ERIC Number: EJ1388379
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-3831
EISSN: EISSN-1470-1170
Discursive Effects of "Quality" Talk during a Quality Audit in Swedish Municipal Adult Education
Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, v67 n4 p637-649 2023
In transnational policy, directives on how to improve "quality" through auditing flourish. However, more research is needed about how these quality audits affect school personnel in local contexts. This paper has scrutinised the discursive effects of how "quality" is construed in school personnel's comments during a quality audit conducted by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate. By drawing on Bacchi's (2009) WPR approach, such constructs were analysed and interrogated. The results indicate that "quality" is construed as an absence of "warning flags", and thus as compliance with standards. In effect, statements about quality seem to become problem-oriented. Moreover, "quality" is talked about as a responsibility, and in effect the concept becomes invisible. It is also suggested that "quality" is construed as something that both enables and obstructs different kinds of discussion and discernments. It silences what it is possible to say and calls into question the organisation of the adult education system.
Descriptors: Adult Education, Educational Policy, Audits (Verification), Inspection, Educational Quality, Discourse Analysis, Compliance (Legal), Standards, Policy Analysis, Definitions, School Personnel, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Adult Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Sweden
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A