) an increased commitment to gender equality, (2) persistent underrepresentation of women in higher education despite increased participation of women over time, and (3) markedly low gender parity in STEM disciplines. Our findings are significant because they confirm that there is a disconnect between stated policy goals and actual student outcomes, which limits institutional success and economic development. Additionally, our analysis highlights differences in the strength in commitment to gender equity in policy mandates in these three countries. This is a key issue which warrants further research attention.

Race, rhetorical veneers and the virulence of colonial violence during COVID

COVID has exposed how health and racial inequities are deeply entangled. This article seeks to examine how race is made present but also erased in words, bodies and institutions. It takes as its point of departure two Australian health campaigns and their use of the promotional rhetoric of ‘the race’ to urgently increase immunisations and organ donation registrations at the time of COVID. In a critical analysis of the public policy and political discourse that emerged in and around these promotions, I show how racialised oppression materialised and was obscured in linguistic veneers of inclusivity and diversity. The race to improve health outcomes articulated social imaginaries of the ‘level playing field’ in a projection to the future that omitted the historical production of uneven terrains. Reorienting this temporal direction, the article historicises the present, tracing back racial inequities from the frontline and dividing lines of coronavirus, to the frontiers and foundations of the Australian nation. In so doing, it argues for a more critical engagement with health discourse and promotions that target racialised groups and (re)present histories of violence.

Panacea or poison? Exploring the paradoxical problematizations of loneliness, technology and youth in Norwegian and UK policymaking

PurposeLoneliness’ impact on health and wellbeing has emerged as a public health issue in several countries. Young people are increasingly understood as a ‘risk group’ and intervention target for loneliness-reduction. This research paper aims to present a discourse analysis of policies and political speech about young people and loneliness.Design/methodology/approachUsing discourse analysis inspired by Carol Bacchi’s “What is the Problem Represented to Be” (WPR) approach, this cross-cultural analysis studies loneliness policy in the United Kingdom (UK) and Norway. In doing so, the authors ask: What is the problem of loneliness among young people represented to be in UK and Norwegian welfare policy?FindingsThe findings indicate paradoxical problematizations of the role technology plays among lonely young people, who, in this context, are divided in two categories: able normative and disabled youth. We reveal fundamental differences in beliefs about the impact of technology on these groups, and corresponding differences in the proposed solutions. The problem of young peoples’ loneliness is represented as uncertainty about potential harms of digital connectedness and reduced face-to-face interactions. In contrast, the problem of loneliness among disabled youth is represented as impeded access to social realms, with technology serving a benign role as equalizer.Originality/valueLittle research has examined this new policy field. The article contributes to filling this gap and encourages policymakers to consider how political discourses on loneliness may lead them to overlook digital interventions young people could find beneficial.

Vulnerability portrayals across climate risk discourses in Bhubaneswar: an evolutionary perspective

ABSTRACT Climate governance studies suggest that the way climate risk and vulnerability are conceptualized, defined, and managed has consequences for people and places. In this paper, we analyze how different climate risk discourses and their vulnerability portrayals are constructed and have evolved in Bhubaneswar city in India. We conduct a Critical Discourse Analysis of various climate action plans and policy documents, as well as a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews to interpret their discursive positions on climate issues. Based on our findings, we highlight three main discourses through which risk is constructed – discourses of inevitability, collocation, and intrinsic necessity. The vulnerability portrayals across these discourses are undergoing a transition from a pure outcome vulnerability approach toward a context-based approach, while their framings range from vulnerability to events, places, and social groups. The intertwining of discursive constructions of risk and vulnerability contributes toward constantly forming and re-forming risk and governance objects (and subjects), and the reproduction and resistance to certain forms of knowledge that limit and enable governance responses to climate change at the same time.

Partnership or prescription: a critical discourse analysis of HEI-school partnership policy in the Republic of Ireland

ABSTRACT The Republic of Ireland has witnessed a transformative reform agenda in teacher education, stemming from internal trends, increased emphasis on supranational ranking indicators, and recommendations from national and international reviews of existing teacher education. As part of this reform agenda, the Teaching Council of Ireland has espoused models of higher education institution (HEI)-school partnerships, crystallised in Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education (Teaching Council, 2020) and Guidelines on School Placement (Teaching Council, 2021). Using critical discourse analysis, we unpack how language is directed to two key partners within the policies, namely higher education institutions and schools. Findings unpack a range of agendas at play that are undermining the notion of partnership, including how language can displace the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders. We conclude with a call for further critical policy research in teacher education, given the wider policy and political influences at play. This paper offers a theoretical-oriented framework that can support a critical reading of such policies.

