How schools do policy : policy enactments in secondary schools

Author / Creator

Ball, Stephen J

Available as

Online

Physical

Summary

"Over the last 20 years, international attempts to raise educational standards and improve opportunities for all children have accelerated and proliferated. This has generated a state of constant c...

"Over the last 20 years, international attempts to raise educational standards and improve opportunities for all children have accelerated and proliferated. This has generated a state of constant change and an unrelenting flood of initiatives, changes and reforms that need to be 'implemented' by schools. In response to this, a great deal of attention has been given to evaluating 'how well' policies are realised in practice - implemented! Less attention has been paid to understanding how schools actually deal with these multiple, and sometimes contradictory, policy demands; creatively working to interpret policy texts and translate these into practices, in real material conditions and varying resources - how they are enacted! Based on a long-term qualitative study of four 'ordinary' secondary schools, and working on the interface of theory with data, this book explores how schools enact, rather than implement, policy. It focuses on: contexts of 'policy work' in schools ; teachers as policy subjects ; teachers as policy actors ; policy texts, artefacts and events ; standards, behaviour and learning policies."--Publisher's website.

Show More