Work

“Inclination Towards Innovation”: Deconstructing Neoliberal Educational Discourses from a School Context

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Educational innovation is a key concept for policymakers, school leaders, and families, but its conflicting aspects make it hard to define clearly. This study explores how pro-innovation narratives are created within Spanish educational policies and how these narratives are received in schools. Using principles of critical discourse analysis, we examined a corpus of ten texts from three different discursive fields with a tailored analytical approach. This paper focuses specifically on findings related to regulations and the private school involved in the study. The results reveal a strong connection between Spanish educational laws and the political environment in which they were developed. Additionally, the study identifies new, economically-driven definitions for key concepts like education, quality, and innovation. A major conclusion is that today’s “innovative” schools align with the principles of educational neoliberalism. In this context, the concept of innovation reflects lawmakers’ goals, which school leaders endorse. At the school level, administrators adopt a self-promotional discourse that often appears contradictory and propagandist.

Source: Societies

DOI: 10.3390/soc14110241

Authors: Diego Luna, Jesús Romero Morante, José Antonio Pineda-Alfonso, Coral I. Hunt-Gómez

Institutions: Universidad de Sevilla, Universidad de Cantabria

Language: English

Topic: Global Educational Policies and Reforms

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Quality education, Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,591