Participation, Expertise, and Power dynamics in Educational Politics in Newspaper Media

• In Event: The impact of literacy on learners' development and participation

Proposal

This paper investigates the dynamics of participation, expertise, and power in educational politics within Norwegian newspapers, focusing on how different actors invoke the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in educational discourses. Utilizing a dataset of four national newspapers—Klassekampen, Dagsavisen, Aftenposten, and Dagens Næringsliv—across 176 issues published between 2002 and 2020, this study explores the role of media as a platform for debates on international educational policy, especially concerning OECD and PISA-related content.

Grounded in Vivien Schmidt’s (2008) discursive institutionalism, the analysis positions newspapers as both institutions and agents of discourse. The study argues that participation in educational policy discussions is influenced by the ideological alignment of the newspaper. For instance, right-leaning papers like Aftenposten and Dagens Næringsliv are economically aligned, focusing on governance and market-oriented perspectives, while left-leaning papers like Klassekampen and Dagsavisen prioritize egalitarian, critical perspectives that emphasize social justice and governmental accountability.

The research employs corpus linguistic methods (McEnery & Hardie, 2012), including collocation and concordance analysis, to examine the proximity of key terms like "OECD," "PISA," and "education" within articles. This methodology offers a quantitative glimpse into how frequently these terms appear together and the contexts in which they are discussed. The results show significant variations in participation patterns, with politicians and researchers dominating in left-wing newspapers and journalists having a greater presence in economically aligned newspapers.

Several key actors are identified as central to the OECD/PISA discourse, such as former Norwegian Minister of Education Kristin Clemet, known for her championing of PISA (Froese-Germain, 2010), and researcher Svein Sjøberg, a critical voice against the use of PISA tests (Sjøberg, 2010). Their frequent participation in the media, particularly Clemet’s role in conservative newspapers and Sjøberg’s critiques in left-leaning outlets, highlights how individual actors shape public perception of international educational assessments. Clemet’s involvement in Aftenposten and Dagens Næringsliv, where she leverages OECD data to legitimize reforms, contrasts with Sjøberg’s critiques in Klassekampen and Dagsavisen, where he questions the broader impacts of international assessments on national education policy.

In addition to content analysis, the paper delves into the typologies of actors participating in these discussions. These typologies include government officials, educational advocacy groups (EAGs), researchers, politicians, teachers, and journalists. The findings reveal that while politicians and researchers are well-represented across both left- and right-leaning newspapers, teachers are notably absent from critical discussions on PISA and OECD. Despite being central figures in the educational system, teachers’ voices are either underrepresented or framed by other actors, such as advocacy groups or government officials. This absence suggests a "language barrier" (Jupp, 2006) that prevents certain actors from effectively participating in discourses shaped by economic logic and technical jargon often associated with OECD reporting (Grek, 2010).

The paper also touches on how media institutions act as gatekeepers, deciding which discourses are permitted within their pages. The "inclusionary" and "exclusionary" mechanisms (Niemann & Martens, 2018) employed by these newspapers create a media landscape where some actors, particularly those aligned with dominant ideologies, are more likely to participate. This is most evident in the participation patterns of left-leaning versus right-leaning newspapers, where economic versus egalitarian logics guide the inclusion of various actors in educational debates.

The results of this study underscore the power of newspapers in shaping educational policy debates, not just through the dissemination of information but by structuring who gets to participate in these discussions. The ideological orientation of newspapers plays a significant role in determining the content and tone of these debates, with left-leaning newspapers facilitating more critical perspectives and right-leaning outlets promoting discussions grounded in economic governance. As Schmidt (2008) notes, discourse both shapes and is shaped by the institutions in which it occurs, a point further corroborated by the patterns of participation and exclusion found in this study.

This paper concludes by suggesting that future research should explore the exclusionary mechanisms that limit the participation of key educational stakeholders, such as teachers and students, in discussions about international assessments. Additionally, more work is needed to understand how media frames the OECD and PISA in different contexts and how this framing influences national policy decisions. By examining the interplay between discourse, participation, and power in media coverage, this study contributes to a broader understanding of how international organizations like the OECD influence national educational systems through media channels.

Author

• OSCAR Preben Minge, University of Oslo