Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
Rumbling on performativity_Frits Simon
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3 councils for teachers / lecturers should be founded with right of say about educati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
matters<br />
4 the government needs to c<strong>on</strong>trol quality of the educati<strong>on</strong>, the internal organizati<strong>on</strong><br />
and the quality of the staff;<br />
5 craftsmanship and professi<strong>on</strong>al expertise must become leading in the way educati<strong>on</strong><br />
in organized in sectors;<br />
6 vocati<strong>on</strong>al/professi<strong>on</strong>al educati<strong>on</strong> is in need of radical changes in relati<strong>on</strong> with the<br />
demands of the labour market;<br />
7 the local or regi<strong>on</strong>al business community should become involved in educati<strong>on</strong>;<br />
8 educati<strong>on</strong> should be able to realize educati<strong>on</strong> specified tot age and talents of<br />
infants, schoolboys and schoolgirls;<br />
9 to do an appeal <strong>on</strong> already retired experienced teachers to invite them to rec<strong>on</strong>sider<br />
their early retirement because quality is needed.<br />
It is obvious that - with a slight adaptati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> the first criteri<strong>on</strong> - the Delta plan fulfils<br />
the criteria of <strong>performativity</strong> (Scott, 1998). The first criteri<strong>on</strong> is that reality is administered<br />
in a simplified way in numbers. In the case of the plan I would say: reduced to<br />
simplified processes of c<strong>on</strong>trol and change. The sec<strong>on</strong>d is the c<strong>on</strong>victi<strong>on</strong> that rati<strong>on</strong>al<br />
design will prompt improvement. If <strong>on</strong>e thing then the plan is a rati<strong>on</strong>al <strong>on</strong>e and full of<br />
ideas about improvement. The third <strong>on</strong>e is an authoritarian relati<strong>on</strong> between the<br />
rulers and the ruled. It may be clear that in the plan government will be back in the<br />
educati<strong>on</strong>al saddle, with more power to c<strong>on</strong>trol than ever before. The fourth is that<br />
there is a lack of possibilities to resist the plans. If regulated by nati<strong>on</strong>al law, who is to<br />
resist?<br />
In my view a paradox of the Delta plan is that it tries to repair by means of what the<br />
imputed damage has caused. It is not a way of breaking away of imposed criteria<br />
within the practices of NPM or <strong>performativity</strong>, it is just the introducti<strong>on</strong> of another -<br />
maybe even more comprehensive - set of criteria. The plan can be seen an expressi<strong>on</strong><br />
of a modernistic belief in the changeability of social reality, an expressi<strong>on</strong> of a managerial<br />
change temper which is criticized (Trappenburg, 2008). The plan reinforces the<br />
myth of the manageability of educati<strong>on</strong>al instituti<strong>on</strong>s (Hooge, 2013). Cruel disappointment<br />
may lay ahead again, given the poor results of reforms of the public sector if<br />
based <strong>on</strong> NPM (Lapsley, 2009). The lasting dissatisfacti<strong>on</strong> with educati<strong>on</strong> should be<br />
seen as an omen for the recurring disappointments, because - as my research indicates<br />
- a social reality is c<strong>on</strong>strued <strong>on</strong> the spot by those involved and not <strong>on</strong> a blueprint<br />
by those far away.<br />
Again about ‘them’<br />
From a complex resp<strong>on</strong>sive process-perspective my first questi<strong>on</strong> regarding the Delta<br />
plan would be why the associati<strong>on</strong> first wants to formalize a council for teachers /<br />
lecturers before discussing educati<strong>on</strong>al matters with and am<strong>on</strong>g them? Why to invest<br />
in a huge amount of policy before starting to discuss with and am<strong>on</strong>g professi<strong>on</strong>als?<br />
Why do present day professi<strong>on</strong>als have to wait for the realizati<strong>on</strong> of the plan before<br />
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