Reading group

The article will be of relevance for anyone studying policy (not just educational policy) and/or interested in Foucault-inspired approaches to research (and of course, those critical of them!)

Here's the abstract:

Policy archaeology is a radically different approach to policy studies in education, drawn from the poststructuralist work of Foucault, which completely reconceptualizes policy studies and, thus, significantly
expands it as a critical problematic. Rather than beginning after social and education problems have emerged
into social visibility, policy archaeology studies the social construction of these problems. Rather than
acquiescing to the range of policy solutions debated by policy makers and policy analysts, it interrogates the
social construction of that range. Rather than accepting policy studies as a 'neutral' social science, it
questions the broader social functions of policy studies. And, finally, rather than concluding that social and
education problems, policy solutions and policy studies are created by the conscious interplay of the free
agents of history, policy archaeology proposes that a grid of social regularities constitutes what is seen as a
problem, what is socially legitimized as a policy solution, and what policy studies itself is.

All postgrads and staff are welcome to come, feel free to bring your lunch!