Policy Sociology Research Articles

A critique of ‘Strong Beginnings’ initial teacher education reforms: mandating neuroscience as core curriculum within the ‘what works’ movement

AbstractThe paper studies the rise of neuroscience in initial teacher education, paying attention to the relatively recent Australian Government (2023) report titled ‘Strong Beginnings’. In taking up a critical policy sociology lens, we focus on the first priority within the reforms, which is mandating brain science and the ‘brain and learning’ as core curriculum within initial teacher education. The reforms will embed standardised curriculum into initial teacher education and tie this curriculum to graduate teacher standards, bracketed within prescribed texts, ideologies and agendas. The reforms are positioned within the ‘what works’ movement, increasing accreditation and certain types of evidence, and the role and authority of intermediary organisations, including the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). It promotes research that has been paid for by the think tank Centre for Independent Studies and aligned with the Australian Education Research Organisation and Education Endowment Foundation. In this paper, we endeavour to highlight how the singular and narrow focus on brain-based approaches is not only reductionist, but also potentially generative of oppressive technologies. The mandating of standardised curriculum and brain science undermines educators, including initial teacher educators, and bolsters private interests in education. The standardisation of core curriculum, which will be tied to accreditation processes and graduate teacher standards, is underpinned by a punitive-accountability based approach. Furthermore, whilst it is less visible, these reforms contain brain science tropes redolent of eugenics and deficit framings of low socio-economic status students.

IA Generativa nel welfare: un approccio basato sulla Sociologia Pubblica per una governance consapevole

This article explores the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on welfare policies, focusing on the unconventional case study of the Govern-AI project in Italy. Using the Extended Case Method, the study analyses the evolution of AI applications in public administration and their societal implications. The sociological reflection on AI emphasizes its transformative role in shaping social structures, considering both optimistic views on social rights enhancement and critical concerns such as privacy violations. The research advocates for a sociological understanding of AI as a non-human social actor, focusing on social practices and human-machine interactions. Additionally, the article introduces the concept of Public Policy Sociology for evaluating AI-related public policies, emphasizing transparency and citizen involvement.

Post-colonial contexts, the state, and education reform: a framework for understanding the ethos of privatization

The central argument of this article is that post-colonial states operate—and have always operated, due to their roots in colonialism and capitalism—according to an “ethos of privatization,” through which state agents derive private benefit from positions ostensibly responsible for providing public services. The article offers a framework for understanding the ethos of privatization as central to state behavior that is based on insights from literatures in four areas: global education policy, political economy, world systems theory, and post-colonial studies. The article demonstrates the theoretical and methodological value of this framework for producing critical public policy knowledge by applying it to the case of educational privatization in Honduras. The article concludes with a discussion of the benefits of this framework, particularly vis-à-vis more established approaches rooted in the policy sociology literature.

What Do So‐Called Critical Race Theory Bans Mean for Elementary Literacy Instruction?

AbstractIn recent years, a number of states in the United States have enacted educational policies, often referred to as “critical race theory” bans, that aim to restrict teaching about race and racism in schools. This study examines how current and future elementary literacy educators interpreted and intended to respond to one such law in Tennessee. Drawing theoretically on policy sociology and critical race theory policy analysis, we qualitatively analyzed data generated in focus groups with 18 prospective and practicing teachers. Our findings illustrate the restrictive effects of the policy on elementary literacy instruction, caused partially by teachers interpreting the policy as substantially impeding their ability to engage students in critically reading, writing, and talking about race and racism. Further, findings demonstrate how this new policy intersected with and exacerbated existing curricular constraints in elementary literacy classrooms, including developmental discourses and neoliberal standardization, reinforcing normative whiteness by producing further impediments to elementary literacy instruction as a space to develop critical consciousness about race. This study contributes to emerging literature on the effects of divisive concepts legislation, as well as situating this current legislative wave within existing policy contexts of restriction.

