Where you stand depends on where you sit: The social construction of policy enactments in the (English) secondary school

TY - JOUR

T1 - Where you stand depends on where you sit

T2 - The social construction of policy enactments in the (English) secondary school

AU - Maguire, Meg

AU - Braun, Annette

AU - Ball, Stephen

PY - 2015/8/8

Y1 - 2015/8/8

N2 - Drawing on a study of education policy enactments in four English secondary schools, this paper argues that different ‘types’ of policies call-up different forms of enactments, and that teachers and others who work in schools will have different orientations towards some of these possible ways of ‘doing’ school. Through exploring the ways in which two main policies are being enacted, ‘Behaviour Management’ and ‘Standards and Attainment’, we argue that policy type, power and positionality, space and time constraints, as well as different subjectivities, render policy enactment a more fragile and unstable process than is sometimes documented in policy analysis and implementation studies. Thus, in policy enactment terms, ‘where you stand depends on where you sit’.

AB - Drawing on a study of education policy enactments in four English secondary schools, this paper argues that different ‘types’ of policies call-up different forms of enactments, and that teachers and others who work in schools will have different orientations towards some of these possible ways of ‘doing’ school. Through exploring the ways in which two main policies are being enacted, ‘Behaviour Management’ and ‘Standards and Attainment’, we argue that policy type, power and positionality, space and time constraints, as well as different subjectivities, render policy enactment a more fragile and unstable process than is sometimes documented in policy analysis and implementation studies. Thus, in policy enactment terms, ‘where you stand depends on where you sit’.

U2 - 10.1080/01596306.2014.977022

DO - 10.1080/01596306.2014.977022

M3 - Article

SN - 0159-6306

VL - 36

SP - 485

EP - 499

JO - Discourse (Abingdon): studies in the cultural politics of education

JF - Discourse (Abingdon): studies in the cultural politics of education

IS - 4

ER -