What's the problem in education policies represented to be Aviaja Geisler Kristensen 2020: A policy analysis of the Greenland education Policy 2014 and 2015
Author
Kristensen, Aviaja Geisler
Term
4. term
Publication year
2020
Submitted on
2020-06-30
Pages
56
Abstract
Uddannelsessektoren i Grønland har udviklet sig markant siden 1970’erne, men står fortsat over for udfordringer som adgang til uddannelse, lærerfastholdelse og sprogbarrierer, og størstedelen af befolkningen har stadig grundskole som højeste uddannelse. Denne afhandling undersøger, hvorfor uddannelsespolitikken ser ud til at have haft begrænset effekt, ved at analysere, hvilket problem uddannelsespolitikkerne repræsenterer som det centrale. Med afsæt i en socialkonstruktivistisk tilgang anvendes kvalitativ metode: dokumentanalyse af tre uddannelsespolitiske dokumenter og to politiske taler samt et ustruktureret eliteinterview. Analysen følger Carol Bacchis WPR-tilgang (“What’s the Problem Represented to be?”) til at afdække problemrepræsentationer, underliggende antagelser og ‘tavsheder’, suppleret af teoretiske perspektiver fra humankapital og Bourdieus kulturelle kapital. Resultaterne viser, at politikkerne i høj grad er forankret i en humankapitallogik, hvor problemerne fremstilles som utilstrækkelig livskvalitet og økonomisk bæredygtighed samt et uddannelsessystem, der hverken er tilstrækkeligt inkluderende eller sammenhængende. Samtidig forbigås betydningen af social baggrund, kulturel kapital og ulighed i chancer, og der mangler konkrete forslag til at håndtere inklusion og sammenhæng, på trods af ambitionen om at uddanne flere. Afhandlingen peger dermed på, at et snævert humankapitalfokus kan være med til at forklare den begrænsede gennemslagskraft i grønlandsk uddannelsespolitik.
Greenland’s education sector has grown rapidly since the 1970s, yet persistent challenges—such as access, teacher retention, and language barriers—remain, and most people still have only primary education. This thesis examines why education policies appear to have had limited impact by analyzing what problem these policies represent as central. Using a social constructivist stance and qualitative methods, the study combines document analysis of three education policy documents and two political speeches with one unstructured elite interview. The analysis applies Carol Bacchi’s WPR approach (“What’s the Problem Represented to be?”) to identify problem representations, underlying assumptions, and silences, and is informed by theories of human capital and Bourdieu’s cultural capital. The findings indicate that policy problem representations are rooted in a human capital logic, framing the issues as inadequate quality of life and economic sustainability and as an education system that is neither sufficiently inclusive nor coherent. At the same time, the role of social background, cultural capital, and chance inequality is largely omitted, and concrete solutions for inclusion and coherence are lacking despite the ambition to educate more people. The study suggests that a narrow human-capital focus may help explain the limited effectiveness of education policy in Greenland.
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Keywords
Documents