Verfallende Infrastruktur bei Rekordeinnahmen: Eine Institutionssoziologie bundesdeutscher Haushaltspolitik

ZusammenfassungIn den 2010er-Jahren betrieb die deutsche Regierung eine strukturkonservative Haushaltspolitik, was eine schwache staatliche Investitionstätigkeit trotz günstiger fiskalischer Bedingungen zur Folge hatte. Wie lässt sich das erklären? Die Literatur zum deutschen Haushaltsregime hat jüngst vor allem die Tradition des Ordoliberalismus sowie das konservative deutsche Wohlfahrtsmodell angeführt, um dieses BRD-typische Muster der Ausgabenpolitik zu hintergründen. Der Beitrag bietet stattdessen eine institutionssoziologische Erklärung, die das für die Haushaltspolitik grundlegende Beziehungsmuster zwischen Parlament, Regierung und Verwaltung fokussiert. Qua Ressortprinzip sind die relativ eigenständigen Minister mitsamt ihren Spitzenbeamten die zentralen Protagonisten der bundesdeutschen Haushaltsverhandlungen, in denen sich Partei- und Ressortpolitik überlagern. Der Finanzminister verfügt in der tradierten Rollenstruktur der deutschen Kabinettsordnung über eine besondere Machtstellung, was ihm die Profilierung als „Sparsamkeitsminister“ nahelegt. Umgekehrt verfügen die Repräsentanten der Koalitionsparteien und des Bundestages wie auch die Verwaltungsspitzen der anderen Ministerien über ein je spezifisches Profil an Machtmitteln. Diese Konstellationen bringen inkrementalistische Interaktionen in der Exekutive hervor, die je nach Umständen in der Erstreitung marginaler Ausgabenspielräume oder der Kürzung freiwilliger Ausgaben resultieren. Diese Verhandlungslogiken laufen einer umfassenderen Investitionsplanung zuwider. Die Rolle des Bundestags beschränkt sich trotz seiner formalen haushaltspolitischen Souveränität darauf, die Unterstützung oder Missbilligung von Ministern zu kommunizieren. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass das institutionelle Macht- und Rollenprofil der Ministerien, das in den Haushaltsverhandlungen zur Geltung kommt und in dem das BMF traditionell als mächtiger Vetospieler agiert, die Kontinuität des haushaltspolitischen Strukturkonservatismus über Machtwechsel hinweg garantiert.

Teachers’ work under responsibilising policies: an analysis of educators’ views on China’s 2021 educational reforms

ABSTRACT This article offers unique insights into the relationship between education policy and teachers’ work. It considers how globally pervasive responsibilising regimes make teachers’ work more burdensome. Drawing on interviews with 15 school teachers, this article shows how China’s 2021 Double Burden Reduction Policy has reconfigured educators’ (class)work practices and pedagogical approaches. Specifically, it unpacks the policy mechanisms that: 1) condense school time and make teachers’ work more methodical and 2) prolong teachers' working hours that are dedicated to offering students after-school educational support, thus reducing the demand for shadow education. This article argues that this policy shifts the education burden away from tutorial enterprises and parents and onto the teachers, which illustrates a case of the impact of policy regimes on teachers’ work within the broader context of neoliberal globalisation. Moreover, this article produces a novel typological spectrum – submission, substantiation, and scepticism – to capture and understand the diverse ways in which teachers may respond to policy-led changes to their professional work globally. Overall, it generates new knowledge on the impact of homogenising education policies on teachers’ work and the heterogeneity of teachers’ responses to these policies, thus contributing conceptually to the wider field of policy sociology in education.

