The Trouble with Our Schools

A media construction of public discourses on Queensland schools

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2928352
AutoresSue Thomas (0000-0002-6628-3328, Griffith University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2003
Volumen24
Número1
Páginas19-33
Fecha de publicación2003-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01596300303030
OpenAlexW1966508730
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas26
Referencias citadas13

This paper gives an account of competing public discourses on schooling. In particular, it investigates one newspaper's coverage of the release of an educational report. The paper combines interview data with a critical discourse analysis of newspaper texts to show how media reporting of Queensland schools constructed a preferred discourse on education that represented schools as being in crisis, 'in trouble'. The analysis describes how the paper shaped popular opinion on educational policy through the construction of public discourses of crisis in education. Further, the analysis shows how this discourse positioned particular groups as the authoritative voice on standards in Queensland schools. It shows how, at a time when teacher quality was under question, the media constructed a public discourse that diminished the authority of teachers to speak about education policy, granting that authority to the newspaper's editor, who assumed the people's voice on educational issues. This analysis of the construction of public discourses about education policy gives insights into the media's place in educational policy-making. In so doing, the paper adds to the small body of literature that investigates the relationships between the media and education

Content analysis · Critical discourse analysis · Discourse analysis · Education policy · Higher education · Linguistics · Mass media · Media studies · Newspaper · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Public policy · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Law · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies