In response to the growing internationalisation and privatisation of education provision and gove... more In response to the growing internationalisation and privatisation of education provision and governance, education policy research needs new tools and methods. This paper discusses theoretical and methodological adaptations needed to address new forms of governance. To do so, it draws from the literature on governance and policy mobility, and the methodological tools of Network Ethnography (NE) and following policy. Attention is shifted from structures to mobilities, focusing on new configurations of social life and relations, which are increasingly "networked". This responsive and adaptive assemblage of research tactics and techniques addresses both the organisation and processes of network relations in the shifting terrain of new education governance.
Drawing on his earlier work on performativity, Ball in this article critically reflects on what i... more Drawing on his earlier work on performativity, Ball in this article critically reflects on what it means today to be an academic in higher education.
Building on the work of others this paper sketches out what a Foucauldian 'education' might look ... more Building on the work of others this paper sketches out what a Foucauldian 'education' might look like in practice, considers some of the challenges, paradoxes and impossibilities with which such an 'education' would face us, and indicates some of the cherished conceits and reiterated necessities that we must give up if we take seriously the need for an education that fosters an orientation to critique and curiosity. Three elements of Foucault's 'philosophical ethos' that might be translated into educational practices are addressed. First, fostering a learning environment that encourages experimentation. Second, enabling the development of an awareness of one's current condition as defined and constructed by the given culture and historical moment. Third, encouraging an attitude or disposition to critique; a focus on the production of particular sorts of dispositions that would be valued and fostered. All of this raises issue about 'the teacher'.
Bourdieu (1986) observes that the existence of a network of connections is not given, rather it i... more Bourdieu (1986) observes that the existence of a network of connections is not given, rather it is "the product of endless effort" required "in order to produce and reproduce lasting, useful relationships that can secure material or symbolic profits" (p. 90). This paper builds on previous research (Ball, 2012, Ball & Junemann, 2012) to explore some aspects of the embodiment of policy. I draw on Larner and Laurie's (2010) work on technocratic expertise and how, as she puts it, "privatisation ideas and practices are transferred in embodied forms," and in particular her argument "that this has significant implications for how privatisation is globalized" (p. 218). Concomitantly, I respond to McFarlane's (2009) assertion that we need to pay much greater attention to the labor of policy work (Gale, 2003). From these starting points, the paper focuses on the "multiple actors, multiple geographies and multiple translations involved in the processes of policy transfer" (Larner & Laurie, 2010, p. 225) and, more generally, how these actors play a part in the neoliberalization of education or, to paraphrase Rankin (2003), in "anchoring neoliberalism" (p. 709). I begin and end with discussions of research concepts, research method, and their interrelation: that is, policy networks, policy ethnography, and policy mobility. The central section is mainly devoted to a presentation of various data to adumbrate one part of a global education policy network with a focus on India (and the Indian Education Reform Movement [IERM]) and on one network participant.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Every time I read Ball’s work on Foucault, I cannot but admire the way he can discuss complex not... more Every time I read Ball’s work on Foucault, I cannot but admire the way he can discuss complex notions and issues in such an accessible and clear way. This book is not an exception: it is a clear exposition of Foucault’s work and its relevance to education policy that will be useful for many researchers, teachers and students who want to engage with Foucauldian notions and tools in educational research. But the book does much more than that. It offers in my view a very interesting genealogical exploration of education policies in the UK and it does it at a very timely moment indeed. From the very beginning of the book, I was interested in the question Ball raises in relation to the need for such a book to be written in the first place. As I was reading the book, this question kept coming back but by the end of the book I think I got the answer. Although the book does not explicitly puts it in this way, I do think that it makes a persuasive argument that we actually need to think with Foucault about the current state of affairs in education in general and education policy in particular. There are many reasons for this. One important reason in my view is the fact of the ongoing publication and translation of Foucault’s lectures at the Collège de France, which have thrown new light on how and why to read Foucault. I truly think that the publication of the lectures is ‘an event’ in the Foucauldian scholarship that asks for more consideration and responses from diverse disciplinary areas and fields and education is one of them. Indeed, there are many things that these lectures make us rethink:
Reimagining the Purpose of Schools and Educational Organisations, 2015
teachers, parents and students will have to accept challenges and demonstrate a readiness to lead... more teachers, parents and students will have to accept challenges and demonstrate a readiness to lead and adapt. There are many risks and costs to be borne here, and there will be failures and deadends. Nevertheless the risks of not struggling against ignorance and for educational change are greater, in particular for those who bear the costs of things as they are now in education.
Social Policy Review 23Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2011
... see Ball, 2007) to create Mpb Education, a full-service education and building services compa... more ... see Ball, 2007) to create Mpb Education, a full-service education and building services company. ... Nottingham spent£ 5.3 million on the Malaysia campus, and it owns a 29.1 per cent ... and through which different places are constructed as facing similar problems in need of similar ...