Taming the time zone: National large-scale assessments as instruments of time in the Russian Federation

Nationwide large-scale assessments (NLSA)—an example of cross-border policy mobility—manifest a proliferating means of governing formal schooling. In the Russian context, NLSA takes the form of a compulsory graduation examination called the Unified State Examinations (USE). In this article, we explore how a mobile policy instrument of the NLSA participates in the relational processes of time- and space-making in a particular federated context of Russia, and how this process intertwines with and is shaped by the presence of multiple time zones. We argue that NLSA is an instrument of time that attempts to achieve centralization of the complex federated structure of the Russian Federation. Yet, the work of the NLSA is not a smooth process in a country characterized by territorial vastness, a complex federated structure, and the existence of multiple time zones. Guided by the theory of logistical power and sociological perspectives on time, as well as empirical insights, we show how the time zones need to be tamed in order for the NLSA to exercise its centralizing role. Discursively, the time zone is introduced and publicly discussed to symbolically characterize Russia and justify political actions or their outcomes. Bureaucratically, the desire for simultaneity and synchronicity takes the form of a meticulous ordering of a sequence of actions through prescriptive documentation that regulates the NLSA. Technologically, synchronicity, simultaneity, and instantaneousness rely on and engender an expanding national infrastructure that mediates social relations and the processes of conducting the NLSA, cutting across the time zones and federal units. Based on this analysis, we propose that scholarship on policy mobility and education policy sociology at large could benefit from examining the relationship between time and education policy and governance in four intertwined ways: the time of policy, context as time, policy instruments as instruments of time, and time in policy instruments.

Towards an historical sociology of global citizenship education policy in Australia

ABSTRACT ‘Global citizenship’ has gained traction as a policy objective across school systems in recent decades. It has been defined as education for the development of a sense of cosmopolitan moral virtue, planetary identification and ‘global competencies’. In this paper, I argue that historical sociology can help explain why this goal has gained prominence in citizenship education policy since the late twentieth century. Focussing on the Australian case, I propose an analytical model where changes in citizenship education policy for schools are articulated to concurrent transformations of nation-state citizenship within a shifting international conjuncture. This approach reveals that the rise of neoliberal statecraft and the diffusion of human rights discourses since the 1970s are pertinent analytical coordinates to make sense of the growing presence of global citizenship within government policy agendas for schools. The Australian case illustrates the relevance of historical sociology to make sense of contemporary education policy.

Sociological Imaginations for Anti-Racist Futures: An Interview with Dr Prudence Carter

In this interview, Dr Prudence Carter, 2021–2022 President-Elect of the American Sociological Association, discusses how sociology can contribute to anti-racist futures across national contexts. Her insights point to the need for greater self-awareness in sociology regarding race and racism, for clarification of our aims and for better articulation and translation of popularized theoretical concepts, such as structural racism, to the general public. To achieve radical inclusion in the future, she highlights the importance of engaging in public and policy sociology, by explaining and substantiating policies and practices derived from our research. She also underscores the significance and value of comparative cross-national and multidisciplinary collaborative research. Most importantly, she brings to the fore the necessity of imagining new epistemological and methodological approaches to study the conditions that will enable our societies to attain equitable and anti-racist futures. Fundamentally, this involves extending our sociological imaginations.

Kategoriale Dissonanzen. Russlands regressiver Weg in den Krieg und die Historische Soziologie imperialistischer Außenpolitiken

