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What is ‘policy’ and what is ‘policy response’? An illustrative study of the implementation of the Leadership Standards for Social Justice in Scotland

Ward, S.C.; Bagley, C.; Lumby, J.; Hamilton, T.; Woods, P.; Roberts, A.

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Authors

C. Bagley

J. Lumby

T. Hamilton

P. Woods

A. Roberts



Abstract

This article examines ‘policy’ and ‘policy response’ through documentary analysis and an illustrative study of policy implementation. Our approach is informed by Foucault’s (2009) theory that power relations in society are conditioned by a culturally generated set of ideas, and that these relations contain the space for both coercion and resistance. Our aim is to consider the potential for policy compliance and contestation by: (1) describing policy and policy response, drawing attention to the neoliberal hegemony that has come to dominate policy discourse globally; and (2) considering how social agents respond to a particular instance of policy. We provide documentary analysis of the interpolation of leadership into policy development in Scotland following the OECD (2007) report, and offer a small scale illustrative study of the implementation of the Leadership Standards for Social Justice in Scotland (GTCS, 2012). The head teachers in our study drew upon the discourse of marketization when describing their response to policy on social justice. We consider this finding in light of the argument that our interaction with policy has been conditioned through previous instances of neoliberal discourse formation (Ball, 2008). We conclude by considering the implications of the neoliberal hegemony for policy debate.

Citation

Ward, S., Bagley, C., Lumby, J., Hamilton, T., Woods, P., & Roberts, A. (2016). What is ‘policy’ and what is ‘policy response’? An illustrative study of the implementation of the Leadership Standards for Social Justice in Scotland. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 44(1), 43-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143214558580

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 20, 2014
Online Publication Date Mar 6, 2015
Publication Date Jan 1, 2016
Deposit Date Oct 21, 2014
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Educational Management Administration and Leadership
Print ISSN 1741-1432
Electronic ISSN 1741-1440
Publisher SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 44
Issue 1
Pages 43-56
DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143214558580
Keywords Neoliberalism policy, Policy response, School leadership, Social justice.

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Copyright Statement
Ward, S.C. and Bagley, C. and Lumby, J. and Hamilton, T. and Woods, P. and Roberts, A. (2016) 'What is ‘policy’ and what is ‘policy response’? An illustrative study of the implementation of the Leadership Standards for Social Justice in Scotland.', Educational management administration and leadership., 44 (1). pp. 43-56. ª The Author(s) 2015. Reprinted by permission of SAGE Publications.




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