17. Histories of Education
Paper
Tensions in Temporality: The ‘Use’ of the Past to Govern an Uncertain Future – A Critical Analysis of Education Policies
Ainsley Loudoun1, Sarah Van Ruyskensvelde2
1Maastricht University; 2Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Presenting Author: Loudoun, Ainsley;
Van Ruyskensvelde, Sarah
We live in a future-focused present. The predicted, yet unknown, crises that our world is set to face to the coming decade are undoubtedly salient. In response, governments are increasingly turning to anticipatory governance – a proactive approach to navigate these ambiguous futures (Muiderman et al., 2020). This approach extends beyond general modes of governance, in that it reveals a palpable intent to shape an unpredictable future (Rose & Abi-Rached, 2013).
To aid in this anticipatory mode of governance, policymakers often employ rhetorical strategies, including referencing the past to help defend arguments to shape the future. This tactic is also evident in education policies, where 'educational futures' are emphasised by “projecting the past and present into planning of the future” (Popkewitz, 1997, p. 401). In doing so, these policies instrumentalise the past to govern the future.
Scholars stress that such ‘instrumental uses of the past’ differ from drawing on historical perspectives to analyse contemporary issues (Dougherty, 2009), which remains highly valuable in educational research (Westberg, 2021). Instead, instrumentalising the past, as many future-oriented education policies do, involves “creating different pasts so they match (or not) the futures that we deem preferable” (Galviz, 2022, p. 31). Consequently, the past is used in service of certain ideologies, which not only prompts a biased and incomplete interpretation of history (Hess, 2010), but also risks producing ‘instrumental futures’ (Michael, 2000).
Therefore, this paper will investigate the use of historical narratives in two contemporary and future-oriented policies. Specifically, this study delves into the concept of 'politics of temporality', exploring how the past is instrumentalised to govern and shape future education reform, especially in response to global uncertainties. In doing so, it emphasises the power of supranational organisations in guiding this education reform, particularity within the current knowledge economy.
Utilising recent scholarship of ‘applied history of education’ (cf. Westberg, 2021; Westberg & Primus, 2023) and drawing inspiration from the work of, amongst others, Seixas (2005), who emphasises the need for historical thinkers – policymakers included – to think more historically, this research employs Jörn Rüsen’s staged scheme of development in historical consciousness. This framework identifies four ‘types’ of historical thinking – traditional, exemplary/progressive, critical, and genetic – ranging from basic to more advanced. Thus, the analysis aims to pinpoint the mode of historical consciousness employed in the selected policies, intending to prompt a ‘window of opportunity’ for the development of more sophisticated historical thinking in education policies.
As such, this research has a dual objective: firstly, to unveil instrumental readings of history within contemporary education policies, and secondly, to analyse how these readings may both hinder our understanding of history and serve as rhetorical devices for advocating disruptive futures. In other words, this study aims to uncover both what education policy discourse says and what the discourse does. It argues that instrumentalising the past not only distorts histories of education, but also serves as a powerful tool for policymakers to advance specific agendas in education. Accordingly, this research advocates for a critical reflection on the uses of the past in education policy-making and calls for the development of critical and genetic modes of historical consciousness, arguing that this may facilitate a dialogue among policymakers and historians (of education) in reflecting on educational futures.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis study analyses two policies from differing governing levels – i.e., supra/international and national. These policies were selected based on their future-oriented emphasis, as well as on the skills required to cope with this future, or ‘knowledge imaginary’ (Fairclough, 2003). In doing so, both policies present a “powerful narrative about social change that is driven by economic process” (Seddon, 2009, p. 260).
The first policy selected for this paper, the 'Future of Education and Skills 2030' by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), represents an international discourse. This OECD project encompasses a variety of “scripts’ for reordering society” (Simons & Voß, 2018, p. 31), with one particular policy ‘script’ being selected due to its comprehensive overview of the project. The second policy, 'Ending the Big Squeeze of Skills: How to Futureproof Education in Britain' by the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), provides a national perspective within the European context. This report, part of the ‘Future of Britain’ project, provides recommendations for education reform, emphasising accountability measures and critiquing past shortcomings.
The OECD’s global influence, described as “catalysts for confluence of interests and agendas” (Ydesen, 2021, p. 120), warrants a close examination of its rhetoric and advocating reform. On the other hand, the TBI’s national focus allows for a nuanced exploration of how the past is leveraged to advocate for future reform, aligning with the notion of history being “simplified and telescoped, used mainly to explain problems and failure” (McCulloch, 2011, p. 57). Moreover, with the UK being an OECD member, its policies are likely to reveal rhetorical strategies that align with global, knowledge economy ideals.