ZusammenfassungRusslands Angriff auf die Ukraine im Februar 2022 legt die Diagnose eines imperialistischen Eroberungskrieges nahe. Gleichzeitig fristen imperialismustheoretische Zugänge zur russländischen Außenpolitik ein widersprüchliches Nischendasein. So führen die kritischen Sozialwissenschaften Imperialismus maßgeblich auf kapitalistische Entwicklungsdynamiken und die Hegemoniebestrebungen der USA im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert zurück. Politologische und soziologische Ansätze hingegen fokussieren auf die ideologische Dimension des Imperialismus oder normalisieren imperialistische Außenpolitiken in transhistorischen Imperien-Typologien. Aufbauend auf einer Kritik bestehender Deutungsangebote unternimmt der Beitrag einen Bestimmungsversuch des russländischen Imperialismus seit den späten 2000er Jahren. Dabei wird das Argument entwickelt, dass sich in Russland vor dem Hintergrund einer Doppelkrise der Rentenökonomie und der politischen Legitimation seit 2008 ein regressives souveränistisches Projekt fomiert hat, das auf militaristische Politik zur eigenen Reproduktion angewiesen ist. Außenpolitisch kristallisierte sich diese Regression insbesondere um die Formulierung und versuchte Umsetzung imperialer Verfügungsansprüche über die Ukraine. Erklärungen, die auf das Axiom eines globalen oder russländischen Kapitalismus oder die atavistische Ideologie der russländischen Staatselite rekurrieren, bleiben jedoch defizitär. Alternativ greift der Beitrag auf jüngere historisch-soziologische Zugänge zur Außenpolitik sowie Konzepte der älteren Historischen Sozialwissenschaft in den deutschen Internationalen Beziehungen (IB) zurück und schlägt einen historisierenden Zugang zur Rekonstruktion von Außenpolitik vor. Dieser betont neben der fundamentalen Kontextgebundenheit internationaler Politik die prozesshafte Ko-Konstitution krisenhafter sozioökonomischer Entwicklung, strategischer Elitenprojekte der Herrschaftslegitimierung und Geopolitik.

Bright Nordic Lights: a revitalised interdisciplinary history of education in the massified higher education of the Nordics

ABSTRACT The history of education is, and can be, many things. In this article, I argue that the history of education in the Nordic countries is marked by three phases, based on its institutional setting. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the history of education was written by schoolmen for schoolmen. In the post-war era, the discipline of education took increasing responsibility for the field. Since the 1980s, it has been a multidisciplinary research field based on the disciplines of education and history where history of education was combined with research in history education, sociology of education, child studies and educational policy. While the development of the history of education varied across the Nordics, this setting proved to be fertile. In terms of active researchers, output and coordination, the Nordic history of education clearly stands stronger now than it did 20 years ago.

The moral positioning of education policy publics: how social media is used to wedge an issue

ABSTRACT Social media has become a core feature in policy development and enactment. This article extends current features of digital policy sociology to include the entanglement of education policy development processes with new media, paying particular attention to how two conservative think tanks in Australia have strategically used social media in their lobbying practices. By concentrating on policy publics, we show how The Centre for Independent Studies and the Institute of Public Affairs have used social media as a part of education politics. Using Luhmann’s theory of moral communication as a framework, we work towards accounting for the contemporary hyperactivity of education policy and politics and speculate how these Australian case studies might inform the critical policy sociology of education.

Concept of Social Sustainability and its Challenges for the Sociology of Social Policy

Max Weber considered social policy to be applied sociology. In 2015, the United Nations adopted the 2030 Agenda with 17 universal Sustainable Development Goals. The main goals and subgoals essentially deal with social policy issues and are linked to economic and ecological demands. In the 21st century, there are many arguments that speak for a sociology that addresses this transdisciplinary and transformative context. This in turn requires a change of perspective, away from a limited socio-ecological view and towards establishing a discourse on social sustainability. To succeed, the established conception of welfare regimes must be transposed to sustainability re-search. The article discusses the issue of normativity that social sustainability has as well as measures for a sustainable social policy. The paper argues in favor of a mixed universalism, termed guarantism, that focuses social policy on participation and identifies modern digital and smart pathways to achieve it.

