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‘Formalizing The Unformalizable’: Discursive Resistance To Unified State Examination By The Teacher Community

Author

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  • Elena Minina

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

Abstract

This paper investigates the logics of teachers’ discursive resistance to the Unified State Examinations (USE) almost two decades after its introduction into the Russian education system. By drawing upon NVivo-aided Discourse analysis of online teacher discussions, interview and focus group data, the analysis critically examines the pedagogical underpinnings of USE vis-a-vis the traditional assessment system in the teaching community in two Russian cities: Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. Drawing on the concept of ‘actually existing neoliberalisms’ the analysis shows how, when interpreted through the lens of grassroots pedagogical values, the semantics of the globalized concepts of ‘educational standardization’ and ‘standardized testing’ takes on domestic culturally-specific meanings complementary and, at times, contradictory to the intended ones. In Russia specifically, the notion of ‘standardization’ comes into conflict with the pedagogical idea of a creative personalized and, therefore, profoundly ‘non-standard’ education, while academic assessment continues to be perceived as the non-quantifiable and subjective outcome of teacher-pupil interaction over time. The analysis underscores the interpretative and symbolic dimensions of educational policy and calls for more nuanced efforts to culturally tailor and translate borrowed educational meanings on the part of educational elites.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena Minina, 2019. "‘Formalizing The Unformalizable’: Discursive Resistance To Unified State Examination By The Teacher Community," HSE Working papers WP BRP 51/EDU/2019, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:hig:wpaper:51edu2019
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vladimir Gel’man & Andrey Starodubtsev, 2016. "Opportunities and Constraints of Authoritarian Modernisation: Russian Policy Reforms in the 2000s," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 68(1), pages 97-117, January.
    2. Prakhov, Ilya, 2012. "The unified state examination and the determinants of academic achievement: Does investment in pre-entry coaching matter?," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 27(3), pages 86-108.
    3. Sonia Hirt & Christian Sellar & Craig Young, 2013. "Neoliberal Doctrine Meets the Eastern Bloc: Resistance, Appropriation and Purification in Post-Socialist Spaces," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 65(7), pages 1243-1254.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    neoliberalism and education; Unified State Examination; post-Soviet Russia; standardized testing; discourse analysis.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z - Other Special Topics

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