In response to the growing internationalisation and privatisation of education provision and gove... more In response to the growing internationalisation and privatisation of education provision and governance, education policy research needs new tools and methods. This paper discusses theoretical and methodological adaptations needed to address new forms of governance. To do so, it draws from the literature on governance and policy mobility, and the methodological tools of Network Ethnography (NE) and following policy. Attention is shifted from structures to mobilities, focusing on new configurations of social life and relations, which are increasingly "networked". This responsive and adaptive assemblage of research tactics and techniques addresses both the organisation and processes of network relations in the shifting terrain of new education governance.
Drawing on his earlier work on performativity, Ball in this article critically reflects on what i... more Drawing on his earlier work on performativity, Ball in this article critically reflects on what it means today to be an academic in higher education.
Building on the work of others this paper sketches out what a Foucauldian 'education' might look ... more Building on the work of others this paper sketches out what a Foucauldian 'education' might look like in practice, considers some of the challenges, paradoxes and impossibilities with which such an 'education' would face us, and indicates some of the cherished conceits and reiterated necessities that we must give up if we take seriously the need for an education that fosters an orientation to critique and curiosity. Three elements of Foucault's 'philosophical ethos' that might be translated into educational practices are addressed. First, fostering a learning environment that encourages experimentation. Second, enabling the development of an awareness of one's current condition as defined and constructed by the given culture and historical moment. Third, encouraging an attitude or disposition to critique; a focus on the production of particular sorts of dispositions that would be valued and fostered. All of this raises issue about 'the teacher'.
Bourdieu (1986) observes that the existence of a network of connections is not given, rather it i... more Bourdieu (1986) observes that the existence of a network of connections is not given, rather it is "the product of endless effort" required "in order to produce and reproduce lasting, useful relationships that can secure material or symbolic profits" (p. 90). This paper builds on previous research (Ball, 2012, Ball & Junemann, 2012) to explore some aspects of the embodiment of policy. I draw on Larner and Laurie's (2010) work on technocratic expertise and how, as she puts it, "privatisation ideas and practices are transferred in embodied forms," and in particular her argument "that this has significant implications for how privatisation is globalized" (p. 218). Concomitantly, I respond to McFarlane's (2009) assertion that we need to pay much greater attention to the labor of policy work (Gale, 2003). From these starting points, the paper focuses on the "multiple actors, multiple geographies and multiple translations involved in the processes of policy transfer" (Larner & Laurie, 2010, p. 225) and, more generally, how these actors play a part in the neoliberalization of education or, to paraphrase Rankin (2003), in "anchoring neoliberalism" (p. 709). I begin and end with discussions of research concepts, research method, and their interrelation: that is, policy networks, policy ethnography, and policy mobility. The central section is mainly devoted to a presentation of various data to adumbrate one part of a global education policy network with a focus on India (and the Indian Education Reform Movement [IERM]) and on one network participant.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this p... more The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
Every time I read Ball’s work on Foucault, I cannot but admire the way he can discuss complex not... more Every time I read Ball’s work on Foucault, I cannot but admire the way he can discuss complex notions and issues in such an accessible and clear way. This book is not an exception: it is a clear exposition of Foucault’s work and its relevance to education policy that will be useful for many researchers, teachers and students who want to engage with Foucauldian notions and tools in educational research. But the book does much more than that. It offers in my view a very interesting genealogical exploration of education policies in the UK and it does it at a very timely moment indeed. From the very beginning of the book, I was interested in the question Ball raises in relation to the need for such a book to be written in the first place. As I was reading the book, this question kept coming back but by the end of the book I think I got the answer. Although the book does not explicitly puts it in this way, I do think that it makes a persuasive argument that we actually need to think with Foucault about the current state of affairs in education in general and education policy in particular. There are many reasons for this. One important reason in my view is the fact of the ongoing publication and translation of Foucault’s lectures at the Collège de France, which have thrown new light on how and why to read Foucault. I truly think that the publication of the lectures is ‘an event’ in the Foucauldian scholarship that asks for more consideration and responses from diverse disciplinary areas and fields and education is one of them. Indeed, there are many things that these lectures make us rethink:
Reimagining the Purpose of Schools and Educational Organisations, 2015
teachers, parents and students will have to accept challenges and demonstrate a readiness to lead... more teachers, parents and students will have to accept challenges and demonstrate a readiness to lead and adapt. There are many risks and costs to be borne here, and there will be failures and deadends. Nevertheless the risks of not struggling against ignorance and for educational change are greater, in particular for those who bear the costs of things as they are now in education.
Social Policy Review 23Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2011
... see Ball, 2007) to create Mpb Education, a full-service education and building services compa... more ... see Ball, 2007) to create Mpb Education, a full-service education and building services company. ... Nottingham spent£ 5.3 million on the Malaysia campus, and it owns a 29.1 per cent ... and through which different places are constructed as facing similar problems in need of similar ...
This chapter offers a general overview of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government'... more This chapter offers a general overview of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government's education policy (2010-2015) and attends to some specific features and trends. It has not been possible to comment directly on the early years, further and higher education as our emphasis is on the compulsory sector. However, the main trends and emphases with coalition policy were played out in those other sectors in specific ways. We also point to some of the relationships between coalition education policy and that of the Conservative government elected in May 2015 and offer some initial thoughts on the first 100 days of the new government.
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Papers by Stephen Ball