The relationship between disability and inclusion policy and sports coaches’ perceptions of practice

ABSTRACT The present study explored how disability-inclusive policies (e.g., the 7 Pillars of Inclusion and the Inclusive Swimming Framework) were enacted in practice by eight swimming coaches in Australia. The purpose of this study was to explore how these individual coaches experienced including disabled athletes within their practice and how they balanced elite- and mass-participation objectives. Coaches in this study worked in a variety of settings as either full-time employees of a swimming club, independent contractors, or employees of private schools that ran school and community swimming programmes. Theoretical concepts of policy enactment, drawn from policy sociology in education, guided the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with coaches. Participants reported coaching individuals competing at the state, national, and international level. Findings showed that coaches in this study ignored, adjusted, and re-worked official policies so they would fit with the contextual and cultural constraints of their organisations. Coaches were generally ambivalent towards people with disabilities; however, all were ‘willing and able’ to work with disabled athletes. Furthermore, findings indicated that the disconnect between coach development and inclusion policy development at Australian Swimming is effecting coaches, as these coaches did not see the promotion of inclusion as part of their coaching role. Therefore, it is posited that disability education should be included within broader coach education and development curriculum in line with broader governmental and Australian Swimming inclusion policy agendas aimed at improving participation of people with disabilities in sport. Implications for research, educators, and policy are discussed.

Ambivalent governance and the changing role of the state: Understanding the rise of international schools in Shanghai through the lens of policy networks

The current literature demonstrates the commercialised orientations of international schools in China and the role of the global education industry and overseas governments. This paper, drawing on narratives of school principals and senior managers who experienced the rise of international schools in Shanghai and working with theoretical tools from policy network studies and policy sociology, demonstrates the powerful and pragmatic role of the state in shaping and shifting the beliefs and traditions of international school practices and policies, and a process of disrupted neoliberalisation. The findings indicate the complexities and ambivalences in such notions as education governance, neoliberalisation, and globalisation, and shed light on the localised modalities and assemblages embedded within specific Chinese education policy contexts.

Rola wyobraźni socjologicznej w komunikacji lekarza z pacjentem

Artykuł poświęcony jest znaczeniu wyobraźni socjologicznej w komunikacji lekarza z pacjentem. Pojęcie wyobraźni socjologicznej, wprowadzone przez Charlesa W. Millsa w 1959 r., służyło podkreśleniu wkładu socjologii w debatę publiczną i kształtowaniu samowiedzy nowoczesnego człowieka. Jego zastosowanie na przecięciu socjologii i medycyny wymagało swoistego przekładu z idiomu socjologii publicznej na kategorie socjologii praktycznej. Na przykładzie autorów stosujących pojęcie wyobraźni socjologicznej w polu medycznym pokazuję, że efektem tej operacji jest utrzymujące się twórcze napięcie między publicznym a praktycznym użytkiem z wyobraźni socjologicznej. Analiza wybranych tekstów dotyczących kształtowania wyobraźni socjologicznej na studiach medycznych pozwala wydobyć jej znaczenie jako kompetencji komunikacyjnej. Następnie omawiam, w jaki sposób wyobraźnia socjologiczna wpływa na praktykę medyczną: po pierwsze, dając lekarzowi krytyczny dystans do obiegowych wyobrażeń na temat życia społecznego, po drugie zaś, dostarczając mu „skrzynki z narzędziami”, uwrażliwiającej na społeczne aspekty zachowań i problemów zdrowotnych

System efficiency on mobile learning system user satisfaction at Egerton University, in Kenya

The study was confined to find out the outcome of curriculum implemented in the target schools from1964 to 1985. This study adopted Critical Policy Sociology (CPS) otherwise referred to as Critical Policy Archaeology which was postulated by Trevor Gale in (2001) to excavate the sites and analyze the contents/subjects of the curriculum, how actors enacted policy, and their outcomes at the target sites. The study adopted a historical research design. Data collection involved a critical review of relevant literature; including several curriculum reforms documents and oral interviews. Snowball sampling was adopted to select 12 participants. Data analysis and interpretation were done through internal and external historical criticism. Based on the literature review and documentary analysis, there was overwhelming evidence for Kenya to review education at independence since Kenyan education has its roots in the colonial past. From the findings of this study, the following conclusions were made: First, curriculum reforms/subjects enacted in the target schools were foreign subjects from English Grammar School of UK. They were rather irrelevant to the needs of the majority of Kenyans after independence. Secondly, the State-controlled policy enactment process through MOE, KIE and TSC excluded practitioners’ voices. Hence, the State had power over teachers on policy formulation and implementation. Based on the findings of objective one, there is need to improve our curriculum policy (but caution should be taken especially with imported education policies and ideologies/values. Even when policies are culturally relevant, locally mediated and re-contextualized the result of transfer remains unpredictable.