To unravel the use of the past within these policies, the analysis was inspired by the work of Fairclough (1989, 2003), particularly his method of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). Discourse analysis, as Taylor (1997) highlights, helps to illuminate how policy ‘problems’ (e.g., ‘future skills’) are being presented within policy agendas (e.g., through uses of the past). Fairclough (1989) demonstrates that CDA can expose power mechanisms within discourse, and particularly how language aids in this governance. As such, Fairclough’s CDA-framework was used to guide the analysis, particularly due to its ability in making visible the uses of the past within policy (‘what the discourse says’), as well as in furthering our understanding of its discursive and governing effects (‘what the discourse does’).
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe analysis reveals that the selected future-oriented education policies predominantly operate from an ‘exemplary/progressive’ mode of historical reasoning – leveraging the past to advocate for future changes. This insight emerged from a thorough examination of each policy, leading to the identification of distinctive themes in their 'use' of the past.
For OECD’s policy, four themes were identified: ‘The past is information for the future’; ‘The past was painful, and education (reform) is the cure’; ‘We have changed, and so should education’; and ‘We will show you where to go’. Notably, the policy uses historical facts and figures, often without adequate historical sources, to justify educational reform and advocate for continual evolution to address current and future challenges. For Britain’s Futureproof Education policy, three themes were identified: ‘Defaming the past, and those who created it’; ‘The past is too old for new economy’; and ‘If we don’t change, we will lose’. This policy document portrays past educational systems negatively, using terms like 'narrow' and 'misguided', to contrast it to the proposed modern, sophisticated reforms. It highlights the imperative for educational change to keep pace with economic and societal developments, stressing the risk of ‘falling behind’ without reform.
Based on this, three overall strategies are recognised and discussed: 'We do not want to repeat history,' 'We are different from our past,' and 'We must change to win.' Through an exploration of these strategies and existing (histories of education) scholarship, this study raises questions about the instrumental use of history in policy, as it potentially oversimplifies and distorts complex historical realities to serve contemporary educational agendas. The study suggests a ‘window of opportunity’ for policymakers to embrace higher levels of historical thinking (Seixas, 2005), allowing for a more nuanced understanding of histories of education, in the collective ‘shaping’ of educational futures.
ReferencesDougherty, J. (2009). Conflicting questions: Why historians and policymakers miscommunicate on urban education. In K.K Wong & R. Rothman (Eds.), CLIO at the table: Using history to inform and improve education policy (pp. 251–262). Peter Lang.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. Routledge.
Fairclough, N. (1989). Language and power. Longman Group.
Galviz, C. L. (2022). The Paris boulevard autrement. In K. Facer, J. Siebers, & B. Smith (Eds.), Working with time in qualitative research: Case studies, theory, and practice (pp. 1–233). Routledge.
McCulloch, G. (2011). The struggle for the history of education (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203828854
Michael, M. (2000). Futures of the present: From performativity to prehension. In N. Brown, B. Rappert, & A. Webster (Eds.). Contested futures: A sociology of prospective techno-science (pp. 21–39). Ashgate.
Popkewitz, T. S. (1997). Educational sciences and the normalization of the teacher and child: Some historical notes on current USA pedagogical reforms. Paedagogica Historica, 33(2), 386–412. https://doi.org/10.1080/0030923970330201
Seddon, T. (2009). Knowledge economy: Policy discourse and cultural resource. In M. Simons, M. Olssen, & M. A. Peters (Eds.), Re-reading education policies: A handbook studying the policy agenda of the 21st century (pp. 257–276). Sense.
Seixas, P. (2005). Historical consciousness: The progress of knowledge in a postprogressive age. In J. Straub (Ed.), Narration, identity, and historical consciousness (pp. 141–159). Berghahn Books.
Westberg, J. (2021). What we can learn from studying the past: The wonderful usefulness of history in educational research. Encounters in Theory and History of Education, 22, 227–248. https://doi.org/10.24908/encounters.v22i0.14999
Westberg, J., & Primus, F. (2023). Rethinking the history of education: Considerations for a new social history of education. Paedagogica Historica, 59(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/00309230.2022.2161321
Ydesen, C. (2021). Extrapolated imperial nationalisms in global education policy formation: An historical inquiry into American and Scandinavian agendas in OECD policy. In D. Tröhler, N. Piattoeva, & W.F. Pinar (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2022: Education, schooling and the global universalization of nationalism (pp. 119–135). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003137801-10
Primary Sources (The selected policies)
Coulter, S., Iosad, A., & Scales, J. (2022). Ending the big squeeze on skills: How to futureproof education in England. Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.
