Bergel, Erin Simpson;
(2024)
Hypervigilant Enactment: What the Covid years can tell us about datafication, performativity and support for English learners around high stakes tests in primary schools in England and California.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
This research study outlines hypervigilant enactment, a form of policy enactment (Maguire et al., 2012) that was seen in the Covid years in England and California. This research utilised Foucauldian theories of power (Foucault, 1982) and Critical Race Theory (Gillborn and Ladson-Billings, 2019) to understand how teachers in England and California thought about data and performance during Covid, years where governments in both countries halted or fundamentally altered the regular standardised testing regimes that form the backbone of datafication and performativity in primary schools. This study particularly sought to understand the implications of this change on English learners as defined by the usage of labels EAL / EL. This research consisted of a qualitative study of 30 semi-structured interviews with teachers, school leaders, district administrators and policy specialists in both locations. Research questions for this research are: 1. Did Covid-related adjustments to high-stakes testing impact provision and supports for EAL / EL pupils in primary schools in England and California? 2. Did Covid-related adjustments to high-stakes testing result in changes to the datafication seen in primary schools in England and California? 3. How did teachers and school leaders enact policies related to Covid-era adjustments to high-stakes testing in primary schools in England and California? This research found that even without a formal accountability system, accountability and the need for data was at the forefront of teachers’ and school leaders’ minds, with many of them choosing to “re-enact” accountability structures within their practices. Data was cited as a key need, with participants highlighting that there was little way for them to teach effectively without high-stakes testing data, which was presented as reliable and unbiased. English learners were effectively pushed to the sidelines by participants even as they acknowledged that EAL / EL students were unable to access many of the supports put in place by schools. I argue that all these practices together make up a new type of policy enactment along the lines of pre-enactment (Braun and Maguire, 2020) which I call hypervigilant enactment wherein teachers and schools actively reconstruct their own accountability regimes which will have long-lasting repercussions for assessments and accountability going forward.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Hypervigilant Enactment: What the Covid years can tell us about datafication, performativity and support for English learners around high stakes tests in primary schools in England and California |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10185400 |
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