The international political economy of educational policy development in Nepal: 1950-2020

ABSTRACT The modern history of Nepal started after the Kingdom of Nepal was formed during the 1760s through a series of military battles, which is now known as a national unification campaign, led by Prithvi Narayan Shah. The history of mass education, however, started during the 1950s when a political uprising overthrew autocratic Rana regime that had ruled the country for more than a century. This paper aims to explore Nepal’s educational history by analysing key educational policy documents produced by the Government of Nepal as well as its major donor the World Bank from 1950 to 2020. The paper uses international political economy as a theoretical framework and critical policy sociology as a methodological approach. The key argument of the paper is that, since some of the problematic assumptions of modernism, nationalism, and globalism have guided Nepal’s policy agendas, its education system has not addressed multifarious challenges faced by its citizens. The theoretical and methodological approaches taken for exploring the interconnections between education, economy, and politics will be helpful for future researchers to understand the significance of education not only for economic development but also for the institutionalization of democracy in both developed and developing countries.

Democracy and teachers: the im/possibilities for pluralisation in evidence-based practice

ABSTRACT In this paper, we draw on policy sociology and democratic theory to illustrate how evidence-based practice not only limits teachers’ capacities to exercise professional discretion and authority, but also jeopardises the democratic project of schooling more broadly. Using theoretical concepts from Foucault’s discipline with Connolly’s pluralisation, we argue that evidence-based practice disciplines teachers to comply with a prescribed set of criteria, which constrains their capacity to respond to the evolving and emergent needs of their students and communities. Our argument is built from two projects conducted separately, but concurrently, in Australia and Denmark. The projects involved in-depth interviews with teachers, extensive observations within schools, and the collection and analysis of policy documents and artefacts. Using illustrative excerpts from both studies, we show how teacher participants expressed and embodied inclinations to do (or be) differently, but nonetheless felt the need to adhere to what the evidence established as the right way to do or be. In our view, this points to an increasingly rigid ontological space through which teachers can do, be and become, which raises questions about the extent to which an ‘ethos of pluralisation’ is possible within these schools.

Social pedagogy and social work from the perspective of the research areas and practical activities – selected contexts

The theoretical and practical development of social pedagogy was influenced by many social, economic and cultural factors (e.g. industrial and cultural revolutions), which took place in Europe and America in the 19th century. In turn, in 1908 Helena Radlińska created the scientific bases of social pedagogy in Poland and initiated its disciplinary development. In her activities, the researcher emphasized the role of a human in the transformation of reality in which they live. Her concept had a lot in common with the theses of the then German and French philosophical and pedagogical thought, among others Paul Bergman, Jean-Marie Guyau, Paul Natorp, Gabriel Séailles (Theiss, 2018, p. 13). The key moment in the initial phase of the development of so-called Helena Radlińska’s school of social pedagogy was the creation of The Social-Educational Work Study of Free Polish University in 1925. It was the first university in Poland to educate, at the academic level, future social and educational workers and educators in the area of adult education, mother and child care , and organization of social life. Social pedagogy as a science of human education, upbringing, and social functioning is a discipline of humanistic and social science. It has an interdisciplinary character shaped on the basis of the knowledge of various sciences, that includes: philosophy of human life, psychology (experimental, social, clinical), general pedagogy, sociology of education, ethics, social policy, family and guardianship law, theory of environmental education (Kamiński, 1974).