Researcher creations? The positioning of policy texts in higher education research

Abstract

In this article we explore the way in which policy texts are positioned in a selection of higher education journal articles. Previous research has suggested that policy implementation studies have taken an uncritical approach to researching policies. Based on an analysis of articles published in higher education and policy journals in 2011, we argue that whilst these criticisms do appear to be valid, there is a bigger problem with the ways that policy texts are analysed and used in higher education research. This is that rather than subjecting particular policy texts to a sustained analysis, the majority of articles appear to focus on having an impact on policies that are very broadly conceived. We explore the implications of this and conclude by calling for more sustained, in-depth, analytical and critical research into the development and impact of higher education policies on higher education practices.

Strategic Planning for Sustainability in Canadian Higher Education

“…This holistic approach also aligns with emerging paradigms of SHE that integrate multiple disciplinary perspectives, such as Sterling's (2013) vision of sustainability education and Jabareen's (2012) sustainability education framework [2,15,16]. Through this analysis we seek to respond to calls for more critical and systematic analysis of HEI policy texts [17][18][19], and to contribute to greater scrutiny of SHE policy texts in particular [4,6].…”

Newer researchers in higher education: policy actors or policy subjects?

“…While there is clearly strength in diversity, our outcomes suggest that a potential downside is that the lack of a clear body of knowledge can lead researchers to focus on the relation between individual research projects and policies rather than on the ways in which projects might contribute to a collective body of knowledge that is far more suited to informing the development of policies. Interestingly, similar problems were identified in a recent review of the ways in which higher education policies are positioned in journal articles (Ashwin and Smith 2014).…”

“…Such work has focused on examining the extent to which policies are seen as fixed texts that are located at the level of the government, regional or institutional agency that has produced them or in terms of the practices that are enacted in response to policy texts (see Ball 1994;Ozga 2000;Vidovich 2007;Taylor Webb 2014;Ashwin and Smith 2014). In relation to compulsory education in the UK, Ball et al (2011aBall et al ( , 2011b, Ball, Maguire, and Braun (2012) describe this difference in terms of whether those working with policy are policy actors or policy subjects.…”

‘Embedded into the core’: The discursive construction of ‘policy’ in higher education learning and teaching documents and its recontextualisation in practices

“…The study is situated within critical discourse studies (CDS); specifically, the discourse-historical approach (DHA) (Reisigl and Wodak, 2001, 2015). The DHA embraces detailed analysis of discursive strategies thus answering the call to provide detailed textual analysis of policy (Ashwin and Smith, 2015; Fairclough, 2013; Saarinen, 2008). It also provides a multifaceted view of context including intertextual/interdiscursive relations across texts in time and space and considers the wider socio-historical context to inform the analysis.…”