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Occupational Control in Education: The Logic and Leverage of Epistemic Communities

Item

Title
Occupational Control in Education: The Logic and Leverage of Epistemic Communities
Abstract/Description
Most current approaches to improving teaching and learning in American public schools rely on either market pressures or bureaucratic controls to leverage performance. In this article, however, authors Joshua Glazer and Donald Peurach examine occupational control as a third approach, whereby the internalization of norms, technical language, and practices among educational professionals drives coordination and knowledge generation and supports the implementation of ambitious instruction. To investigate the dynamics of occupational control, they use the concept of epistemic community to identify the mechanisms that unite practitioners into a community of practice extending beyond the borders of local work environments. They argue that underlying this is a shared set of theory, codes, and tools that govern interpretation and practice and, in their interaction, facilitate the continuous generation of knowledge. Illustrating the utility of this framework are two examples of school networks that employ the principles and mechanisms of an epistemic community and that can be interpreted as systems of occupational control. The authors conclude by arguing that the development of educational epistemic communities is critical to the success of current approaches to improving instruction in schools, most notably the Common Core State Standards and the charter school movement.
Author/creator
Glazer, Joshua L.
Peurach, Donald J.
Date
2015
In publication
Harvard Educational Review
Volume
85
Issue
2
Pages
172-202
Resource type
Research/Scholarly Media
Resource status/form
en Published Text
Scholarship genre
en Theoretical
IRE Approach/Concept
Epistemic Community/Socialized Knowledge Community (SKC)
Infrastructure
Charter Management Organization (CMO)
Featured case/project
Success for All Foundation (SFAF)
America’s Choice
Language
en
Open access/full-text available
en No
Peer reviewed
en Yes
ISSN
0017-8055
DOI
10.17763/0017-8055.85.2.172
URL
Publisher Webpage
ERIC Link (#EJ1066037
Citation
Glazer, J. L., & Peurach, D. J. (2015). Occupational Control in Education: The Logic and Leverage of Epistemic Communities. Harvard Educational Review, 85(2), 172–202. https://doi.org/10.17763/0017-8055.85.2.172
Abbreviation
Harvard Educational Review

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