The language of reform in education policy

This chapter explores the language of educational reform in education policy, particularly articulations of policy that aim to regulate and standardise educational practice, removing it further and further from the capacity of practitioners to exercise professional judgment that takes account of complex, contextual exigencies. We argue that the language of reform in education policy has been driven, at least since the mid-1980s, by discourses of crisis and moral panic, and that the practical manifestation of these discourses in contemporary education policy are located around the central tenets of the Global Education Reform Movement. We demonstrate this argument through analysis of three recent national education policy documents, one from each of the US, UK and Australia.