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| 2. |
- Elde Mølstad, Christina, et al.
(författare)
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Comparative reasoning: curriculum making in the 'grey zone
- 2017
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Ingår i: The 45th Congress of the Nordic Educational Research Association (NERA), 23-25 March 2017, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Curriculum making concerns the possibility to decide and prescribe purposes, aims, and contents of schooling, but also how these purposes, aims and contents are legitimized. As such, we see curriculum making from the ‘wide’ interpretation of curriculum. We are in relation to curriculum making especially interested in investigating how some important international actors interact with educational purposes, aims, and contents on a world scale level affecting national level, as well as the very local of educational activities. Hence we are interested in investigating curriculum formulation based on comparative statistical reasoning. The actors we are most interested in are those that have been characterized as ‘grey zone’ actors (Lindblad, Pettersson & Popkewitz, 2015). The idea (and term) of the ‘grey zone’ emerged from a previous review of research and organizations using data from international largeVscale assessments (ILSA) (Lindblad et al., 2015) for comparing education systems. These ‘grey zone’ actors have only at best an indirect mandate in education systems, however they still make explicit statements on how to improve schooling and students’ performances; i.e. a form of curriculum making. It is the indirect mandate combined with relatively strong impact on the governing of education that place these actors in the ‘grey zone’. There are at least three important actors that stood out in terms of activities spread to a world scale level; the McKinsey, the OECD and the Pearson Company, which all have arisen as important nodes for knowledge on what education is perceived as and maybe more importantly, should be. Their position within education is further reinforced by the comparative and data driven aspects of the contemporary society (cf. Pettersson, Popkewitz & Lindblad, 2016). We examine, three, what we call ‘grey zone’ activities involved in curriculum formulation and how a specific reasoning (cf. Hacking, 1992) is used and evolves in these activities: i) the McKinsey producing international reports on educational improvements and developments. Within the terminology of McKinsey recommendations are produced for these purposes: ii) the OECD not only producing ILSA and recommendations, but also producing newsletters where the results of ILSA are mediated and communicated to policy, research and practice: iii) the Pearson Company not only the winner of the open tender to perform PISA 2018, but also the producer of a vast amount of websites for school development within the frameworks of The Learning Curve (TLC) and The Efficacy Framework as well as producing school textbooks. Hence we investigate how these activities frame education defining what content curriculum making should focus on and as such making prerequisites on what education is and should be perceived as. All three of these agencies can be discussed in terms of producing activities important for curriculum making in the ‘wider’ sense of the concept. By analyzing products by the agencies we are in a position to highlight them as important sites for curriculum making on an international level. In our study we especially highlight these products in terms of producing a specific reasoning about education, which creates narratives framing curriculum making on a national as well as on a local school level
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- Foss Lindblad, Rita, 1953, et al.
(författare)
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Higher Education Policy and Changing Transnational Expertise in Sweden : A contribution to the symposium Globalization and The Nordic model - conflicting, resisting and converting tendencies in policy of education
- 2014
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Ingår i: The NERA 2014 Session Program. - : NERA. ; , s. 58-59
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper aims to analyze current impact of transnational organizations and multinational corporations in governance of higher education in Sweden. We put this in context of welfare state restructuring and performative governing by means of indicators and ranking and related to changing policy demands on research and expertise. Are these changes in higher education policy and research policy working in tandem as could be suggested by science - technology studies (Nowotny et al, 2003)? Our study will be based on policy network analysis and identification and analyses of expertise in education policy discourses. We analyze current policy discourses (since 2006 and onwards) giving special attention to what expertise that are referred to in these discourses, as well as the meanings and objects of the expertise concept in use. In relation to our aim of analyzing the impact of transnational organizations and multinational corporations in educational policy making, we refer to the studies on transnational governance by Djelic Sahlin-Anderson (2006) and the increasing use of incomplete organizing (Ahrne & Brunsson, 2010) in higher education. Concepts of "thin descriptions" (Porter, 2012) and potential "looping" (Hacking, 2004) are used here. As a result important changes in higher education governance and expertise are identified. Our analyses lead to a discussion of couplings between governance and research policy in higher education. This paper is attached to the symposium "Globalization and The Nordic model - conflicting, resisting and converting tendencies in policy of education" in Network 21, "Politics of Education and Education Policy Studies". References: Ahrne, G. & Brunsson, N. (2009). Complete and incomplete organisation (Scores Reports 2009:2). Stockholm: University Djelic, M. L., & Sahlin-Andersson, K. (Eds.). (2006). Transnational governance: Institutional dynamics of regulation. Cambridge University Press. Hacking, I. (1995). The looping effects of human kinds. Causal cognition: A multidisciplinary debate. D. Sperber, D. Premack and A. J. Premack. Oxford: Clarendon Press: 351-94. Nowotny, H.; Scott, P.; Gibbons, M. (2003): Introduction: Mode 2'Revisited: The New Production of Knowledge. Minerva, 2003, 41.3: 179-194. Porter, T. M. (2012). Thin Description: Surface and Depth in Science and Science Studies. Osiris, 27(1), 209-226.
