Politics And The Mediatization Of School Educational Policy

Despite increasing prevalence over the past three decades and a clear impact on school education policy and practice, education’s connection to dog-whistle journalism and politics has not yet been fully explored. Addressing this gap, Politics and the Mediatization of School Educational Policy examines the emergence and current impact of dog-whistle politics and journalism on education in Australia, the US and the UK, questioning what is at stake when this political dog whistle is directed at school educational policy and practice. Exploring common targets for dog-whistling, such as teaching standards, teacher quality and specific curriculum areas, such as history, sex and health education, the book considers the broader social issues of xenophobia and racism, as well as the decline of print media and rise of digital news sources in its place, with each chapter including an in-depth discussion using peer-reviewed literature on the subject. Following the trail of dog whistles impacting in school educational policy and practice across these three countries, this book explores: To what extent is the dog-whistle dynamic embedded in school educational policy and practice? To what extent does the dog-whistle dynamic affect our understanding of school educational policy and practice? How might we explain the continued flurry of dog whistles impacting school educational policy and practice? As the phenomenon of the dog whistle intensifies both nationally and internationally, this timely and thought-provoking book is necessary reading for academics, postgraduate researchers and all members of school communities.

This work attempts a comparative description and analysis, focusing on the US, the UK, and Australia on the topic of the Right, educational policy, and schooling. It adopts as its underlying theme the burning fuse in tracing the topic back to Joseph de Maistre a Rightist who fled revolutionary France to seek safety in the company of Tsar Alexander I’s Russian Empire. Here, he had much to say about school education, not for all, but rather the “deserving” social elite. During the past three or four decades in the US, the UK, and Australia, the Right has been remarkably successful in amassing political power. And in doing so, the right of politics in these countries has reshaped school educational policy and practice, a necessary step in securing the future of the Right as a political force. Moreover, even during the years the Right has been on the opposition benches in these countries, such has been the strength of their political force that governments of the Left have acquiesced to much of their school educational policy. A pioneering effort, this book asserts that to understand school educational policy in the third decade of the 21st century, we need to comprehend the politics of the Right. This book will be of interest to researchers and postgraduate students interested in Education Studies, Theory and Policy, and International and Comparative Education.

Exploring Education Policy Through Newspapers and Social Media offers an original, theorised, and empirically based account of contemporary (re)presentations, (re)articulations, and (re)imaginings of education policy through news and new media. In its thorough exploration of the uses and effects of newspapers and Twitter in education policy, the book provides a detailed, research-based account of media influences, and opens up multiple future research agendas in media sociology and policy sociology in education. The authors place an important, analytical focus on mediatisation and social mediatisation or deep mediatisation, and how both have effects and affects in education policy and politics. Their analyses situate these, sociologically, within changing societies, changing media, and changing education policy. The book also explores the effects of datafication and digitalisation of the social in all forms of media and their manifestations in morphing imbrications between the global, the national, and the local in education policies. This book will be of great interest to researchers, scholars, and higher degree research students in the domains of media sociology and policy sociology of education. It also will be of interest to policymakers and politicians in education, teacher unions, and education activists, journalists, and those concerned about the impacts of the decline in legacy media and the surveillance and commercialisation possibilities of new media.

Despite the Australian Constitution implying school education to be a state responsibility, the Commonwealth has increasingly interfered with state school education. The Australian Government Muscling in on School Education therefore offers a historical account of this government involvement in Australian education, from federation to the present day, providing a much-needed, fully updated and relevant overview the topic. Arguing that education has become an arena for competing political forces, this book examines the powerful influence of the Commonwealth over education and the political motives behind it, exploring how politics influences aspects of the curriculum, teaching standards, assessment and reporting, funding, teacher selection and policy more broadly. Ultimately questioning whether this influence is in the interests of the members of the community who depend on education, the book holds government engagement in education to account. Taking the major epochs of federalism as an organizing framework, the book’s chapters include explorations of: The efficiency dynamic and the progressive years (1919–39) Postwar imperatives and the Menzies years (1949–72) Coordinative federalism and treading softly: the Whitlam years (1972–5) and Fraser years (1975–83) Corporate federalism: the Hawke/Keating years (1983–96) Supply-side federalism and globalization: the Howard years (1996–2007) National control and the Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison years (2007–15) A thorough and significant examination of the historical engagement of the Australian government in education, this book is essential reading for student teachers and postgraduate students in education studies and politics.

This is an assessment of the reluctance of American education institutions to undergo change and reform at a time when it is considered necessary. The lack of public confidence in educational institutions is discussed along with the subsequent consequences.

Shaping Education Policy is a comprehensive overview of education politics and policy during the most turbulent and rapidly changing period in American history. Respected scholars review the history of education policy to explain the political powers and processes that shape education today. Chapters cover major themes that have influenced education, including the civil rights movement, federal involvement, the accountability movement, family choice, and development of nationalization and globalization. Sponsored by the Politics of Education Association, this edited collection examines the tumultuous shifts in education policy over the last six decades and projects the likely future of public education. This book is a necessary resource for understanding the evolution, current status, and possibilities of educational policy and politics.

Governments around the world are trying to come to terms with new technologies, new social movements and a changing global economy. As a result, educational policy finds itself at the centre of a major political struggle between those who see it only for its instrumental outcomes and those who see its potential for human emancipation. This book is a successor to the best-selling Understanding Schooling (1988). It provides a readable account of how educational policies are developed by the state in response to broader social, cultural, economic and political changes which are taking place. It examines the way in which schools live and work with these changes, and the policies which result from them. The book examines policy making at each level, from perspectives both inside and outside the state bureaucracy. It has a particular focus on social justice. Both undergraduate and postgraduate students will find that this book enables them to understand the reasoning behind the changes they are expected to implement. It will help to prepare them to confront an uncertain educational world, whilst still retaining their enthusiasm for education.

Written by a mix of established and rising stars in school politics, policy, law, finance, and reform this comprehensive Handbook provides a three part framework that helps organize this relatively new and loosely organized field of study. A central theme running through the book is how to harness politics to school equity and improvement. Key features include: Thematic Discussions – detailed discussions of key topics in educational politics are organized by themes and competing perspectives. The overarching themes are 1) the goals of the U.S. political system (justice, equity, opportunity, efficiency and choice); 2) the means and resources for reaching these goals; and 3) the political behaviors and compromises that seek to mitigate ideological differences and conflicts of interest. Research Oriented – in addition to summarizing the latest research connected to key topics, each chapter exemplifies and reports on the methods and techniques for further exploration of these topics. Reform Oriented – throughout the book and especially in the summarizing chapter, authors provide suggestions for improving the political behaviors of key educational groups and individuals: unions, superintendents, politicians, school boards, teachers, and parents.