Organisation of Economic and Cooperative Development. (2019). OECD future of education and skills 2030: project background
17. Histories of Education
Paper
Educational Innovation (1970-1990): Tracing the Origins and Development of a Concept
Alberto Sánzchez-Rojo, Tania Alonso-Sainz
Complutense University of Madrid, Spain
Presenting Author: Sánzchez-Rojo, Alberto;
Alonso-Sainz, Tania
Educational innovation is nowadays an indispensable concept when describing and understanding educational systems. It has been a key line of action in the reform processes globally implemented to adapt educational systems to the needs and societies of the 21st century (Caldwell & Spinks, 2013; Hallgarten & Beresford, 2015; Leadbeater & Wong, 2010). It has gained such centrality in the school environment that the OECD has announced what it calls "the imperative of innovation" (2015, p. 16). However, the widespread adoption of educational innovation in discursive and practical levels has not been accompanied by research and analysis efforts, leading to a lack of scientific knowledge regarding its conceptualization.
The term "educational innovation," despite its broad use by individuals from various fields, remains undefined. The word “innovation” is associated with the introduction of something new, implying a novel idea or element for an individual or group, from which a change in a system is derived. In the educational field, such change is associated with an idea of improvement in student learning and the quality of education (Rodríguez & Zubillaga, 2020). It can take the form of a theory, an organizational structure at the school or educational system level, a teaching-learning process, content, methodology, or teaching resource.
However, the term's meaning has not been precisely outlined, resulting in an ongoing lack of consensus and even contradictory meanings (Hill et al., 2022). This ambiguity makes it difficult to focus the debate and distinguish the purposes to which innovation responds. Consequently, although innovation has been established as imperative in current educational discourses, its meaning has remained vague and diffuse, hindering the assessment of its alignment with the quality and equity objectives that shape the global educational agenda for educational systems.
This communication aims to clarify this concept and address the limitation of current discourses and studies. To achieve this, it is necessary to delve into the origins of the term and observe its evolution. In the mid-20th century, there was a sharp interest in educational innovation understood as an improvement in students' academic performance, neglecting a more holistic vision of educational innovation related to human growth. This more integrated conceptualization progressively fades from the mid-20th century onwards in favor of school effectiveness, measuring its effects through educational performance and school profitability (Cogan, 1976). While it is a gradual process, it is primarily from the 1970s onwards when the concept of 'educational innovation' focuses predominantly on factors enabling the improvement of students' learning outcomes. For this reason, we concentrate the study on the meanings attributed to the concept of innovation in scientific research in the educational field between the 1970s and the 1990s.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe methodology employed has been a scoping review (Arksey and O’Malley, 2005). It involves a comprehensive and meticulously structured analysis of the scientific literature available on educational innovation. The search for key references was conducted in several phases. Firstly, a scoping review was conducted in JCR and Scopus as they are the main research databases with impact metrics. The JCR was searched using the term 'innovación educativa' in Spanish and 'educational innovation' in English. In Spanish, 0 results were obtained, and in English, 258 results were found. In Scopus, 0 results were found in Spanish, and 287 were found in English. This search had a disadvantage for the specific search period (1970-1990), as many important journals were not indexed during that time and, therefore, did not appear in the results. For this reason, the search was extended to include Google Scholar and JSTOR. Google Scholar returned 2990 articles in Spanish and 16,400 in English, making it challenging to screen. Therefore, the research team decided to exclude Google Scholar due to the abundance of documents that did not meet minimum scientific quality. This was the reason for choosing JSTOR, whose precision in the type of documents and sources was reliable for the search. In JSTOR, 46 documents were found in Spanish and 2,557 in English. By applying filters for "academic articles" and 'education' as the field of knowledge, the results were narrowed down to 1716 documents. The manual screening was then conducted based on the following criteria: non-university educational scope, non-specific didactic experiences, not focused on a specific discipline, and having a conceptual nature. The result after this screening was 54 documents: 10 in Spanish, 2 in French, and 42 in English. For the content analysis of the 54 selected documents, a table was created with columns for the year, title, authors, journal, key idea of the article – synthesis, innovation concept, models, trends, schools, related words (nomological network), areas of application of the concept (school organization, methodology, teacher training...), comments, and other references worth noting from this article.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsFrom the mid-20th century, but especially from the 1970s onwards, there is a surge in educational innovation linked to factors that enable the improvement of students' learning outcomes (McGeown, 1979), as well as the effectiveness of teaching by educators and school leadership (Kozuch, 1979). However, some authors resist this trend, emphasizing the school's role as a space for cultural transmission (Eisner, 1990), the importance of the teacher's voice (Helsel, 1972), the need to consider contexts rather than isolated elements of the educational system (González Faraco, 1996), advocating for the ethical rather than technical nature of education (Jacob, 1997).
