Policy as Assemblage

Abstract

In this article, the author tells the story of her search for appropriate tools to conceptualise policy work. She had set out to explore the relationship between the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Australia's education policy, but early interview data forced her to reconsider her research question. The plethora of available models of policy did not satisfactorily accommodate her growing understanding of the messiness and complexity of policy work. On the basis of interviews with 18 policy actors, including former OECD officials, PISA analysts and bureaucrats, as well as documentary analysis of government reports and ministerial media releases, she suggests that the concept of 'assemblage' provides the tools to better understand the messy processes of policy work. The relationship between PISA and national policy is of interest to many scholars in Europe, making this study widely relevant. An article that argues for the unsettling of tidy accounts of knowledge making in policy can hardly afford to obscure the untidiness of its own assemblage. Accordingly, this article is somewhat unconventional in its presentation, and attempts to take the reader into the messiness of the research world as well as the policy world. Implicit in this presentation is the suggestion that both policy work and research work are ongoing attempts to find order and coherence through the cobbling together of a variety of resources.

Doing state policy at preschool: An autoethnographic tale of universal access to ECEC in Australia

“…We draw upon the https://www.education.gov.au/national-partnership-agreements 2 https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/about-us/statistics-and-research/public-reviews-and-enquiries/review-of-nsw-government-funding-for-early-childhood-education/review_nsw_gov_funding_ece.pdf 3 https://www.scseec.edu.au/site/DefaultSite/filesystem/documents/Reports%20and%20publications/EC%20Publications/NP_UAECE%20Review-220415.pdf 4 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-05/federal-government-to-commit-milions-to-preschool-extension/5722836 5 https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/what-we-offer/regulation-and-accreditation/early-childhood-education-care/useful-links/20117--Guidelines-for-Preschools-600-hours-incentive.pdf 6 https://www.federalfinancialrelations.gov.au/content/npa/education/national-partnership/2016_2017_universal_access_NP.pdf 7 https:/ccccnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/broadside-09-10-16.pdf notion of 'policy assemblage' (Clarke et al, 2015;Gorur, 2011) and the argument that we need to "understand the untidy and apparently chaotic and complex processes involved in the 'doing' of policy" (Gorur, 2011, p. 613). Gorur prefers the term 'doing policy' over 'policymaking' because it challenges traditional approaches to policy analysis that paper over the ad hoc and provisional conditions of policy with rational-realist accounts.…”

“…For Gorur (2011), "phrasing the question in terms of 'doing policy' makes room to explore the many sites, processes, practices and actors that might be involved in policy being 'done'. It leaves open the question of how agency is mobilised" (2011, p. 614).…”

“…Rather, we are interested in exploring the perspective of a preschool, and principally its director, that has been involved in universal access. This is a bottom-up view of policy that enables us to obtain insights into the dynamic, emergent and often ad hoc nature of doing policy (Gorur, 2011). It might be easy to suggest, based on the policy of universal access and the increased national investments made to ECEC, that the growing international importance of ECEC has had an effect on the status of the field in NSW.…”

“…These stories are accounts of how she and her colleagues have worked through government policies. We have analysed her notes and experiences, which portray an instance of 'doing policy' (Gorur, 2011), and are experiences potentially shared by others in the sector (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2011). Jannelle also belongs to different egroups and a directors' group that discusses issues that matter to them.…”

“…While she does not quote these discussions, her summaries of what was discussed and how, provide us with some insights as to the perspectives and processes found in the sector. All the authors of this paper have engaged with these stories by using analytical concepts within the general frame of 'doing policy' (Gorur, 2011) to shed some light on the negotiations on universal access and some of their effects. Besides subjecting these stories to academic analysis, we also see them as productive, since they create connections with others' actions in the sector and may stimulate readers to reflect on them (Bullough & Pinnegar, 2001).…”