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- Foss Lindblad, Rita, 1953, et al.
(författare)
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The Making of the European Higher Education Area; Politics of Knowledge, Research Assessments and University Ranking
- 2011
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Ingår i: European Congress on Educational Research, Berlin 2011.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The making of the “European Higher Education Area” (EHEA) is based on a number of initiatives from a number of actors and networks. We will here put forwards these initiatives and the actions at work. Firstly, we will deal with the making of the “Knowledge Triangle” (KT), where education, research and innovation are assumed to be the interdependent drivers in the making of a Knowledge Society. How is this configured and what tools are at work – e.g. Erasmus and instruments such as U-multirank? Secondly, we go into research assessment exercises and how these construct higher education and research, and their mutual relations. Our study is based on notions of governing and dynamic nominalism. We have analysed documents that are strategic in the construction of EHEA and KT plus analyses of RAE technologies and constructions. This is combined with analyses of ranking instruments as navigation tools and standardization of EHEA. Here, we will focus on Sweden as a case scrutinising three larger universities and their recent use of Research Assessment Exercises and put this in an national and international context. The study is resulting in presenting critical research issues concerning transnational governance in the Europeanization of higher education and research.
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- Lindblad, Sverker, 1946
(författare)
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Europeanization of Higher Education: International Networking and Transnational Governance of Higher Education and Knowledge Production
- 2011
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Ingår i: European Conference on Educational Research, Berlin 2011.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Focus: This symposium concerns the making of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It will deal with initiatives to construct the EHEA and to analyse principles and practices governing the “construct” in context of institutional restructuring and transnational networking. Problem: The EHEA makes visible a new emergent form of governing education through the production as well as reproduction of knowledge. It is a multifaceted on-going construction to shape an European expertise in the “co-production of science and society” (Nowotny mfl, 2001). EHEA is at once the tool and the outcome of new kinds of power-knowledge links, manifested in expressions such as “the knowledge society” or the “knowledge triangle”, as well as in instruments connected to the EHEA, e.g. benchmarking or ranking. Given this, it is vital to identify the dynamics in the EHEA construction, including the working by different agents, networks and tools. Theoretical Framework: The current symposium is based on a dynamic nominalist framework (e.g. Hacking, 2000). The EHEA is by this to be seen as a political construct whose emergent “beings” becomes manifest in and through a manifold of knowledge inscribed practices (e.g. Popkewitz, 2009), with governance embodied in the categorisations and notions of progress as well as the different socio-science networks (Latour, 2005) whose machinery produces evaluations (Foss Lindblad, Lindblad & Popkewitz, 2009), certifications, benchmarking and rankings (e.g. Wedlin, Sahlin, & Hedmo, 2009) and systems of expertise. In current discursive settings and university restructuring, the practices of governance are indeed transnational (e.g Djelic & Sahlin, 2006) with globalizing characteristics such as and international education markets, student flows etc. in on-going fabrication of Europe (Novoa & Lawn, 2000) Methodological comments: The contributions based on analyses of strategic EHEA documents where ways of relating higher education and research to each other is important. This is complemented by analyses of different navigation tools such as rankinglists (e.g. Kehm & Stensaker, 2009) and international networks in order to capture the dynamics at work including issues of standardization, diversification and classification. Expected outcomes: A more clearly identified arena for the EHEA, including agents, networks, tools and systems of expertise. This is important for further studies of the EHEA and in developing research cooperation on the transnational governance of Europeanization of Higher Education. Design of the symposium: Firstly; two papers on Europeanization Initiatives, the Bologna Process will be analysed with specific reference to Spain, followed by an analysis of the making and development of the new EU strategy Europe 2020. Secondly; papers on practises in the making to the EHEA, first comparative analyses of knowledge production and Evidence Based Policy in Higher Education in France, UK and the USA and then on Benchmarking and evaluations of higher education and research and how higher education is constructed in these practices. The last paper is a presentation of research on the space of actors and networks organising and influencing Global Governing of Universities. Thirdly, we discuss symposium contributions in relation to the general problematics and the a research agenda concerning the Europeanization of higher education.
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| 6. |
- Schneuwly, Bernard, et al.
