Reimagining policy: Power, problems, and public stories

ABSTRACT

The authors of various practitioner and scholarly documents suggest markedly contrasting understandings about the nature of “policy.” These divergent conceptions raise the question: What is at stake by understanding the nature of policy in one way as opposed to another? The purpose of this philosophical inquiry is to interrogate the nature of “policy” as it relates to music education and to question the values that do and might underlie and propagate through contrasting understandings of “policy.” Subsequently, I examine two aspects of policy, problem identification and meaning-making, that have gone largely unexplored in the arts education literature.

Using Foucault's writings, I argue that power-laden policy texts often have the greatest impact, not when they are mandated, but when they go misrecognized as common sense. I also advocate for the consistent use of the terms “policy texts” and “policy actions,” including as an alternative to the imbalanced designations of “soft policies” and “hard policies.” Drawing on Dewey arts educators might form “publics” around problems having consequences that they deem far-reaching, recurrent, and irreparable. Individual and collective political narratives, including what Ganz explains as “stories of self,” “stories of us,” and “stories of now,” can foster the meaningful connections necessary for forming “publics” who address pressing problems in arts education.

KEYWORDS:

• Dewey
• Foucault
• philosophy
• music education
• narrative
• policy
• power

Notes

1. Review of Richerme (2016).

2. While Jones (2009) relies mainly on texts as examples of “soft policies,” he also implies that “soft policies” can include actions such as “music teacher organizations' activities” (p. 28). While I later address the implications of using the term “policy” to denote both texts and actions, in this instance I am specifically interested in “soft policy” texts.

3. For further discussion about how assessment practices come to constitute teaching and learning, see Richerme (2016).

4. Personal e-mail communication with Lynn Tuttle, NAfME Director of Public Policy and Professional Development, on June 27, 2017.

5. This is not to say that members of the “public” have no role in directly addressing the problem; along with engaging government bodies in the formation of policy texts, individuals might also, for instance, conduct a critical examination of their own practices and make alterations in light of their findings. However, Dewey (1927) is generally referring to overarching issues that necessitate funding and other resources.

6. While working as a Policy Analyst at NAfME from 2012–2013, I drew on Ganz's work when offering the initial idea for what other NAfME employees and I developed into the Share Your Story Campaign. I left my position at NAfME while the campaign was still underway. More recently, as a member of the NAfME President's Task Force for the Broader Minded Advocacy Campaign from 2015–2016, I encouraged NAfME leaders to consider the possibilities of “stories of us” and “stories of now.” As of yet, they have not overtly acted on these suggestions.