A discourse and content analysis of representation in the mainstream media of the South African National Health Insurance policy from 2011 to 2019

BackgroundMedia is a crucial factor in shaping public opinion and setting policy agendas. There is limited research on the role of media in health policy processes in low- and middle-income countries. This study profiles South Africa as a case example, currently in the process of implementing a major health policy reform, National Health Insurance (NHI).MethodsA descriptive, mixed methods study was conducted in five sequential phases. Evidence was gathered through a scoping review of secondary literature; discourse analysis of global policy documents on universal health coverage and South African NHI policy documents; and a content and discourse analysis of South African print and online media texts focused on NHI. Representations within media were analysed and dominant discourses that might influence the policy process were identified.ResultsDiscourses of ‘health as a global public good’ and ‘neoliberalism’ were identified in global and national policy documents. Similar neoliberal discourse was identified within SA media. Unique discourses were identified within SA media relating to biopolitics and corruption. Media representations revealed political and ideological contestation which was not as present in the global and national policy documents. Media representations did not mirror the lived reality of most of the South African population. The discourses identified influence the policy process and hinder public participation in these processes. They reinforce social hierarchy and power structures in South Africa, and might reinforce current inequalities in the health system, with negative repercussions for access to health care.ConclusionsThere is a need to understand mainstream media as part of a people-centred health system, particularly in the context of universal health coverage reforms such as NHI. Harmful media representations should be counter-acted. This requires the formation of collaborative and sustainable networks of policy actors to develop strategies on how to leverage media within health policy to support policy processes, build public trust and social cohesion, and ultimately decrease inequalities and increase access to health care. Research should be undertaken to explore media in other diverse formats and languages, and in other contexts, particularly low- and middle-income countries, to further understand media’s role in health policy processes.

Where are digital abilities within Chile’s State technical formation centres? A discourse analysis of public policy

ABSTRACT There is a sedimented understanding that developing digital abilities is key for today’s knowledge society. Accordingly, governments have invested vastly in formal education aimed at developing them. Policies and directives driving this venture need to be examined. Otherwise, their potential risks being thwarted. By means of a post-foundational discourse analysis, six moments central to the political enablement of Chile’s State Technical Formation Centres underwent a synchronic heuristic discourse analysis as understood under relational-ontology. These Centres are part of Chile’s tertiary Technical and Vocational Education and Training system and were created as a means for the State to regain presence within such a system. Findings show unquestioned facts which lead to the articulation of two prominent myths. Added, two salient discourses are articulated to the myth: education is either articulated with statements that would frame education as a right or with development statements. Furthermore, despite these documents articulating today’s world as being driven by information and technological developments, there is no mention, definition or even acknowledgement of digital abilities. Accordingly, the development of these rhetorically articulated indispensable abilities, within these Centres, is left to chance. Findings shed light on how mythification of discourses can lead to hindering consequences.

Exploring the place of adult learning for refugees and asylum seekers in migration policy for integration in England and Scotland

Learning, particularly learning English is presented as a key part of integration for adult migrants in the UK. England and Scotland differ in how their policy approaches to integration include adult learning. This article aims to explore and uncover the ways in which adult education, particularly for refugees and asylum seekers is embedded and included in policy for integration of new migrants in England and Scotland. This is based on a discourse analysis of policy documents, through which themes were developed and explored. In these documents, adult education can be included in explicit ways, particularly when it comes to language learning, while informal learning is not always explicitly considered. In England, British values are highlighted as an important area for learning, while Scottish policy uses a different tone, referring to newcomers as ‘New Scots’. The ways in which certain groups, particularly people seeking asylum are politically constructed, appear to impact greatly on how they are included in policy. This paper argues for the need for an explicit policy for adult learning for refugees and asylum seekers, the need to consider informal learning in policy, and identifies areas for future research in the field of adult learning relating to migration.

Entrepreneurial citizenship in urban regeneration

More and more citizens are entering the public domain and taking over tasks that traditionally belong to the government. For example, citizens increasingly run a community centre themselves, maintain the greenery in their neighbourhood and manage the local playground. To some extent, governments also encourage this behaviour and are disposing of social real estate. Against this background, this study examines the rise of citizens' initiatives in the Netherlands and how this takes shape in the context of urban regeneration. The study pays attention to a specific type of citizens’ initiative, namely community enterprises. It applies qualitative research methods, such as semi-structured interviews with representatives of community enterprises and discourse analysis of policy documents. It examines the expectations governments have of active citizens and how this relates to the motivations and capacities of active citizens themselves. The study broadens our understanding of active citizens who utilizes their entrepreneurial skills and mindset to drive positive change, contribute to the well-being of their community, and address pressing societal challenges.

