Comparison as Curriculum Governance: dynamics of the European-wide governance technology of comparison within England’s National Curriculum reforms

Abstract

The curriculum is a governance technology of knowledge production and is also itself governed by complex dynamics within European education policy space. This article focuses on how the curriculum is governed by comparative knowledge; in particular, it identifies how this facet of governance has manifested itself within the policy space of England’s National Curriculum reforms. Critical discourse analysis of four key policy documents reveals how understanding the governing power of comparative knowledge involves considering dynamics originating from multiple spaces and times. While international comparative logic within England’s National Curriculum could be regarded as a manifestation of a European-wide governing technology, the article suggests that the distinctiveness of ‘Europe’ is at risk of being lost to dominant global knowledge paradigms which are also an integral part of the ‘governance by comparison’ process.