The result is consistent with the initial hypothesis we held regarding the confusion and vagueness of the concept and the clarification that delving into history provides. The conceptual transformations of 'educational innovation' from the 1970s onward represent a concrete manifestation of the school effectiveness movements that emerged in response to the Coleman Report in the mid-1960s. This understanding of innovation focused on teaching effectiveness contrasts with a conceptualization of innovation as human growth and development that predates these years.
In this sense, this communication provides a nomological network of the term 'educational innovation' and its related terms (renewal, change, improvement, progress), contributing to the current context of the imperative for innovation by offering clarification and systematization of the concept.
ReferencesArksey, H. & O'Malley, L. (2005). Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. International journal of social research methodology, 8(1), 19-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000119616
Caldwell, B. J. & Spinks, J. M. (2013). The self-transforming school. Routledge.
Cogan, M. L. (1976). Educational Innovation: Educational Wasteland. Theory Into Practice, 15(3), 220–227.
Eisner, E. W. (1990). Who Decides What Schools Teach? The Phi Delta Kappan, 71(7), 523–526. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20404201
González Faraco, J. C. (1999). El currículum atrofiado: del pensamiento innovador en la práctica docente. Estudio longitudinal de la educación ambiental en Andalucía. REP, nº 213.
Hallgarten, H. V., & Beresford, T. (2015). Creative Public Leadership: How School System Leaders Can Create the Conditions for System-wide Innovation. WISE.
Helsel, A. R. (1972). Teachers’ Acceptance of Innovation and Innovation Characteristics. The High School Journal, 56(2), 67–76.
Hill, K. L., Desimone, L., Wolford, T., Reitano, A. & Porter, A. (2022). Inside school turnaround: what drives success? Journal of Educational Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-022-09450-w
Jacob, E. (1997). Context and Cognition: Implications for Educational Innovators and Anthropologists. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 28(1), 3–21.
Kozuch, J. A. (1979). Implementing an Educational Innovation: The Constraints of the School Setting. The High School Journal, 62(5), 223–231.
Leadbeater, C. & Wong, A. (2010). Learning from the Extremes. Cisco.
McGeown, V. (1979). School Innovativeness as Process and Product. British Educational Research Journal, 5(2), 221–235.
OCDE. (2015). Schooling Redesigned: Towards Innovative Learning Systems, Educational Research and Innovation. OECD Publishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264245914-en
Rodríguez, H. & Zubillaga, A. (Coords.) (2020). Reflexiones para el cambio: ¿Qué es innovar en educación? ANELE.
17. Histories of Education
Paper
Educational Policy and Civil Society Associations: The Configuration of Spanish Education during the Transition to Democracy 1970-1990.
Tamar Groves, Ignacio Navarrete-Sánchez
Extremadura University, Spain
Presenting Author: Groves, Tamar;
Navarrete-Sánchez, Ignacio
For many years the emergence of civil society was seen as an important element in the rise, maintenance and consolidation of democracy around the world (Botchway 2018; Diamond, 1994). Nevertheless, there are differences with regard to what counts as civil society, and how it supports democratization (Edwards, 2009;.Jensen, 2006). There is also research that points out that civic associational life sometimes coexists with authoritarian regimes (Lorch & Bunk, 2017) or that civil society can, under specific conditions, even bring to the faltering of democracy (Sombatpoonsiri, 2020).
Research on the contribution of civil society to democratization highlights that it provides spaces for democratic deliberation and facilitates bringing grassroots issues to public attention due to their inclusion in the public sphere. But civil society is also important to support democracy as it can limit the power of the state. Casanova (2001) highlights the case of church-state interaction maintaining that in situations in which the church is disengaged from the state it contributes to processes of normative contestation in the public sphere. In Spain, due to the death of the dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1975, the Catholic Church was clearly relocated from its privileged role as a close ally of the state to civil society, becoming a central actor. In collaboration with a net of catholic civic associations it mobilized in order to protect its interests, especially in the sphere of education. The 1970 educational reform which was launched under the Franco regime recognised the privileged place of the catholic religion, while the reforms of 1985 and 1990 initiated by the newly elected socialist government installed a lay and public model of state education. This process was accompanied by large scale social mobilizations of teachers, parents and school associations both against and in favour of government educational policy.