Fashioning groups that inhabit society’s fringes: the work of Australian VET research into disadvantage

ABSTRACT Describing various demographic characteristics of disadvantaged students, the programs they study and their employment outcomes is a significant area of research interest in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. This article offers a preliminary exploration of how groups are problematised and the consequent influence on VET research into disadvantage in Australia. Creating categories provides the historical and political contexts that allow specific practices and descriptors to become dominant. The major methodological approach used is a post-structuralist discourse analysis of policy documents, government VET reviews and published research into equity groups. It is argued that rather than envisaging VET research into disadvantage as a repetitious recounting of these groups’ lack of access to vocational education and training, other important agendas are being served by the continued inquiries into people that experience inequity. The influence of long-standing Australian discourses that valorise, mostly male, individual responsibility to be a self-regulating citizen who maintains ongoing employment ensures that policymakers require updated productive expert research into the population to support the specialist discourses of disadvantage.

Time Series Analysis of Policy Discourse on Green Consumption in China: Text Mining and Network Analysis

Green consumption in China is a major promotion strategy for achieving sustainable development goals. It should be promoted from a long-term perspective based on cooperation from all levels of society. In addition, constantly revising the policy direction using policy discourse as feedback is necessary. This study analyzes policy discourse on green consumption in China from the long-term and time series perspectives. It employs text mining and network analysis by collecting Chinese online portal data on policy discourse over a period from 2000 to 2020. Using text mining, the study finds that green consumption develops through four stages, namely awareness, practice, diffusion, and social responsibility. From a long-term perspective, policymaking and the preparation of government guidelines take place during the awareness stage, the distribution of action plans and related guidelines from central to local governments takes place in the practice stage, and participation in green consumption in the different classes of society occurs in the diffusion stage. The conscious transition to green consumption by the government, the business sector, and the public can be found in the social responsibility stage. The results of the convergence of iterated correlation analysis reveal that policy discourse on green consumption initially transitions from a specific to a diversified topic. This means that, since there are many complex policy and social issues related to green consumption, it is necessary to select and focus on appropriate topics when setting policy directions. Lastly, core–periphery analysis indicates that growers related to global environmental issues, such as carbon neutrality and climate change, are leading green consumption in China. This confirms that green consumption is a key issue that the government and the public must practice to support the sustainable development of mankind, transcending constraints of time, space, class, and ideology. On the basis of its results, the study proposes a development strategy that can strike a balance between the universality and specificity of green consumption in China.

Re-thinking childhood in Peru: A critical discourse analysis of Peruvian early childhood policies

Early childhood has become a priority in national and international political agendas. In the last decade, states have elaborated social policies and launched a variety of programmes for young children. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this research explores the most prominent conceptualisations of children and childhood underpinning official Early Childhood policies in Peru, drawing on theoretical frameworks from childhood studies. The study identified the existence of a convergence of discourses about children and childhood in the policy documents which are based on different perspectives: developmental psychology, human capital theory and a children’s rights-based approach. From this analysis, I argue that early childhood policies in Peru evidence a developmentalist predominance that has problematic implications in the context of the country’s bicentennial anniversary of independence. I analyse how this developmental focus leads to a lack of sensitivity about the impact of cultural factors on children’s experiences and on the exercise of their rights, particularly on children’s right to participation. Finally, I argue for a rethinking of Peruvian early childhood policies and future policymaking processes using a sociological lens, in order to accomplish the State’s objective of building a post-bicentennial nation that is able to secure improvements on children’s lives and advance social justice.

Lightening the academic burden on Chinese children: A discourse analysis of recent education policies

There is increasing acknowledgement of the need to lighten the academic burden on Chinese primary and secondary students because it affects the quality of their education and well-being. This study investigates recent education policies to analyse how the problem of academic burden is framed in these policies and how they attempt to solve it. In this study, Carol Bacchi’s theory of the construction of policy problems and Paul Preuss’ theory of root cause analysis were utilised to provide a productive way to interpret the problem and causes of the academic burden. The data reveal larger social issues related to Chinese educational values perceived by different stakeholders and educational equity necessitating the lightening of academic burden. Therefore, policymakers need to consider the complexity of educational change to effectively reduce the academic burden.