99. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Paper
Rural Education Modernization in China: Exploring Temporality in Education Policy
Hanyue Zhong
University of Melbourne, Australia
Presenting Author: Zhong, Hanyue
This paper uses China’s education policy to explore the concept of temporality which is a relatively new and under-theorized conception in the field of education policy (Lingard, 2021). Drawing upon historical sociology, this paper aims to contribute to the field by investigating the temporal construct of China’s policy discourse on ‘education modernization’. Temporality highlights the messy entanglement of times which enables policy analysts to reflect on the main theme of this conference “how the past endeavor, current realities, and future hopes” are intertwined together, exerting a profound impact on education policymaking. Temporality provides a critical approach to deconstructing the problem, context, and history that are assumed and constructed by a policy. Regarding the temporal dimension, “education modernization”, a dominant discourse in China's education policy landscape, is an intriguing combination of discourse to examine. The strategic vision plan titled: China Education Modernization 2035 puts “education modernization” as the key word for China’s future education, while the discourse has a strong link with the historical memory of twentieth-century China, embracing the struggles associated with resisting colonialism and building an independent modern nation-state. Modernization thus becomes a temporal discourse where multiple temporalities are conflated; the past and the future of the nation converge in this discourse at present. This temporal dimension of the education modernization policy discourse underscores a need to go back to the history of China’s education modernization to find some answers to the following questions: What are the assumptions and presuppositions of this temporal construct, the ‘modernization’ discourse? What are the relationships between the history and the present that are mobilized by this discourse? This paper critically examines the history of rural education modernization to shed light on the current education modernization policy, identifying two temporal threads: the rural as a problem and the rural as a modernization plan. It reveals how the discourse acts as a governing technique that mobilizes history to construct a mission for the nation, thereby providing historical legitimacy for the party-state and its policy. However, the government is trapped in the underlying homogenous narrative of modernization because the hegemonic thinking of modernization marginalizes potential empowering voices, such as those of the rural. The case of China demonstrates how the past and ongoing agenda of modernization, and the deep-rooted belief in it, has a profound and enduring impact on education policy. It showcases how modernization constitutes and constructs a sophisticated temporal construct that underpins education policy. The process of unpacking history to analyze current policy highlights an innovative dimension (temporality) and method (historical sociology) for education policy analysis. The findings illustrate not only how the current unequal situation of the marginalized voices is normalized by the modernization agenda, but also how the current marginalized voices, such as the rural, can be an empowering force that enables an empowering lens in the metro-centric world.
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThe paper adopted historical sociology as the method. A historical sociology approach emphasizes the ‘social embeddedness’ of education (Seddon et al., 2017); that is, a certain form of education can be unfolded as a particular historical formation of social practices, concepts, and inquiry (Seddon et al., 2017). The formulation of educational discourse is basically anchored by a certain way of understanding society and the world (McLeod, 2017). Disentangling the historical ‘embeddedness’ of education is to reveal how history constitutes the anchoring framework of today’s policy agenda in order to push the constraining boundaries or reframe the path of inquiry.
Four educational reforms in four historical periods were selected for analysis as all are included in the contemporary narrative of education modernization. These educational reforms assisted in identifying all key milestones recognized by Chinese rural education research; they will be discussed chronologically, although this is not a historical review. The objective of case selection is to contrast four distinct historical configurations: China in imperial, republican, revolutionary, and reform time. The questions that guide the history analysis are: how are ‘modern’ and ‘tradition’ perceived in these education reforms? How is ‘rural’ positioned in these reforms? The education reform periods include (a) the 1900s, the establishment of the modern education system, imperial China, the Qing dynasty; (b) the 1930s, the rural construction movement, Republican China, the Kuo Ming Tang (KMT) government; (c) the 1960s, revolution PRC, the CCP government; (d) the 2000s, reform PRC, the CCP government.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe paper firstly illuminates how history is bound up in the policy discourse thereby cloaking the differences of different regimes in the past and constructing a unified destiny of the nation for the future. By allying with another powerful discourse, the great rejuvenation of China’s nation, modernization discourse can mobilize the historical memory of colonial history. The vision for future education is thus discursively associated with the colonial past through the same mission, that of modernization, which constructs a destiny for the nation, making advances to avoid colonization and humiliation (Meinhof, 2017). It is because of the humiliation, crisis, and threats in the pre-modern past that the future of modernization assumed in the policy is desirable. From this, China’s case demonstrates how education policy is underpinned by a particular temporal construct. Policy is built upon certain historical and cultural assumptions and temporal arrangements, which highlights an innovative dimension for policy analysis.
