Legitimation, performativity and the tyranny of a ‘hijacked’ word

Clapham, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5066-134X, Vickers, R and Eldridge, J, 2016. Legitimation, performativity and the tyranny of a ‘hijacked’ word. Journal of Education Policy, 31 (6), pp. 757-772. ISSN 0268-0939

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Abstract

Outstanding education is a high level policy narrative in England rehearsed by school leaders, politicians, policy makers and inspectors alike. Lyotard’s (1979) work on the 'legitimacy' of knowledge and performativity, and Foucauldian discourse-based analysis (1972, 1991), are mobilised to examine outstanding. The paper explores how informants in the English state secondary education sector described and experienced outstanding. From examining policy documents and empirical data, the paper suggests that outstanding has become a performative tool "hijacked" by inspection regimes. It concludes that, despite the informants' best efforts, the neo-liberal and performative policy discourses which surround outstanding appear to increasingly wield a disproportionate, even tyrannical, influence upon the English education system.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Education Policy
Creators:	Clapham, A., Vickers, R. and Eldridge, J.
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Date:	2016
Volume:	31
Number:	6
ISSN:	0268-0939
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1080/02680939.2016.1181789 DOI 610902 Other
Divisions:	Schools > School of Education
Record created by:	Linda Sullivan
Date Added:	02 Jun 2016 15:55
Last Modified:	29 Oct 2020 10:19
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27920

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