ABSTRACT
The first of the three micro movements, proposes and employs the notion of ‘Metaphorical realism’, in order to focus attention on how the metaphors of flexibility, choice, diversity, and opportunity do ideologising work to varying degrees, in the service of contributing to and sustaining systemic educational inequality through both micro and macro valuations. This key theme investigates under what conditions systemic inequality first existed and makes clear the linkages between the use of metaphors and the reproduction of inequality. Having examined the work of the metaphor of flexible as it moves within and through the micro-meso level of a single text, this section now turns to this theme within and through the meso-macro level of policy as it appears and reappears in the 1979b–2008 policy extracts. The role of vocational and technical education in fostering and securing social inclusion through a broadly workfarist strategy is articulated in the discourse of opportunity, choice, and skills through a more flexible system.
