ABSTRACT

Post-truthism entered mainstream consciousness after being named Oxford Dictionary’s word of the year in 2016, denoting a turn in the Western relationship with truth as a certain and indisputable object. Simultaneously, and paradoxically, rising distrust around teachers’ professional judgement and a desire for certainty in practice saw the proliferation of ‘evidence-informed’ approaches and the impetus for teachers to use data to inform their decision-making. This paper places recent changes to practice and policy in the post-truth context, suggesting that the trends of evidence-based practice and datafication can be understood within this socio-political phenomenon. It is suggested that in a moment looking for assurance and certainty, post-truth rationalities seep into education, eroding the agentic properties of English teacher knowledge in favour of mechanisms promising certitude and reliability and sacrificing subjectivity and nuance.

摘要

后真理主义被称为牛津词典的后，进入了主流意识2016年的年度词汇，表明西方关系以真理为必然和无可争辩的对象的转变。同时，自相矛盾的是，人们对教师专业判断的不信任感和对实践中确定性的渴望不断增加，这导致“循证知识”方法的泛滥以及教师使用数据为决策提供动力。本文将后现实中的实践和政策的最新变化置于现实之中，这表明在这种社会政治现象中可以理解基于证据的实践和数据化的趋势。建议在寻求保证和确定性的那一刻，真相后的理性渗透到教育中，