Resumen de Policy Production Through the Media: The Case of More Mathematics in Early Childhood Education
This chapter explores how politicians’ use of the media can disrupt educational traditions. Analysis of the discursive resources that a Norwegian Minister of Education used in a single authored debate article in a Norwegian newspaper shows that he drew on a well-known argument for why schools should teach mathematics, that of the need for socio-economic development of society. The use of this argument, rather than other arguments such as those about civic development, which would be more in alignment with the social pedagogy approach traditionally characterising early childhood education in Norway, seems to indicate that the Minister was promoting a shift in approach to one of preparing children for school. This example of the use of the media to determine how policy shifts are made is explored in relationship to promoting a new kind of “common sense” which does not require public discussion or input from mathematics education researchers.
