Are governments in England & New Zealand using international evidence about Charter Schools as a form of political spectacle'?

Laura McInerney, University of Missouri - Columbia

ABSTRACT
Politics is an arena of symbolic action where scientific evidence becomes a powerful symbol (Rosen, 2010). By cleverly using symbolic evidence politicians can create a spectacle that persuades voters of a policies benefits without needing to provide rational reasons for its implementation (Edelman, 1985). By analysing documentary evidence from the first year of charter school reforms in England and New Zealand, this paper examines to what extent the reforms involved a discourse of political spectacle. Findings suggest politicians used symbolic language and rational illusions to frame national education problems resolvable only by following the other countries charter reforms. Examples of other countries successes are commonly labeled as evidence even when lacking data or rigorous evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS
The English and New Zealand government used symbolic language and rational illusions to frame a national education problem. The problems included an achievement gap for vulnerable students (in England a free school meal gap and In New Zealand a Maori and Pasifika gap). International evidence usually emphasised a loss of the countrys place in international standing. The phrase world class was used to describe the outcome of future reforms.

RESULTS
Common spectacles?
Frequent Symbolic Language

England
Academies & Free Schools
Freedom - Moral purpose - Ambition The entire human race is progressing at an accelerating pace Our global environment is threatened by resource depletion

New Zealand
Partnership Schools

INTRODUCTION
In 2010, Englands government introduced independent state-funded schools, similar to US Charter Schools. In 2012 New Zealands government announced it would do the same. Policy actors in reform arenas frequently quote international evidence as justification for policies. Particularly in education reforms evidence is used to create a spectacle through which the public are persuaded of a policy without strong rational reasons (Edelman, 1988). Markers of spectacle include symbolic-but-empty language and rational illusions where numbers are used to give the appearance of rationality but there is no clear linkage to the policy. Using Rosens (2010) education-related political spectacle framework I analyse the discourse of the policys justification and the extent to which the governments created a spectacle rather than using strong rational reasons.

Frequent Rational Illusions

Flexible Option - Innovation World-class - Gold-standard, Better managed, best of all worlds Standing still we will be left behind On overseas evidence...the more freedom that you allow, the better PISA we have fallen behindfrom 4th to We are top-performing in PISA 7th out of 65 14th in science, 7th for literacy to 17th, 8th but there is great disparity. in maths to 24th NZ European students are 2nd in PISA, Maori Only 45 out of 80,000 free school meals students are 34th, Pasifika 44th pupils went to Oxbridge One in five children leave school unable to participate in the economy

In England PISA symbolised loss of international standing; as a symbol of loss in New Zealand PISA symbolized inequality. Given New Zealand's high score on PISA, the test was used to show discrepancies between groups. In England statements about PISA reflected a loss and played on Englands post-colonial anxieties. Politicians and policy documents often refer to international evidence but instead use international examples. Sentences beginning with The international evidence shows usually did not reference peer-reviewed studies or detailed reports instead provided a story - i.e. I visited a KIPP School in New York - or a factual statement, of a political action i.e. Britain is now introducing charter schools. No links were made in any document between autonomy and improvements in classroom-level learning. Countries copy from recent adopters. Implementing free schools policy in England meant the country became part of the chain of evidence used to justify New Zealands policy. This happened even though no evidence of the policys effectiveness (or not) is yet available in England.

METHOD
Following the discourse analysis methods of Potter & Wetherell (1987), I collected policy documents, newspaper articles, parliamentary debates, and speeches by Education Ministers in the 12 months from initial policy announcement in England and 6 months from announcement in New Zealand. Data was sifted for extracts that implicitly or explicitly referred to international evidence. Extracts were coded for examples of symbolic language and rational illusions, and other discursive themes. I also extracted and coded any mentions of specific countries or specific research, and also quantified the frequency of occurrence.
Total documents analysed: 421,351 Words 236 Newspaper articles 23 Political speeches 19 Press Releases 7 Policy documents 2 Education Acts

Most referenced countries

England Evidence Statements

Sweden Free Schools drove up standards USA KIPP have done a fantastic job New York Harlem Childrens Zone closed the underachievement gap Canada Alberta has given total autonomy to schools

New Zealand Evidence Statements

Sweden the Swedish model is regarded as very successful Great Britain (sic) flexibility and innovation USA there have been amazing experiences of Charter Schools

So What? (A) Political spectacle appears to be important for successfully implementing school reform. Policymakers and advocates could use the Is Australia next? spectacle framework to devise future strategy.
(B) Australias right-wing party has publicly communicated that it is watching the New Zealand reforms. Given that England and NZ both copied recent adopters, it may be that Australia will consider introducing a similar policy in the future. If so, the spectacle framework could predict the discourse Politicians will use to justify implementation. Acknowledgements

Frequency research was mentioned by governments

References
Edelman, M. (1988). Constructing the political spectacle. University of Chicago Press. Hoxby, C. M., & Rockoff, J. E. (2004). The impact of charter schools on student achievement. Dept. of Economics, Harvard University Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and social psychology: Beyond attitudes and behaviour. Sage Publications Limited. Rosen, L. (2012). Rhetoric and Symbolic Action in the Policy Process. The AERA Handbook on Educational Policy Research, 267. In Sykes, G., Schneider, B., & Plank, D. N. (Eds.). (2012). The AERA Handbook on Educational Policy Research. Routledge. Smith, M. L. (2003). Political spectacle and the fate of American schools. RoutledgeFalmer.

Further Information
This presentation and articles are available on lauramcinerney.com Official NZ Partnership School site: http://nzmcs.education.govt.nz Official England Free School site: http://bit.ly/15ynsWP

With thanks to the UK-US Fulbright Commission & The University of Missouri-Columbia Education Leadership & Policy Analysis Department