The paper is intended to address the emergence and the stabilization of a practice of governance in educational arenas. The rhetorics of educational reforms spreading in different countries (Edwards, 1997, Derouet, 2000, Ball, 2005) conveys the necessity of changing the governance of educational field, by moving from a rule-governing perspective (the dominant mode of organizing of that organizational field in welfaristic model) to a objective-oriented approach (to be considered more attuned to post-welfaristic approach). This passage implies the re-balancing of the main organizations of that field of practices where, at least in principle, the ‘centralistic mode’ is replaced by a ‘devolved environment’ with an increasing relevance and new competencies attributed to local authorities (municipalities, regions, and so on). Further, the change of the strategy of the steering approach, with the decline of the bureaucratic mode and the search of new perspective of governance entails, in some way, taking decisions among the relevant stakeholders, and at the same time trying to establish “locus” of dialogue and coordination between the organizations working in the same field. While this discourse receives ongoing supports from the dominant organizations of the field (World Bank, OCDE, EU), it is important to pay attention to what this signifies for the local authorities involved. Are they forced to follow these rhetorics ? What does a local authority being in charge of new competencies mean? How does a new mode of governance translate in practice ? In order to face with those issues and give some answers to the questions, a relevant displacement is suggested at theoretical level from the ‘surface’ to the ‘body’ of the socio-technical networks for grasping ‘governance as it happens’ (to recall the well known Boden’s statement about organising). Here, this would imply the specification of neo-institutionalism’s themes (Di Maggio, 1988; Zucker, 1988; Powell and Di Maggio, 1991) in ‘new clothes’ or the combination of that approach with different perspectives (like developed for example in Czarniawska and Sevon, 1996). In this paper a practice-based approach (Schatzky, Knorr Cetina, von Savigny, 2001; Nicolini, Gherardi, Yanow, 2003) has been preferred to describe the tensions and the conflicts implied in the restructuring of practices, to understand the learning and knowing processes developing in situated settings and to give a dynamic view of change as it occurs in relevant field of practice. In that view, the organizations, and in that case the ‘local authorities’, are not conceived as fixed entities, but as an archipelago of practices with moving boundaries, i.e. as systems of distributed knowledge. Here, practices of governance emerge, existing socio-technical networks are reshaped and, sometimes, situated settings of subjects-and-objects come to be temporarily stabilized as effects of trajectories of organizational learning (Law and Hassard, 1999; Fox, 2000; Engeström and Blackler, 2005). The paper will present the emergence of new modes of governance in the educational arena of a local authority. In describing ‘governance as it happens’, we draw on the empirical materials from a not yet finished qualitative research. We will present the making-of the new mode of governance in a local authority (the “Provincia of Napoli" , located in the South of Italy) by using the ethnographic notes collected through the participant observations of working days of the offices. In particular, we will focus on a local materialization of the idea of “governance”, namely a standing conference collecting together a set of organizations and relevant stakeholders of the educational field of practice (a novel actant or actor). We will follow those who carried out that materialization (their practices of materialization) and describe how that materialization calls for transformation for those involved, and in particular, for the organization that enacts it, by paying particular attention to the shift of power relations and the learning-in-practice associated with it. The paper unfolds in three steps. First, we examine the theoretical themes of our work, by complementing actor-network theory with recent development in literature about knowing and learning in organising. Second, we illustrate the instantiation of governance through a case study on the establishing of a heterogeneous network between the organizations of the field. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the emerging results with the respect to issue of the emergence, stabilization and institutionalization of a practice.

Governance as it happens. The emergence of a practice of governance in educational arenas / Grimaldi, Emiliano; P., Landri; Serpieri, Roberto. - (2006). (Intervento presentato al convegno EGOS Conference “The Organising Society” tenutosi a University of Bergen nel 6-8 July 2006).