This analysis has significant implications on how the rural is perceived in education policy, joining the current discussion about rurality and policy (Cruickshank et al., 2009; Beach & Öhrn 2023). By examining the history, there are two temporal threads throughout the four reforms: the rural as a problem and the rural as a modernization plan. Particularly, there is a strong link between national identity and rurality thus the rural is positioned as a valuable resource that has been integrated into modernization plan to counter colonial power in history. This tread enables us to reflect on the seemingly contrasting relation between rurality and modernity especially metro-centricity has been a global phenomenon found in different countries and regions (Beach et al, 2019; Corbett, 2010; Roberts & Cuervo, 2015; Gristy et al., 2020). China’s case offers an empowering lens to see rural education in this modern and metro-centric world.
ReferencesBeach, D. & Öhrn, E (2023) The community function of schools in rural areas: Normalising dominant cultural relations through the curriculum silencing local knowledge, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2023.2298466
Beach, D., Johansson, M., Öhrn, E., Rönnlund, M., & Per-Åke, R. (2019). Rurality and education relations: Metro-centricity and local values in rural communities and rural schools. European Educational Research Journal, 18(1), 19-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474904118780420
Corbett, M. (2010). Standardized individuality: Cosmopolitanism and educational decision‐making in an Atlantic Canadian rural community. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 40(2), 223–237. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057920903546088
Cruickshank, J., Lysgård, H.K. and Magnussen, M.-L. (2009), The logic of the construction of rural politcs: political discourse on rurality on Norway. Geografiska Annaler Series B, Human Geography, 91: 73-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0467.2009.00307.x
Gristy, C., Hargreaves, L., & Kučerová, S. R. (2020). Educational research and schooling in rural Europe: An
engagement with changing patterns of education, space and place. IAP.
McLeod, J. (2017). Marking time, making methods: Temporality and untimely dilemmas in the sociology of youth and educational change. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 38(1), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2016.1254541
Meinhof, M. (2017). Colonial temporality and Chinese national modernization discourses. InterDisciplines. Journal of History and Sociology, 8(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.4119/indi-1037
Roberts, P., & Cuervo, H. (2015). What next for rural education research? Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 1–8.
Seddon, T., Julie, M., & Noah, S. (2017). Reclaiming comparative historical sociologies of education. In World Yearbook of Education 2018. Routledge.
99. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)
Paper
The Manifestation of Middle Manager Power - Power over, Power to and/or Power with?
Linn Antonsson
Umeå University, Sweden
Presenting Author: Antonsson, Linn
The ECER 2024 call for proposals states that ‘Social, political, and economic problems have significant impacts on education and educational research.’ Accordingly, there is a need to investigate who has the power in education, and who can come to terms with present challenges and provide hope for the future. The truth is in all probability that there is a range of powerful actors in education.
In this paper middle managers in local education administrations constitute key actors. The chief education officer delegates assignments, and power, to the middle managers. What is delegated may be regulated in writing or an oral agreement between the chief education officer and the middle manager. Institutional structure and relationships are believed to be important factors to expand or limit the acquisition of power. How the local education administration is organised, what the middle manager mandate entails and the extent of autonomy available generate diverse powers. Given their position in their respective organisations, in between the chief education officers and head teachers, we can assume that middle managers possess power, but what kind of power requires more research. Departing from the concept of power the paper aims to answer the research question ‘What kind of power do middle managers in local education administrations exercise?’
There is a general understanding that bureaucratic power is located at the highest point of a hierarchy. Peters et al. (2016) however maintain that significant power resources reside with those further down the hierarchy as they are equipped with expertise and knowledge. In Sweden, the local governments, and in particular local education administrations, play a vital role in the governance of education. Furthermore, local self-governance is pronounced. Local governments differ considerably in terms of size, demography and resources, this fact, coupled with the freedom to independently decide on ways of organising generates unique local administrations. There is not one single way that local governments make use of middle managers. What is known is that school leaders have increased in numbers in both local education administrations and at the school level because of larger school units and due to more leadership duties and strengthened administrative control (Ärlestig & Leo 2023). Today many Swedish local education administrations house middle managers and have one, or several, layers of middle managers between the chief education officer and head teachers. There are different middle managers, here school form managers and school area managers are in focus.
