Transformations in the field of symbolic control and their implications for the Greek educational administration

Abstract

This paper theorises the field of symbolic control and reflects on the critical literature of policy studies, exploring the possibilities that the former might offer to the analysis of global policy discourses and their up-take in specific national and local contexts. Starting from the rapidly expanding literature on the ‘globalising’ and ‘globalised’ projects that ‘modern’ nation states have been implementing to ‘manage change’, the paper argues that theories on governance can be developed considerably – theoretically and in terms of their capacity to guide empirical research – through their exposure to Bernstein’s sociological theory of symbolic control and Totally Pedagogised Society. Drawing data from an empirical study carried out in Greece, it explores changes in the field of educational administration towards the systematic implementation of ideas and practices of new public management, evident in processes of the selection, training and professional practice of middle level administrative staff. Semi-structured interviews with the new Heads of Primary and Secondary Educational Directorates were focused on how they perceive their position, roles and activity as important agents within the field of symbolic control, through which global policy discourses are enacted within the national education system, instituting new forms of practice at local levels.