Comparison as Curriculum Governance: Dynamics of the European-Wide Governance Technology of Comparison within England’s National Curriculum Reforms
Source: European Educational Research Journal, Volume 11 No. 3, 2012, pages 413–427.
The current paper focuses on how the curriculum is governed by comparative knowledge.
Particularly, the article identifies how this facet of governance has manifested itself within the policy space of England’s National Curriculum reforms.
Critical discourse analysis of four key policy documents reveals how understanding the governing power of comparative knowledge involves considering dynamics originating from multiple spaces and times.
While international comparative logic within England’s National Curriculum could be regarded as a manifestation of a European-wide governing technology, the article suggests that the distinctiveness of ‘Europe’ is at risk of being lost to dominant global knowledge paradigms which are also an integral part of the ‘governance by comparison’ process.