There are different ways to understand power. The research question will be answered utilising the concepts power over, power to and power with (cf. Högberg 2007, Pansardi & Bindi 2021, Pansardi 2012). The first refers to power over other human beings while the second concerns the power to do things generally, and the third refers to how a group can work jointly to reach shared outcomes or goals (Pansardi & Bindi 2021, Pansardi 2012). Moreover, the paper centres on both hard and soft powers. While hard power includes financial power and the ability to employ and make employees redundant soft power takes account of attracting others to move in a certain direction. Hard power is about coercion whereas soft power is about incentives (Nye 2010).
Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources UsedThis study rests on qualitative data. Interviews were conducted in the spring of 2023 with education officers in four local education administrations. Interviews have been conducted with chief education officers, middle managers and head teachers. A total of 18 interviews were conducted, their length ranging from 35 to 97 minutes. The local governments are located in different parts of Sweden, and they are of various sizes. To be selected the local government was required to have a minimum of one local education administration (there are local governments without education administrations) and a minimum of one organisation layer of middle managers. Three of the local education administrations selected have one layer of middle managers between the chief education officer and head teachers while one has two layers. The informants participated in individual semi-structured interviews most of which were conducted in their respective workplaces and some on Zoom. The themes covered in the interviews included background questions on education and working life, the organisation of the local education administration, function and mandate, relationships at the workplace, autonomy and, finally, governance and power. Regardless of whether the informant worked as a chief education officer, middle manager or head teacher; the middle manager role was at the heart of the conversation. For this paper, the parts related to perceptions concerning power will be in focus. Power will be analysed using three forms of power: power over, power to and power with. The paper does not have a generalising ambition, rather, the objective is to present how power can be utilised in various ways by middle managers in various contexts.
Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or FindingsThe data has been categorised and preliminary results indicate that there are various manners to exercise power. Middle managers exercise power over, power to and power with. Power is a loaded term with various connotations. One informant does not want to admit to exercising power but recognises her/his influence. Simultaneously power is recognised as important.
As indicated, all three forms of power surface in the interviews. In the case of heads of local governments they should not make decisions without negotiations with local councillors (Högberg, 2007), middle managers in turn may require the support of senior local government officers to exercise decision-making. The chief education officer, and other superordinates, directly or indirectly influence whether middle managers have power over, power to or power with. In one of the local education administrations working as a unit is emphasised (power with). In another hierarchy, not circumventing levels, is considered essential (power over). Moreover, power comes with the position. Being an education officer is a position of power which can entail both power over and power to. In an interview, it is stressed that knowledge is power; power to. There are further examples of power to, for instance, some officers have power over the budget. Furthermore, middle managers prioritise among policies. The three categories enable problematising power or lack thereof. In one of the administrations, the chief education officer and the middle managers work as a team. Either power with truly entails a distribution of power or merely disguises that the chief education officer holds the most power and is unwilling to delegate. My presentation will elaborate on the manifestation of middle manager power; more specifically, how middle managers, and their superordinates and subordinates, perceive them to exercise power over, power to and power with.
ReferencesHögberg, Ö. 2007. Maktlösa Makthavare: En studie om kommunalt chefskap. Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University.
Nye, J. S. Jr. 2010. The Powers to Lead. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pansardi, P. 2012. “Power to and power over: two distinct concepts of power?” Journal of Political Power, 5 (1), 73-89.
Pansardi, P. & Bindi, M. 2021. “The New Concepts of Power? Power-over, Power-to and Power-with, Journal of Political Power”, 14:1, 51-71.
Peters, B. G., Erkkila, T. & Maravic, P. v. 2016. Public Administration: Research Strategies, Concepts, and Methods. New York: Routledge.
Ärlestig, H. & Leo, U. 2023. “Sweden – Good Will on All Governance Levels is not Enough to Create Sustainable Improvement”, in Gunnulfsen et al. (eds.) Education and Democracy in the Nordic Countries. Switzerland: Springer Nature.
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