Quantification and classification in education
What is at stake
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21728181 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ann Christin E Nilsen (0000-0002-6841-9727, University of Agder, corresponding author), Ove Skarpenes (0000-0002-7187-0228, University of Agder) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 120-134 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Policy Futures in Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-2103 • E-ISSN: 1478-2103 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14782103211032049 |
| OpenAlex | W3186081631 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 34 |
Histories of statistics and quantification have demonstrated that systems of statistical knowledge participate in the construction of the objects that are measured. However, the pace, purpose, and scope of quantification in state bureaucracy have expanded greatly over the past decades, fuelled by (neoliberal) societal trends that have given the social phenomenon of quantification a central place in political discussions and in the public sphere. This is particularly the case in the field of education. In this article, we ask what is at stake in state bureaucracy, professional practice, and individual pupils as quantification increasingly permeates the education field. We call for a theoretical renewal in order to understand quantification as a social phenomenon in education. We propose a sociology-of-knowledge approach to the phenomenon, drawing on different theoretical traditions in the sociology of knowledge in France (Alain Desrosières and Laurent Thévenot), England (Barry Barnes and Donald MacKenzie), and Canada (Ian Hacking), and argue that the ongoing quantification practice at different levels of the education system can be understood as cultural processes of self-fulfilling prophecies
Bureaucracy · Epistemology · Pace · Phenomenon · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of Education · Education, sociology, and vocational training · Educational Assessment and Improvement · Evaluation and Performance Assessment · Law
Scientific knowledge
Do Economists Make Markets?
Neoliberal education? Confronting the slouching beast
A Child‐Centred Social Investment Strategy
When the State Meets the Street
Retroaction
The Experience of Neoliberal Education
A Historical Sociology of Childhood
The Professions and Social Structure
Towards productive critique of large-scale comparisons in education
Statistics and statecraft
School effectiveness or the horizon of the world as a laboratory
Vår utålmodighet med ungdom
The teacher's soul and the terrors of performativity
Education, Accountability, and the Ethical Demand
Governing the Soul - a Quarter of a Century On
The Elements of Social Theory
Making up People
Modernity and Ambivalence
Social Life as Bootstrapped Induction
New Professionalism and New Public Management
What's New with Numbers? Sociological Approaches to the Study of Quantification
Between Michel Foucault and Erving Goffman
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2026 (4) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |