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The power of ideas in shaping European education policy: winners and losers of the 'Europe of Knowledge' agenda

思想在制定欧洲教育政策中的力量：“知识欧洲”议程的赢家和输家

基本信息

批准号：
ES/S011005/1
负责人：
Marina Cino Pagliarello
金额：
$ 13.05万
依托单位：
London School of Economics and Political Science
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2018 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FS011005%2F1
关键词：
power ideas shaping European education

项目摘要

Education is one of the institutions of social policy most responsible for the integration of individuals into society. In a time of severe social tensions and disintegration in Europe marked by high levels of inequality, increasing support for populist leaders, the polarizing effects of radicalisation and extremism, and strong views against immigration, education's integrative role cannot be overestimated. So far, the policy agenda adopted by the European Commission in education has been characterized by a policy orientation underpinned by the concept of the 'knowledge economy' that has in turn shaped Member States' interests in cooperation at the European level (Ertl, 2006). Prominent in this conceptualization is the utilitarian view of education as a tool to improve economic growth and as a solution to Europe's lack of competitiveness (Garben, 2012). Against this background and within the current challenging policy context, there is the risk of overlooking other equally plausible purposes of education, such as education to ensure equality of opportunities to all citizens, promote personal development and democratic values, and improve social inclusion (Trowler, 2003). Although several studies have raised concerns about the implications of the economic orientation of the European education agenda and on the winners of the 'knowledge economy' - a highly skilled and mobile workforce committed to generating economic growth (Verger et al., 2107; Komljenovic and Robertson, 2107) - there has been very limited research on the political-economic causes of this policy orientation. Hence, this research project aims to make a timely and urgent contribution to a field vital for the future of Europe.In order to understand how a particular policy orientation of education emerged, this research builds an original three-stage analytical framework to explore how the consensus around specific ideas about the goals of European education policy was formed, and to identify which powers and interests were at stake. The framework highlights the trajectory through which specific ideas emerge, impact in the political landscape, and become embedded in institutions. It stresses the importance of factors such as the role of individual ideational leadership in triggering policy change, the use of the rhetorical strategies in the policy discourse, and the polysemantic attribute of specific ideas - as in this case the idea of the 'knowledge economy' - of acting as 'coalition magnet', namely their ability to possess several meanings, each of which appeals to the interests or ideals of a particular group that can result in the creation of a supporting coalition (Beland and Cox, 2016). The findings show how a specific problem definition of education as a solution of Europe's lack of competitiveness allowed the European Commission to strategically construct a specific education agenda around the notion of the 'knowledge economy' which also reflected the preferences of powerful economic actors within the European Union, with a marginal role of European trade unions and teachers' associations within this policy process. Building on these findings, this research project brings a distinctive contribution to the field of European studies and to the literature on ideas, as it offers new insights on the conditions under which a problem definition can legitimise actors' power and the development of institutions. At the same time, by addressing the role of ideas in European education policy, this study elucidates how problems are constructed and deconstructed, and how they trigger specific consequences and policy choices. Hence, the findings will provide valuable information to European policy-makers and stakeholders in raising awareness on the potential implications of the elevation of the economic purposes of education over the social ones at a time of growing social tensions and political uncertainties for the European project.

教育是社会政策机构之一，对个人融入社会负有最大责任。在欧洲社会严重紧张和解体的时期，其特点是高度不平等，对民粹主义领导人的支持日益增加，激进主义和极端主义的两极分化效应，以及对移民的强烈看法，教育的融合作用不能被高估。迄今为止，欧洲联盟委员会通过的教育政策议程的特点是以“知识经济”概念为基础的政策取向，这反过来又塑造了成员国在欧洲一级合作中的利益（Ertl，2006年）。这一概念中突出的是将教育视为促进经济增长的工具和解决欧洲缺乏竞争力的办法的功利主义观点（Garben，2012年）。在这一背景下，在当前具有挑战性的政策背景下，有可能忽视教育的其他同样看似合理的目的，如确保所有公民机会平等、促进个人发展和民主价值观以及改善社会包容的教育（Trowler，2003年）。尽管有几项研究对欧洲教育议程的经济导向的影响以及对“知识经济”的赢家--致力于创造经济增长的高技能和移动的劳动力--的影响提出了担忧（Verger等人，2107; Komljenovic and Robertson，2107）--关于这一政策取向的政治经济原因的研究非常有限。因此，本研究课题旨在对欧洲未来的教育领域做出及时而紧迫的贡献。为了理解特定的教育政策取向是如何产生的，本研究构建了一个独创的三阶段分析框架，以探讨围绕欧洲教育政策目标的具体想法的共识是如何形成的，并确定哪些权力和利益受到了威胁。该框架强调了具体想法出现的轨迹，对政治格局的影响，并嵌入机构。它强调了一些因素的重要性，如个人观念领导在引发政策变化中的作用，政策话语中修辞策略的使用，以及特定思想的多语义属性-在这种情况下，“知识经济”的思想-充当“联盟磁铁”，即它们拥有多种含义的能力，每一个都吸引了特定群体的利益或理想，这可能导致建立一个支持联盟（Beland和考克斯，2016）。调查结果显示，如何一个具体的问题定义的教育作为欧洲缺乏竞争力的解决方案，使欧盟委员会战略性地构建一个具体的教育议程围绕的概念，“知识经济”，这也反映了强大的经济行为者在欧洲联盟的偏好，与欧洲工会和教师协会在这一政策过程中的边缘作用。在这些研究结果的基础上，该研究项目为欧洲研究领域和思想文献带来了独特的贡献，因为它提供了关于问题定义可以合法化行为者权力和机构发展的条件的新见解。与此同时，通过解决思想在欧洲教育政策中的作用，本研究阐明了问题是如何构建和解构的，以及它们如何引发特定的后果和政策选择。因此，研究结果将提供有价值的信息，以欧洲的政策制定者和利益相关者在提高认识的教育的经济目的在社会的上升的潜在影响，在日益增长的社会紧张局势和政治不确定性的欧洲项目的时间。