Governance as it happens. The emergence of a practice of governance in educational arenas

GRIMALDI, EMILIANO;SERPIERI, ROBERTO
2006

Abstract

The paper is intended to address the emergence and the stabilization of a practice of governance in educational arenas. The rhetorics of educational reforms spreading in different countries (Edwards, 1997, Derouet, 2000, Ball, 2005) conveys the necessity of changing the governance of educational field, by moving from a rule-governing perspective (the dominant mode of organizing of that organizational field in welfaristic model) to a objective-oriented approach (to be considered more attuned to post-welfaristic approach). This passage implies the re-balancing of the main organizations of that field of practices where, at least in principle, the ‘centralistic mode’ is replaced by a ‘devolved environment’ with an increasing relevance and new competencies attributed to local authorities (municipalities, regions, and so on). Further, the change of the strategy of the steering approach, with the decline of the bureaucratic mode and the search of new perspective of governance entails, in some way, taking decisions among the relevant stakeholders, and at the same time trying to establish “locus” of dialogue and coordination between the organizations working in the same field. While this discourse receives ongoing supports from the dominant organizations of the field (World Bank, OCDE, EU), it is important to pay attention to what this signifies for the local authorities involved. Are they forced to follow these rhetorics ? What does a local authority being in charge of new competencies mean? How does a new mode of governance translate in practice ? In order to face with those issues and give some answers to the questions, a relevant displacement is suggested at theoretical level from the ‘surface’ to the ‘body’ of the socio-technical networks for grasping ‘governance as it happens’ (to recall the well known Boden’s statement about organising). Here, this would imply the specification of neo-institutionalism’s themes (Di Maggio, 1988; Zucker, 1988; Powell and Di Maggio, 1991) in ‘new clothes’ or the combination of that approach with different perspectives (like developed for example in Czarniawska and Sevon, 1996). In this paper a practice-based approach (Schatzky, Knorr Cetina, von Savigny, 2001; Nicolini, Gherardi, Yanow, 2003) has been preferred to describe the tensions and the conflicts implied in the restructuring of practices, to understand the learning and knowing processes developing in situated settings and to give a dynamic view of change as it occurs in relevant field of practice. In that view, the organizations, and in that case the ‘local authorities’, are not conceived as fixed entities, but as an archipelago of practices with moving boundaries, i.e. as systems of distributed knowledge. Here, practices of governance emerge, existing socio-technical networks are reshaped and, sometimes, situated settings of subjects-and-objects come to be temporarily stabilized as effects of trajectories of organizational learning (Law and Hassard, 1999; Fox, 2000; Engeström and Blackler, 2005). The paper will present the emergence of new modes of governance in the educational arena of a local authority. In describing ‘governance as it happens’, we draw on the empirical materials from a not yet finished qualitative research. We will present the making-of the new mode of governance in a local authority (the “Provincia of Napoli" , located in the South of Italy) by using the ethnographic notes collected through the participant observations of working days of the offices. In particular, we will focus on a local materialization of the idea of “governance”, namely a standing conference collecting together a set of organizations and relevant stakeholders of the educational field of practice (a novel actant or actor). We will follow those who carried out that materialization (their practices of materialization) and describe how that materialization calls for transformation for those involved, and in particular, for the organization that enacts it, by paying particular attention to the shift of power relations and the learning-in-practice associated with it. The paper unfolds in three steps. First, we examine the theoretical themes of our work, by complementing actor-network theory with recent development in literature about knowing and learning in organising. Second, we illustrate the instantiation of governance through a case study on the establishing of a heterogeneous network between the organizations of the field. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of the emerging results with the respect to issue of the emergence, stabilization and institutionalization of a practice.
2006
Governance as it happens. The emergence of a practice of governance in educational arenas / Grimaldi, Emiliano; P., Landri; Serpieri, Roberto. - (2006). (Intervento presentato al convegno EGOS Conference “The Organising Society” tenutosi a University of Bergen nel 6-8 July 2006).
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11588/381634
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