This paper calls for systematic inquiry into the relationship between secular governing formations and education inequalities. We present a thematic analysis of existing scholarship on secularism, the secular and post-secular in education. Our review of 184 texts reveals a frequent implicit or explicit reliance on the liberal state to address…

This open access book provides a comprehensive overview and in-depth coverage of contemporary aspects of leadership in the field of education in Finland. It brings together Finnish scholars to critically explore and discuss leadership in education in the context of the Finnish education system and in relation to international discourses around the…

Conceptions of education research as independent and serving the interests of truth have come to represent freedoms that emerge from the application of intellectual inquiry. Critiques of education research and its relevance to the enhancement of education, coupled with neoliberal market-led pragmatism, have contributed to the erosion of an…

The paper critically discusses the neoliberal politics of knowledge and the soft normative regime that steers and directs the material condition of existence of educational research, starting from the case of Italy. The fundamental aspects, which regard the form, the ends (and indirectly the content) of a research, are to a substantial degree…

This article is a response to Anna Danielsonn, Maria Berge, and Malena Lidar's paper, "Knowledge and power in the technology classroom: a framework for studying teachers and students in action," and an appeal to science educators of all epistemological orientations to (re)consider the work of Michel Foucault for research in science…

In US-based educational research, the bureaucratization of education has been interpreted primarily from economic points of view. This paper examines bureaucracy and education from a political perspective, which provides key insights into the ways that bureaucracy as a form of governance influences ethical consciousness. As this paper puts forth,…

Afghanistan is often characterised as a 'failed' or 'fragile' state in terms of state 'functionality', lacking in capacity to provide security and wellbeing to its citizens and failing to prevent violent conflict and terrorism. Since 2001, education has become a major victim of Afghanistan's protracted crisis that involves international military…

There is an increasing emphasis today on different forms of evidence-based policy in education. Several authors address the related emergence of new patterns of governing and describe forms of governing by numbers and related practices of governing by comparison. There is, however, less focus on the governmental use of soft evidence such as…

This paper poses methodological questions about the role and limits of Foucault's concept of governmentality in education research. Firstly, it argues for the utility of governmentality as a means of exploring questions of power regardless of domain or scale. Secondly, it explores the boundary between the tasks of formulating critique and…

The processes of gaining consent for educational and social research with children and young people have become increasingly complex. A variety of influences contribute to this complexity. In this paper, we use post-structural concepts to focus on the influence of three co-existing and interweaving perspectives: protectionist, participatory and…

Today anthropologists seem to be increasingly studying phenomena in their own societies. Many have a focus on policies in organizations and an interest in explicating cultural phenomena constituted by power and governance. Consequently, a recent interest has emerged in Michel Foucault's philosophy, especially as an inspiration for ethnographic…

While the landscape of postsecondary education in Alberta continues to expand and diversify, there seems to be very little written about the organization of postsecondary education in the province over the past 15 to 20 years (Wimmer & Schmaus, 2010). This paper provides an analysis of postsecondary education in Alberta over the past 15 to 20…

This article suggests a model for "youth voice" based on a participatory research methodology, "Illuminate". The article reports on research into the capacity for "Illuminate" to amount to "critical bureaucracy". Critical bureaucracy is presented as an approach to governance activities (here, in schools and further education colleges) which is…

The claim may be made that the Foucauldian analytics of power, in its detailed attention to the question of how modern societies are rendered governable, has superseded classical and radical analyses. This paper points to problems occasioned by Foucauldian governmentality's reliance on Foucault's flawed conception of the subject. These problems…

This study examined teachers' sense of powerlessness within two distinctive school organizational structures. Definite patterns of teacher sense of powerlessness were uncovered within Authoritarian and Collegial school structures. In addition, a majority of teachers in Authoritarian schools experienced a greater sense of powerlessness than did…