Tracing Neoliberal Governmentality in Education: Disentangling Economic Crises, Accountability, and the Disappearance of Social Studies
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Running Head: TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY Tracing Neoliberal Governmentality in Education: Disentangling Economic Crises, Accountability, and the Disappearance of Social Studies Pamela Rogers Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctorate in Philosophy degree in Education. Faculty of Education University of Ottawa © Pamela Rogers, Ottawa, Canada, 2018 TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY II Abstract Recent scholarship on the impact of neoliberalism in education centers on the creation of policies, curricula, and programming, positioning education as a system that produces marketable, entrepreneurially-minded, global workers (DeLissovoy, 2015; Peters, 2017). What is less known are the ways in which economic principles and mechanisms work in school systems, and how these changes affect teachers and social studies disciplines. Through a critical discourse analysis of policy and other official education documents, interviews, and focus groups with experienced administrators and social studies teachers in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, I argue that changes in education policy between 1994-2016 have altered the purpose of public education, entangling schooling with economic and accountability goals of the province. The purpose of this qualitative study is threefold: first, using Foucault’s (2008), and later Stephen Ball’s (2013a) theorization, I investigate the extent to which neoliberal governmentality shaped education policy changes in Nova Scotia between 1994- 2016. Second, I examine how these changes implicate educators in practice, including the ways teachers perceive changes to their jobs over the last decade. Lastly, I explore the state of high school social studies in Nova Scotia as a site to test the micro-effects of neoliberalism and governmentality in changing policies and practices in education. I conclude that neoliberal governmentality has emerged in distinct patterns in Nova Scotia, which articulate with specific policy technologies and practices in education. Such patterns include the strategic use of economic and educational crises to forward neoliberal policy reform, the expansion of governmental mechanisms to track student and teacher performance, and the dis-articulation of social studies disciplines from the education system. TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY III Acknowledgements Although writing is ultimately an individual endeavour, I am grateful for the team of people who guided and supported me over the last five years, and am incredibly fortunate to have a circle of mentors, colleagues, family, and friends who have contributed to my work in a multitude of ways. First, I need to thank my supervisor, Timothy Stanley, for helping me bring my unstructured inklings to life. Tim’s unfailing academic mentorship, kind patience, and sense of humor guided me through the trials and tribulations of the research process, and pushed me to write in ways I previously had not explored. I must also thank my committee members, Professors Sharon Cook, Awad Ibrahim, and Lorna McLean for their generous feedback and direction throughout the doctoral process. I owe fellow doctoral student and friend Nichole Grant a special thank you for our (almost) daily conversations, brainstorming sessions, emotional support, and thesis proofreading. Similarly, I would like to thank academic colleagues for their friendship and encouragement: Bryan Smith, Cheryl Thompson, Heather McGregor, Doug Tateshi, and Agata Soroko – I appreciated the process of learning with/from each of you along the way. Completing the writing process would not have been possible if it weren’t for Onai Sharif, my family, and extended network of friends from Nova Scotia, Ontario, and beyond. Your love and support gave me strength and determination. Lastly, I am grateful for the educators who took the time to be involved in my research - without your inspiration this thesis would be one-dimensional. TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY iv Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iii Table of Contents iv List of Tables vi List of Figures vii List of Appendices viii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Unrest in Nova Scotia education: Contract disputes, 2015-2017 1 Researcher rationale: Drawing from experience 3 Objectives and research questions 4 A history of the present: Neoliberal governmentality in education 5 Chapter Overview 7 Chapter 2: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework 10 Pressures 12 Governmentality 13 Neoliberalism 18 Policy 23 Discourse: Practices and Formations 25 Accountability 28 Practice 31 Social Studies 31 Performativity 37 Chapter 3: Methodology and Methods 41 