Europeanizing Education
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Europeanizing Education

governing a new policy space

MARTIN LAWN & SOTIRIA GREK

2012 paperback 172 pages, £30.00, ISBN 978-1-873927-61-8
https://doi.org/10.15730/books.78

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About Contents Contributors Related and recent books

About the book

The study of common and diverse effects in the field of education across Europe is a growing field of inquiry and research. It is the result of many actions, networks and programmes over the last few decades and the development of common European education policies. Europeanizing Education describes the origins of European education policy, as it metamorphosed from cultural policy to networking support and into a space of comparison and data. The authors look at the early development and growth of research networks and agencies, and international and national collaborations. The gradual increase in the velocity and scope of education policy, practice and instruments across Europe is at the heart of the book.

The European space of education, a new policy space, has been slowly coaxed into existence; governed softly and by persuasion; developed by experts and agents; and de-politicized by the use of standards and data. It has increasing momentum. It is becoming a single, commensurable space on a rising tide of indicators and benchmarks. The construction of policy spaces by the European Union makes Europe governable: policy spaces have to be mobilized by networks of actors and constructed by comparative data. They are the result of transnational flows of people, ideas and practices across European borders; the direct effects of European Union policy; and, finally, the Europeanizing effect of international institutions and globalization.

The European space of education and research has become a new place of work through interconnected institutions, networks and companies, and it is being constructed through the flow of policy ideas, knowledge and practices from place to place, sector to sector, organization to organization, and across borders. This book will be useful to any scholar of the new arena of study, the European Space of Education.

1 Introduction
A Single Space? Comparison and Complexity; Networks and Standards; The Creation of the European Education Space; The Importance of 'Soft': networks, space and meaning; Concluding: main points of the argument

2 Research and Policy in European Education: the first stage
Europe in Competition; Mid-Twentieth-Century European Research Formation; Research Projects; Developing European Research Institutions and Skills; UNESCO and the Comparativists; The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and Surveys; The International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and Educational Statistics; The Idea of a Common Project; Janne Report; Conclusion

3 Chaotic Uniformity: the rise of the European dimension in education, 1970-2000
Governing by Cooperation; Culture and Affinity; From Chaotic Uniformity to Networked Cooperation

4 Governing Education: the use of persuasive and unobtrusive power in the European Union
Introduction; Governing Associations Softly; Associations and Networks; Experts and Associations - EERA; Building a Platform: fluidity and stability in EERA; Finding a Platform - EERA; Idea of the Space and the Platform; Conclusion

5 Governance by Experts and Standards?
Using Experts; Ideas Brokers; Building a System through Standards; Assembling a Learning Space: data and platforms; Final Point

6 Second Wave Policy in European Union Education, 2000-2010
From Education to Learning: the role of data; Measuring Europe: Lisbon (2000) and after; 'Key Data on Education in Europe': an overview of the Eurydice Reports of 2000, 2002 and 2005; Conclusion

7 The New Political Work of Calculating Education
Constructing Data: European agencies; Eurostat; Eurydice; Constructing Europe: the role of actors; Concluding Comments

8 The OECD as an Agent of Europeanization in Education: the impact of international education assessment tools
Introduction; OECD and the Politics of Comparison; The Programme for International Student Assessment; The Case of Finland; The Case of Germany; The Case of the United Kingdom; PISA and Europe; Discussion

9 School Self-evaluation as Travelling Policy across Europe: the role of the Scottish Inspectorate and SICI
Introduction; From the View of the Local: school self-evaluation in Scotland; SSE as a Travelling Policy: the Role of SICI; SICI: the beginnings; Self-Evaluation and SICI; Discussion

10 Conclusions

Notes - References - Notes on the Authors

Authors

MARTIN LAWN is Professorial Research Fellow, Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh and Senior Research Fellow, Department of Education, University of Oxford. He is an ex-Secretary General of the European Educational Research Association (EERA). Martin is currently editor of the association’s European Educational Research Journal (www.wwwords.eu/EERJ).

SOTIRIA GREK is a Lecturer in Social Policy at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. Her research interests lie in the areas of education governance; education and European integration; analysis of education policy discourses; museum education; and education and social change. Prior to her current position, Sotiria worked as a Research Fellow in Education Policy and Politics at the Centre for Educational Sociology (CES) at the University of Edinburgh.