Just 'good and bad news'? Disciplinary imaginaries of head teachers in Australian and English print media
Blackmore, Jill and Thomson, Pat 2004, Just 'good and bad news'? Disciplinary imaginaries of head teachers in Australian and English print media, Journal of education policy, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 301-320, doi: 10.1080/0268093042000207638.
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Just 'good and bad news'? Disciplinary imaginaries of head teachers in Australian and English print media
Australian and English print media are actively engaged in producing reports that claim to find the 'best schools', the 'real state of education', and 'star head teachers'. This article considers the production of knights and dames, maverick heads and struggling schools. It argues that some of these stories are clearly the products of departmental press bureau activities and policy agendas. It shows, however, that even those stories intended to critique government policy support paradoxically a notion of the singular importance of the headship and the virtues of heroic leadership. It is suggested that the simulacrum of the heroic head works as a normative disciplinary device for performative and market practices and is singularly off-putting to both serving and aspirant school leaders.
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