Making Work “Great” Again: Analyzing Turn of the Century ACE Policy through Discursive Institutionalism
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Colleges and Universities
Presentation Format Requested
Shared Concurrent Session (Approx. 12 or 20 minutes)
Session Abstract
The 1998 WIA and 2014 WIOA acts overhauled US federal ACE policy. Using a Discursive Institutionalism framework to excavate the “big ideas” embedded in such legislation, the presentation will illuminate latent assumptions of sexism, classism, and racism within the policy initiatives, and the policy aims of making work “great” again.
Target Audience
The target audience is as broad as the field of adult education itself and would include anyone in any position or facet of adult education who cares about the direction and effectiveness of the field as a whole. This would include instructors, facilitators, administrators, researchers, advocates, and all manner of staff – theorists and practitioners of all kinds.
Learning Outcomes
The aim is to present an analysis and incite a discussion with the intent to: (1) raise consciousness of how ideas generate institutions and how institutions regenerate and reinforce particular ideas; (2) offer an example of how to bring substantive policy review and critical analysis together; (3) identify limitations of the ideas undergirding a particular policy movement; and (4) suggest new areas for policy inquiry and advocacy.
Session Description
The session will begin as a presentation of an analysis of the WIA and WIOA legislation applying a conceptual framework of Discursive Institutionalism to illuminate the embedded cultural assumptions of sexism, classism, and racism (and other isms) within the “big ideas” behind overhauling the Adult Education, Workforce Development, and Social Services legislation and policy initiatives. Second, in presenting and discussing how substantive policy analysis and critical theory can be brought together under the framework of Discursive Institutionalism, the session will continue as a guided discussion about how policy analysis and implementation and program evaluation can be meaningfully used to both illuminate the successes and limitations of such policy initiatives, and generate ideas about how such research and evaluation can be more meaningfully used to influence developing policy and implementation agendas.
Format & Technique
The format of the session will start with a presentation of the main ideas and findings from the research, followed by a discussion of future implications for policy research and advocacy.