A tension between rationalities: “off-rolling” as gaming and the implications for head teachers and the inclusion agenda
Done, EJ; Knowler, H
Date: 11 September 2020
Journal
Educational Review
Publisher
Routledge
Publisher DOI
Abstract
In this paper the concepts of fabrication, subjectivation and performativity are mobilised in an
analysis of varied exclusionary practices in England’s schools with particular reference to “offrolling”, defined by the national school inspectorate as the illegal removal of a student from a school
roll in order to enhance academic ...
In this paper the concepts of fabrication, subjectivation and performativity are mobilised in an
analysis of varied exclusionary practices in England’s schools with particular reference to “offrolling”, defined by the national school inspectorate as the illegal removal of a student from a school
roll in order to enhance academic performance data. This narrow definition has gained traction over a
relatively short period of time, reflecting growing tension between economic and political rationalities
as the former is prioritised and the power relations dictated by performativity intensify. Head teachers
are required to negotiate normative demands to include and drivers to exclude according to market
performance. “Off-rolling” is being fabricated as an object of knowledge, point of governance and
policy technology, producing a taken-for-granted reality (that head teachers in England are
circumventing legal school exclusion procedures) and illustrating a feature of performativity, namely,
the generation of signifiers that reinforce the disciplines of market, management and performance.
Following Foucault, the subjectivation and disciplining of head teachers implies dividing practices
and ascription of deviant identities, specifically, that of gamer. However, the policy context of, and
since, the 1990s has generated incentives to exclude while a concomitant policy discourse around
inclusion failed to eliminate educational exclusion.
School of Education
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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