(författare)
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International Comparisons and Dynamics at the Education Policy Agora
- 2017
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Ingår i: EERA. Emerging Researchers' Conference. Copenhagen, August 2017.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The seminars working hypothesis has a lot in common with the well-known hypothesis of Lyotard (1984) saying that when society alters so does the status of knowledge. Knowledge can as such be described in terms of a discourse where legitimation of different kinds of knowledge is put in the fore. This discourse of legitimating knowledge is taking place in societal systems (cf. Luhmann, 1996) where knowledge legitimates itself as well as the systems which harboring legitimacy. In this, the society-science interaction is especially important due to that it acknowledges important relations and settings of power. In the seminar, we are elaborating on how a society-science connection is portrayed in the domain of education where we note how educational knowledge and educational policy is constructed and functioning in tandem in ways similar to the Lyotard hypothesis – when educational knowledge alters so does educational policy, and vice versa. This connection is analyzed based on an analytical use of the conceptual space description of agora (Nowotny et al., 2003), where various activities takes place in which educational knowledge and policy is constructed, framed and disseminated in tandem. Based on historical and empirical investigations we state that one prevailing reasoning (Hacking, 1992, Lindblad, Pettersson & Popkewitz, 2015) necessary for educational knowledge and policy in the contemporary is the notion on comparativism where comparisons such as rankings and hierarchizations between educational systems are in focus and not the qualities of education as such. Comparativism implies a reduction of complexity which is required to maintain a system’s power capability. During the last decades, the dissemination and growth of international large-scale assessments (ILSA) represents a reduction of such complexity. The power of new algorithms and technologies for classifying educational systems at the intersection of international actors and national policy and science, is repeatedly expressed in education policy debates. The emergence of this approach to education has been noted in research (Carvalho, 2012; Grek, 2009), mostly with a focus on relations between different actors at work in different layers and in transnational governance (Ozga, 2012; Djelic & Sahlin-Andersson, 2006). However, few studies have investigated the educational activities for providing educational knowledge and how they together provide major contributions of educational knowledge. Based on such notions, the purpose is to describe and analyze comparativism in education in order to critically examine and clarify what claims and educational reasoning that are put forwards as well as implications for educational design and action. We search for answers to the following set of questions: - how to capture and analyze the emergence of a comparativistic turn in educational research and policy; - how to describe the dynamics of an agora in the making of educational knowledge staged in tandem processes in research and policy; - how do international and national settings and agents interact in educational discourses? These problematics will be elaborated on in the seminar with a specific focus on Nordic contexts (Sweden and Norway) in international perspectives. We approach the problematics by especially observe the function of ILSA in the society-science relations and how these are discussed on the agora leading to tandem processes of policy and research. With the contributions in the seminar we are in a position to highlight some of the relations on how educational knowledge is constructed, framed and disseminated as tandem processes in a situation dissolving the dichotomy of society-science by reducing some of its complexity. When doing so we have the opportunity to analyze the intersection between science and society as an important field of education. We will also raise questions on how these kind of knowledge is perceived by media and public.
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| 7. |
- Apelgren, Britt Marie, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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The reconstruction of Swedish doctoral education over the past 50 years
- 2023
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Ingår i: Society for Reserach in Higher Education 2023.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This chapter reviews and presents doctoral education in Sweden in a national and longitudinal comparative perspective. By exploring and analysing national policy documents as well as twelve institutional General Syllabi for Doctor of Philosophy from the discipline of Education (1971-2021), we present a historical analysis of changes, during the past 50 years, from an independent doctoral apprentice to an employed doctoral researcher. We identified three themes in this development: schoolification, increasing interest in stress management, and relevance in terms of professional competences. It was concluded that Swedish doctoral education is increasingly regulated at the cost of doctoral researchers’ individual autonomy.
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| 10. |
- Foss Lindblad, Rita, 1953, et al.
(författare)
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Changing discourses on qualities of educational research in Sweden : A contribution to the symposium: Educational Research Qualities in Question: Nordic Perspectives on Research Policy and Research Evaluation in Swede
- 2014
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Ingår i: NERA 2014 Session program.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- his is an analysis of discourses educational research quality in Sweden with the aim to highlight different ways to describe and evaluate educational research. Of special interest is here the period 1990-2014 when higher education is in a period of expansion and restructuring with changing demands on research evaluation combined with changing ways of funding higher education institutions and research. The ambition is to define this trajectory with different actors and controversies. The Swedish case will be related to a Nordic (Norway) and an Anglo-Saxon (Australia) case. The study is carried out from a dynamic nominalist perspective (Hacking, 1999) focusing on actors and institutions at work. Issues and controversies will be defined in relation to discourse analyses of policy documents, research reviews of different kinds (research councils, research assessment exercises etc) and on thin and thick descriptions (Porter, 2012) of research. Conclusions: Firstly, educational research assessments are in transition - from internal professional initiatives and collegial decision-making to external administrative initiatives and principles for new public management. Secondly, research evaluation exercises are having an increasing globalizing tendency concerning criteria for research quality and are also increasingly based on international reviewers. Thirdly, there is an ongoing debate on the composition of measurements such as citation impact or peer review. Fourthly, given these tendencies educational research in Sweden is in a a turmoil considering addressees of educational research as well as struggles for research resources with other disciplines and faculties. Given this it is vital to analyze the field of educational research. Relevance to Nordic educational research: this symposium will serve as an input to continuing analyses of educational research policies and formation in the different Nordic countries. Attachment to NERA-network and symposium: Politics of Education and Education Policy Studies Network and the symposium "Educational Research Quality in Question: Research Evaluations and Research Policy in Sweden in a Nordic Perspective"
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