Questioning the Language of Improvement and Reform in Education

Nicole Mockler is Associate Professor in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Australia, and a University of Sydney SOAR Fellow 2018-2019. Susan Groundwater-Smith is Honorary Professor of Education at the University of Sydney, Australia, and Chair of the Teacher Education Advisory Board.

"This generous, articulate book reveals how the economic discourse of neoliberalism misconstrues the field and the work of education. It shows what neoliberal discourse does not see, and cannot construe: what education means, for individual persons and for societies. Against the hollow utilitarianism of much contemporary education policy, the authors make a clear and compelling case for renewing, for the 21st century, the aspirations of progressive education to secure ‘a world worth living in’ – in which people practise practical wisdom, and the virtues of ‘respectfulness, steadfastness, grace, courage, generosity, gratitude, and a concern for social justice’."Professor Emeritus Stephen Kemmis, Charles Sturt University."Mockler and Groundwater-Smith have done all of us in the education community a huge service in this timely and important book. By unpicking the pervasive and pernicious international language of ‘reform and improvement’ that now pervades policy discourse across the world, they show carefully and systematically how it undermines the very process of highly quality teaching and learning itself. Based firmly on evidence from three major English speaking jurisdictions (Australia, England and the USA) the book lays bare the hollow nature of so much contemporary educational policy. Instead it argues for a vision of education based on moral values - respectfulness, steadfastness, grace, courage, generosity, gratitude and a concern for social justice. It is a book not to be missed; essential reading for everyone with a passion for genuine education."John Furlong, Emeritus Professor of Education, University of Oxford."This is an important book which engages in a searing, effective critique of the current education policy conditions in the name of ‘decent schooling conditions’ characterised by a sense of humanity, dignity and wide purpose or meaning. The trap of being driven by nostalgia, something so favoured by populists, is also an important warning. I urge you to read it."Professor Colleen McLaughlin, Director of Educational Reform, University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, UK.

• Chapter 1. Language matters Chapter 2. The Language of Reform in Education Policy Chapter 3. The Seduction of Effectiveness Chapter 4. Compliance, Voice and Power Chapter 5. The Language of Reform and Teachers’ Work Chapter 6. The work of learners in the face of curriculum reform Chapter 7. Toward Practical Wisdom Chapter 8. The ‘Mediation’ of Educational Reform and Improvement Chapter 9. Beyond Nostalgia