Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

All that glitters is not gold : The depoliticization of social inequality in European education policy on ‘microcredentials’

Ljungqvist, Marita LU and Sonesson, Anders LU orcid (2023) In Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies 21(3). p.153-188
Abstract

At the present conjuncture of political, economic, social, and ecological crises, it is important to pay attention to the ways in which intensifying demands for equality, sustainability and social inclusion are met in education policy. In this article, we present results from a critical discourse analysis of an EU council recommendation on ‘microcredentials’ – credits for short courses primarily oriented towards the attainment of skills. Through our analysis, we identify a set of discursive techniques that use progressive language in order to depoliticize issues of social inequality and protect a fundamentally neoliberal and market-oriented agenda from being contested. We conclude that the linguistic expressions used in the... (More)

At the present conjuncture of political, economic, social, and ecological crises, it is important to pay attention to the ways in which intensifying demands for equality, sustainability and social inclusion are met in education policy. In this article, we present results from a critical discourse analysis of an EU council recommendation on ‘microcredentials’ – credits for short courses primarily oriented towards the attainment of skills. Through our analysis, we identify a set of discursive techniques that use progressive language in order to depoliticize issues of social inequality and protect a fundamentally neoliberal and market-oriented agenda from being contested. We conclude that the linguistic expressions used in the operationalization of these techniques have the capacity to 'bling' the argumentation for microcredentials – making invisible an underlying neoliberal foundation and hypervisible an apolitical and consensus-oriented surface, thereby preventing disagreements over aspects of education that are fundamentally political.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
critical discourse analysis, depoliticization, Microcredentials, neoliberalism, policy
in
Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies
volume
21
issue
3
pages
36 pages
publisher
Institute for Education Policy Studies
external identifiers
  • scopus:85187699244
ISSN
2051-0969
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f8f98c13-702a-4e49-b204-b83b4bef27e4
date added to LUP
2024-04-02 15:25:21
date last changed
2024-04-02 15:26:22
@article{f8f98c13-702a-4e49-b204-b83b4bef27e4,
  abstract     = {{<p>At the present conjuncture of political, economic, social, and ecological crises, it is important to pay attention to the ways in which intensifying demands for equality, sustainability and social inclusion are met in education policy. In this article, we present results from a critical discourse analysis of an EU council recommendation on ‘microcredentials’ – credits for short courses primarily oriented towards the attainment of skills. Through our analysis, we identify a set of discursive techniques that use progressive language in order to depoliticize issues of social inequality and protect a fundamentally neoliberal and market-oriented agenda from being contested. We conclude that the linguistic expressions used in the operationalization of these techniques have the capacity to 'bling' the argumentation for microcredentials – making invisible an underlying neoliberal foundation and hypervisible an apolitical and consensus-oriented surface, thereby preventing disagreements over aspects of education that are fundamentally political.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ljungqvist, Marita and Sonesson, Anders}},
  issn         = {{2051-0969}},
  keywords     = {{critical discourse analysis; depoliticization; Microcredentials; neoliberalism; policy}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{153--188}},
  publisher    = {{Institute for Education Policy Studies}},
  series       = {{Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies}},
  title        = {{All that glitters is not gold : The depoliticization of social inequality in European education policy on ‘microcredentials’}},
  volume       = {{21}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}