Page 119 - Šolsko polje, XXIX, 2018, no. 1-2: The Language of Neoliberal Education, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 119
. štremfel ■ european neoliberal discourse and slovenian educational space
common European heritage of political, cultural and moral values. Pluško
(2004: p. 62) adds that the entry of Slovenia in the EU helped the country
clarify some conceptual questions about the educational system and artic-
ulate the direction of its future educational priorities. Barle Lakota (2005)
finds that in these reform processes, the EU was presented almost with
mythic expectations and without any critical views about it.
Blokker (2005: p. 504) confirms the assumptions that in post-so-
cialist countries, the West has been unproblematically presented as the
embodiment of progress, providing ‘the normative affirmation of the
Western modernity project’. The openness towards EU (neoliberal) gov-
ernance mechanisms in these states thus can be explained by a desire to
leave its eastern post-socialist past and become closer to the EU western
values. Being left was not politically acceptable, presented with discourse
of crisis and threat to international legitimacy. By focusing on the global,
post-socialist states have constructed ways of reasoning that undermine
divergent visions for education reforms and limit possibilities of imaging
any alternative trajectories of post-socialist transformations (Silova, 2009;
Chankseliani and Silova, 2018). “Although the emergence of Western
neoliberal imaginaries is clearly visible in education policy narratives in
many post socialist contexts, there are also multiple tensions, complexities
and contradictions associated with the ongoing reconfigurations of edu-
cation purposes and values, as well as with their subsequent translations
into education policy and practice” (Chankseliani and Silova, 2018: p. 19).
In the following sections, we illustrate the reception of EU neoliber-
al educational governance in the Slovenian educational space. In line with
the orientation of the article we focus on communicative discourse (the
ways of steering national actors towards realizing EU (neoliberal) ideas).
Governance of Goals
In the study (Štremfel, 2013) 90% of policy makers and 88% of experts
agree with the statement that short-, medium- and long-term EU goals
and indicators measuring them are taken into consideration and thus
play an important role in the development of Slovenian education policies
and practices. It is even more interesting that only 45% of the stakehold-
ers said they were aware of long-, medium- and short-term EU goals, but
79% of them agreed with the statement ‘I feel accountable for attaining
these goals’.9 These findings correspond to the importance of individual
accountability as an important mechanism of attaining commonly agreed
goals in neoliberal governance. They also confirms that EU neoliberal
9 91% of participating stakeholders agreed with the statement: “I feel responsible for results
of Slovenia in international comparative assessment studies”.
117
common European heritage of political, cultural and moral values. Pluško
(2004: p. 62) adds that the entry of Slovenia in the EU helped the country
clarify some conceptual questions about the educational system and artic-
ulate the direction of its future educational priorities. Barle Lakota (2005)
finds that in these reform processes, the EU was presented almost with
mythic expectations and without any critical views about it.
Blokker (2005: p. 504) confirms the assumptions that in post-so-
cialist countries, the West has been unproblematically presented as the
embodiment of progress, providing ‘the normative affirmation of the
Western modernity project’. The openness towards EU (neoliberal) gov-
ernance mechanisms in these states thus can be explained by a desire to
leave its eastern post-socialist past and become closer to the EU western
values. Being left was not politically acceptable, presented with discourse
of crisis and threat to international legitimacy. By focusing on the global,
post-socialist states have constructed ways of reasoning that undermine
divergent visions for education reforms and limit possibilities of imaging
any alternative trajectories of post-socialist transformations (Silova, 2009;
Chankseliani and Silova, 2018). “Although the emergence of Western
neoliberal imaginaries is clearly visible in education policy narratives in
many post socialist contexts, there are also multiple tensions, complexities
and contradictions associated with the ongoing reconfigurations of edu-
cation purposes and values, as well as with their subsequent translations
into education policy and practice” (Chankseliani and Silova, 2018: p. 19).
In the following sections, we illustrate the reception of EU neoliber-
al educational governance in the Slovenian educational space. In line with
the orientation of the article we focus on communicative discourse (the
ways of steering national actors towards realizing EU (neoliberal) ideas).
Governance of Goals
In the study (Štremfel, 2013) 90% of policy makers and 88% of experts
agree with the statement that short-, medium- and long-term EU goals
and indicators measuring them are taken into consideration and thus
play an important role in the development of Slovenian education policies
and practices. It is even more interesting that only 45% of the stakehold-
ers said they were aware of long-, medium- and short-term EU goals, but
79% of them agreed with the statement ‘I feel accountable for attaining
these goals’.9 These findings correspond to the importance of individual
accountability as an important mechanism of attaining commonly agreed
goals in neoliberal governance. They also confirms that EU neoliberal
9 91% of participating stakeholders agreed with the statement: “I feel responsible for results
of Slovenia in international comparative assessment studies”.
117