In this paper we look at the role of civil society educational organisations in the consolidation of the Spanish democratic educational system. On the one hand we continue with a well-established line of inquiry which shows how educational associations and social movements opposing to the dictatorship and its legacy interacted with state and society in order to impact educational legislation, pedagogical practice and teacher training (Groves, 2014; Groves et al., 2017;Parcerisa et al., 2023). On the other hand, we complement and contrast this analysis with a novel enquiry into the role of catholic educational networks in the configuration of the Spanish education system during this period. The transition to democracy in the 1970s has dissolved their privileged position vis a vi the Franco regime which fused its nationalistic project with Catholicism. Due to the new democratic context they were obliged to reformulate their attitude toward the state which in its turn incorporated, after forty years of social and political exclusion, the world view of progressive social actors. As catholic schools and associations were identified with the barriers for the implementation of a post-dictatorial democratic education, their mobilization and incorporation into civil society has been hardly studied. Thus we know very little about their strategies of influence and interaction with the state.
In this paper we sustain that by comparing the mobilization of the catholic educational network with that of the progressive educational initiatives we can discern how their different position vis a vi the state influenced their educational discourse and legitimacy strategies. This comparison also enriches the understanding of the interaction between the state, civil society and education policy.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedAs our interest lies in the public sphere we mainly look at the press and other publications which can serve to analyse the open discourse adopted by the lay associations of teachers and families identifies with progressive education on the one hand and of the Catholic Church and civil society associations on the other hand. We also analyse oral interviews with activists from both types of organisations and finally when it is possible we look at internal and external correspondence across educational civil society associations.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsBoth groups mobilised in the streets and their activities were widely covered by the media. While the educational progressive lay groups enjoyed open access to government officials and maintained close relationship with the ministry of education, the catholic associations had no direct access to state officials. Many of the ideas echoed by the progressive educational associations penetrated legislation, especially their views about the functioning of schools in what they called a democratic way and the role of teachers as autonomous agents. The catholic organisations had contacts with political figures from the conservative right but they were not directly involved in legislation. As a result, they used the vocabulary of pluralism and democracy to defend the religious character and funding of their schools and appealed to international support to maintain a plural education system which would permit them to maintain authoritarian running of schools and teachers who identify with a specific religious doctrine. Their agenda was also incorporated into the educational legislation, although in a subtler way, fusing their version of democracy with that of the progressive educational civil society associations. We thus hope to show that both types of civic associations, while developing opposing discourses and using distinct strategies, contributed to the consolidation of a democratic education system and a vibrant civil society.
ReferencesCasanova, J. (2001). Civil society and religion: Retrospective reflections on Catholicism and prospective reflections on Islam. Social Research, 1041-1080.
Diamond, L. (1994). Toward democratic consolidation. J. democracy, 5, 4.
Edwards, M. (2009). Civil society. Polity. https://books.google.es/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_RI9uH2sQJgC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=edwards+civil+society&ots=3kS3JCK384&sig=H1N_1W6LVmwsGDwitWShSzhviIw
Groves, T. (2014). Teachers and the Struggle for Democracy in Spain, 1970-1985. Springer.
Groves, T., Townson, N., Ofer, I., Herrera, A., & Parishes, N. (2017). Social Movements and the Spanish Transition. Springer.
Jensen, M. N. (2006). Concepts and conceptions of civil society. Journal of Civil Society, 2(1), 39-56. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448680600730934
Lorch, J., & Bunk, B. (2017). Using civil society as an authoritarian legitimation strategy: Algeria and Mozambique in comparative perspective. Democratization, 24(6), 987-1005. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2016.1256285
Parcerisa, L., Collet-Sabé, J., & Villalobos, C. (2023). The (im)possibilities of an ideal education reform. Discourses, alliances and construction of alternatives of the Rosa Sensat movement in Catalonia. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 55(3), 290-306. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2022.2153813
Sombatpoonsiri, J. (2020). ‘Authoritarian civil society’: How anti - democracy activism shapes Thailand’s autocracy. Journal of Civil Society, 16(4), 333-350. https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2020.1854940
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