Call for papers | Institutional Discourses of Authority on the School and the Education Systems: Circulation and (Re)production of Meanings in Education Research

2022-06-07

Guest editors: Luís Manuel Bernardo (CHAM, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal), Daniel Bart (Théodile-CIREL, Université de Lille, France) and Teresa Teixeira Lopo (CeiED-OP.Edu, Universidade Lusófona, Portugal)

 

Introductory note 

Several authors have underscored the effect of international institutions’ discourses on the School and the education systems in national discourses, focusing, above all, on the discourses produced by institutions without legal mandate, in which the discourse acts as means of communication and influence for the definition, legitimation and recognition of their authority[1]. Other studies, centred on the analysis of how these texts work, have highlighted their loss of meaning due to discursive reduction, reinforcing a depoliticized vision of education, or one close to common sense, and the contradiction between these discourses’ claim to a scientific basis and the tautologic nature, the truisms and even the nonsense revealed by their statements[2].

Within the scope of this call, we see the authority discourse on the School and the education systems in a broad sense, in other words, as a discourse which is capable of establishing itself as manner of evidence, of neutrality and of consensus as well as, at the same time, a deterrent of questioning and discussion[3]. From a conceptual distinction in which the text names the artifact/document and the discourse the means for action, what the text produces when it manifests itself in a discourse instance[4], we situate the institutional discourse as a type of authorised discourse on education capable of producing recognition, visibility or a specific prominence, according to their enunciators’ inscription in a specific discursive community/institution. Within this framework, we welcome contributions to this dossier that problematize the following aspects (the list is not exhaustive):

  1. How discourse works and the mechanisms used to construct authority in institutional discourses on the School and/or education systems;
  2. How institutional authority discourses are received by the scientific community of education sciences, and the effects produced in the discourses of education research;
  3. The counter discourse on the School and/or education systems, its discursive functioning and limits;
  4. Specific cases and contexts where authority discourses in education are used or discussed;
  5. Representations, figures, agents, types of texts susceptible of generating authority discourses in education;
  6. The contribution of education researchers for the different forms of institutional authority discourses on the School and education systems: reports from national or international organisations, curricula, school assessments, professional prescriptions, textbooks, teacher training, etc.;
  7. The positionings and circulation of actors in education (researchers, experts, politicians, leaders, teachers, trainers, activists, etc.) in the places where authority discourses on the School are prepared, and the questioning of their frontiers.

 

Languages of submission: Portuguese, French, English, Spanish

 

Important dates:

Submissions: until 30 November 2022

Reviewing: until 28 February 2023

Publication: in the first half of 2023

 

Authors should submit a proposal of between 30,000-40,000 characters (including spaces), and inclusive of abstracts in Portuguese, French, English and Spanish (1200-1500 characters including spaces), graphs, tables, images, footnotes and references (limited to 25).

The submission rules can be found at: https://revistas.ulusofona.pt/index.php/rleducacao/about/submissions

Proposals should be sent to: rle.call.dtd@gmail.com

All manuscripts will be submitted to the Editorial Board of the journal and will be subject to a double anonymized review process. However, the guest editors reserve the right to make the final decisions regarding publication. A total of seven papers will be selected for this thematic dossier.

[1] See for instance: Berkovich, I., & Benoliel, P. (2020) The educational aims of the OECD in its TALIS insight and lesson reports: Exploring societal orientations. Critical Studies in Education, 61(2), 166-179; Lopo, T.T. (2021). The political decision on Portugal’s entry into PISA: A research note. Policy Futures in Education,19(6) 723-729; Mundy, K., Green, A., Lingard, R., & Verger, A. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of global education policy. Wiley-Blackwell; Robertson, S. (2012). Placing teachers in global governance agendas. Comparative Education Review, 56(4), 584–607.

[2] See for instance: Bart, D. (2015). Le discours de la recherche dans le Programme international de suivi des acquis des élèves: Un mode d’exposition pour un effet d’imposition? Revue Française de Pédagogie, 191(2), 89-100; Bart, D., & Daunay, B. (2016). Les blagues à PISA. Le discours sur l’école d’une institution internationale. Éditions du Croquant; Bernardo, L. M. (2010). À volta da hibridez discursiva: Questões de textualidade e educação. Itinerários de Filosofia da Educação, 9, 119-152; Bernardo, L. M. (2016). Mal-estar na educação: O declínio do humanismo. In M. G. Alves, L. L. Torres, B. Dionísio, & P. Abrantes (Eds.), A educação na Europa do Sul, constrangimentos e desafios em tempos incertos (pp. 42-56). FCSH-UNL; Perrot, M.-D. (2001). Mondialiser le non sens. L'Age d'Homme.

[3] See for instance: Krieg-Planque, A. (2017). Analyser les discours institutionnels. Armand Colin; Monte, M., & Oger, C. (2015). La construction de l’autorité en contexte. L’effacement du dissensus dans les discours institutionnels. Mots. Les langages du politique, 107, 5-18; or Oger, C. (2021). Faire référence. La construction de l’autorité dans le discours des institutions. Editions EHESS.

[4]According to: Oger, C., & Ollivier-Yaniv, C. (2003). Analyse du discours institutionnel et sociologie compréhensive: Vers une anthropologie des discours institutionnels. Mots. Les langages du politique, 71, 125-145; see also: Saarinen, T. (2008). Position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research. Studies in Higher Education, 33, 719-728.