Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon

many voices instead of converting diversity into one mission, one vision and one set of
performance indicators. Instead of waiting until an eruption about the rattled on
emphasis on cost-effectiveness of education will dominate the newspaper headlines
- as momentarily is the case in the Netherlands - hearing what is barely heard might
be provoking other insights about the needed policy. To listen to a single voice may
lead to unexpected outcomes. In this way the research is connected to research about
resilience and the management of the unexpected (Weick and Sutcliffe, 2007), although
it is clear that to encourage the wished for openness is quite a mission impossible
(see chapter 6). It may even be that the work of an organizational jester or a
bricoleur with a touch of irony enables to hear the sound of silence.
The research could be interesting to develop another perspective - from for instance a
CMS-perspective (see chapter 6) - the way resistance or resilience is practiced in
organizations. In what I found it is obvious that managerial practices are not monolithic,
are internally and externally fragmented and do not incorporate a shared gladness
about what apparently has to be done. My research might put in perspective
research in which is suggested that NPM is a kind of unilateral panoptical process from
which it is hard to escape only by being not authentic (Perryman, 2006) or fabricating
a deceptive reality (Turner-Bisset, 2007).
The different communities as elaborated upon by Homan (2014) made it possible to
connect my research with different perspectives on how to build on the findings. Next
I will enter into a discussion about wished for educational reform in the Netherlands. It
will not be my intention to discuss exhaustively the different positions in the discussions
about education or to suggest some prescriptions to solve problems. I intend to
illustrate how insights based on my research from a complex responsive process-perspective
may have relevance in broader societal discussions.
A Dutch educational discussion and a complex responsive process-approach
As mentioned before there are hefty discussions about the lack of quality of education,
among others explained by the consequences of performativity or NPM (Ankersmit
and Klinkers, 2008; Brink et al., 2005; Dekker, 2013; Kneyber and Evers, 2013; Vergeer,
2012). A lot of criticism is to epitomize in the idea of ‘probophilia’ (Kenny and Davies,
2010), defined as a widespread disease of wanting to have substantiated evidence for
everything. Something I associate with the insatiable hunger of the tapeworm.
A new Delta-plan
To give an idea of the wished for reform I use the proposals of the association “Beter
Onderwijs Nederland. These proposals express and unite a lot of different ideas regarding
educational reform. The association (Verbrugge, 2012) proposes that
1 the autonomy of the educational institutions should be ended and control should
be returned to the government;
2 funding should be aimed at the educational process and the quality of the professionals;
7. <strong>Rumbling</strong> on performativity: a reflexive perspective on advisory work | 199