Network utopias and alternative entanglements for educational research and practice

Frankham, Jo (2006) Network utopias and alternative entanglements for educational research and practice. Journal of education policy, 21 (6). pp. 661-677. ISSN 0268-0939

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Abstract

'The network' has achieved a form of 'institutionalized utopianism' in the recent past and is posited as a neo-liberal solution to social scientific researchers and education practitioners learning with and from one another. This paper first outlines why the metaphor of the network is so persuasive. It goes on to problematize some of the key concepts deployed in the field and to ask what is currently inadequately addressed in the discourse of 'learning networks'. It describes how a series of disconnections may be more helpful in understanding how 'learning networks' might 'work'. The paper concludes with questions about the proliferation of the discourse of networks and the marketization of education and commodification of knowledge.