ERIC Number: EJ1371576
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 10
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0963-8253
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Schools White Paper (2022) and 'Regimes of Truth'
Povey, Hilary; Whiting, James
FORUM: for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, v64 n3 p11-20 Aut 2022
In this polemical piece, we begin by arguing that the Schools White Paper (2022) is framed within, and seeks to promulgate, a right-wing 'regime of truth'. We interrogate the vocabulary of the Paper to reveal and challenge its 'truths' -- about the curriculum and its 'delivery'; the testing and examination regime; behaviour; and initial teacher education and the associated pedagogy. We then argue that the requirement for all schools to join 'strong' multi-academy trusts (MATs) is an intimate part of this agenda, not an optional add-on: the Department for Education employs MAT CEOs in every part of the system; MATs operate autocratically; and there is no local democratic control and no local accountability to communities, parents or children. All this reinforces and leaves unquestioned the centralised governmental control of schooling. We end with a call to fight to establish an alternative 'regime of truth' based on respect, reciprocity and democracy.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Position Papers, Educational Policy, Ideology, Trustees, Authoritarianism, Governance, Accountability, Administrative Organization, Democracy
Lawrence Wishart. Central Books Building, Freshwater Road, Chadwell Heath, London RM8 1RX, UK. Tel: 44-20-8597-0090; e-mail: forum@lwbooks.co.uk; Web site: https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/forum
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
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