Response: Matters of (im)mobility: beyond fast conceptual and methodological readings in policy sociology

ABSTRACT

In this special issue response paper, we pick up from prior discussions to suggest areas where we think policy sociology can benefit from further conversation and research. In particular, we bring together our respective readings and work on policy mobilities, in conversation with the contributions of this special issue, to think further about what policy mobilities and related orientations can bring to the development of policy sociology. We specifically focus our attention on four areas for further conceptual and methodological extension in relation to policy mobilities and related approaches in policy sociology of education: (i) temporality, (ii) scale, (iii) land, and, finally, (iv) methodological diversity. In doing so, we advocate against ‘fast’ readings of literature from other fields, while emphasizing the value of transdisciplinary work in policy sociology and critical policy studies.

KEYWORDS:

• Education policy
• Policy sociology
• Policy mobilities
• Globalization
• Methodology

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Rebecca Spratt, Eugene McCann, Bob Lingard, and Guest Editor Glenn Savage for their feedback on earlier drafts of this paper.

Disclosure Statemen

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We operationalize the term ‘land’ as ‘shorthand for land, water, air, and subterranean earth’ (Tuck et al., 2014, p. 8). We use it specifically to refer to Indigenous land; and as a term preferred by many Indigneous educators and communities (Lees, Tropp Laman, & Caldéron, 2021).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [grant number 895-2020-1019] and the Australian Research Council [grant numbers DE190101141 and FT180100280]

Notes on contributors

Marcia McKenzie

Marcia McKenzie is a Professor in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. Her research integrates theoretical and applied approaches in comparative and international education, education policy studies, and climate and sustainability education, including in relation to policy mobility, place, affect, and other areas of social and geographic concern.

Steven Lewis

Steven Lewis is a Senior Research Fellow and ARC DECRA Fellow at the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education at Australian Catholic University. His research investigates how education policymaking and governance are being reshaped by new forms of digital data, infrastructures and platforms. His most recent monograph is PISA, Policy and the OECD (2020, Springer).

Kalervo N. Gulson

Kalervo N. Gulson is a Professor in the School of Education and Social Work, University of Sydney, Australia. His research spans education policy studies, human geography and Science and Technology Studies. He investigates whether new knowledge, methods and technologies from the life and computing sciences will substantively alter the spatialities, processes and practices of education policy.