Methodology: Foucault, schema, framework 42 Genealogy: Archaeological beginnings, research decisions 42 Methodological Schema 45 Neoliberal Governmentality 48 Methods 50 Critical Discourse Analysis: Rationale 50 Critical Discourse: Method of Analysis 54 Limitations 58 Focus Groups & Interviews 58 Focus Groups 58 Interviews 60 Participant Recruitment 61 Transcription and Analysis 63 Ethical Considerations 65 Chapter 4: Economic Troubles and Education Reform: Schooling for the Workplace 67 Part One: Genealogy of economic deficits and education reform, 1994-2016 68 Economic deficits and crisis in restructuring: “Jeopardizing the future” 1994-1995 69 Crisis averted: “The best province, in the best country, in the world”, 1999-2005 77 Economic and education crises: The path of education for the economy, 2013-2016 85 TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY V Part Two: Teachers – Teacher Responses to Schooling for the Economy 100 Neoliberalism and Education Politics: “Deficit hysteria” and “butchering education” 101 Schooling for work: Entrepreneurship, multiple pathways to work, “tailoring” education 105 Educational crises: “Schools are failing and a crap survey” 108 Conclusions 111 Chapter 5: Accountability: Mechanisms of Tracking and Surveillance 114 Part One: The development of a concept: Foundations of accountability, 1994-2015 115 Restructuring: A “client-based” approach, 1994 117 Horizons: The global marketplace and teacher expectations, 1995 120 Monitoring and tracking: Accountability through testing and evidence 2002-2005 123 Technologies of surveillance: Teacher performance and hyper-accountability, 2013-2015 133 Part Two: Lived experiences of accountability mechanisms 141 Standardized testing for accountability: “They’re basing my job off of these things?” 142 Principals: Data collection and “praying for improvement” 148 Teachers: Accountability and surveillance mechanisms 160 Conclusions 170 Chapter 6: The “squeezing out” of Social Studies 174 Part One – Social studies policy constructions 175 Social studies as “essential” disciplines: 1994-1995 176 Basics first: Math, reading, and testing, 2002-2005 179 Filling “critical gaps in knowledge”: STEM and the economy, 2014-2015 184 Part Two – Shifts in Curriculum and Programming 194 Advancing curricular choice, decreasing social studies: 2002-2005 195 “It’s just not numbers”: Curricular and structural shifts, 2014-2015 204 Neoliberal models of education: Student choice and market rationalities 211 “The untouchables”: Disciplinary invisibility in a sea of data collecting and testing 212 Conclusion: Social studies invisibility 217 Chapter 7: Conclusions: Neoliberal Governmentality [at] Work 220 A matrix of relations: Articulations of the junctural space 223 Crisis as a neoliberal policy technology 225 Improvement through data: Mechanisms of governmentality and performativity 228 Social studies: Dis-articulated from the education system 234 Final considerations: Limitations and Future research 238 References 243 TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY VI List of Tables Table 1. List and Type of Official and Policy Documents Analyzed p. 51 Table 2. Educator Participants: Pseudonyms and Experience p. 63 TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY VII List of Figures Figure 1. Visual representation depicting the relationship between concepts p. 10 Figure 2. Visual representation of multilayered methodological schema p. 47 Figure 3. PISA Mathematics Scores for Nova Scotia p. 92 TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY VIII List of Appendices Appendix A. Ethics certificate p. 268 Appendix B. Recruitment texts p. 270 Appendix C: Letter of information, focus group p. 272 Appendix D: Letter of information, interview p. 275 Appendix E: Focus group consent form p. 277 Appendix F: Interview consent form p. 278 Appendix G: Sample interview and focus group questions p. 279 Running Head: TRACING NEOLIBERAL GOVERNMENTALITY 1 Chapter 1: Introduction There can be a point, a breaking point, where the pressure is too much and what did not seem possible becomes necessary. Think of when a twig snaps. We might hear that snap as the origin of a movement, as the beginning, but we don’t notice the pressure on the twig. - Sarah Ahmed, Willfulness (2014) I feel like they’re creating this superman, super teacher, super power. The one who doesn’t sleep or need to eat, who focuses. This is what I feel, and more and more and more – if you ask me again I will get back to this, and that’s why I am burned out. We’re all done at this point. We’re just tired. It’s excessive. - Catherine, Teacher (June, 2015) Unrest in Nova Scotia education: Contract disputes, 2015-2017 In July 2015, the contract between public school teachers in the Nova Scotia Teachers Union [NSTU] and the province came up for renewal, and since that time, tensions between the teachers and the government have escalated during contract negotiations.