ABSTRACT

This article reveals the hybridised nature of principals’ representations and enactment of the aims of national testing policy in relation to inclusion in Australia. The research utilises perspectives from 18 principals from schools serving communities in rural, regional and urban parts of New South Wales. Drawing upon Carol Bacchi’s notion of policy as ‘what’s the problem represented to be?’, and Ball, Maguire and Braun’s critical analyses of educational policy enactment processes, the research critiques how inclusion is understood in an era of increased standardised testing. While standardised testing constructs the ‘problem’ of education in Australia as being about low test outcomes and accountability, these were translated variously by principals into concerns about whether and how NAPLAN served as a vehicle for all students’ learning. Concerns were also expressed about how the test subsequently actually contributed to inclusion, or whether it served as a vehicle for more exclusive practices.

摘要

本文揭示了校长的陈述和制定与澳大利亚包容相关的国家测试政策目标的混合性质。该研究利用了来自新南威尔士州农村、地区和城市地区社区服务学校的 18 位校长的观点。借鉴 Carol Bacchi 的政策概念，即“问题是什么？”，以及 Ball、Maguire 和 Braun 对教育政策制定过程的批判性分析，该研究批评了在标准化测试增加的时代如何理解包容性。虽然标准化考试将澳大利亚的教育“问题”描述为考试成绩低和问责制，但校长们以不同的方式将这些问题转化为对 NAPLAN 是否以及如何作为所有学生学习的工具的担忧。