The Rhetoric of Education Reform.

More research is needed to explore the ways in which education reform can be considered an international as opposed to a national phenomenon. To meet this need, an examination of the language of recent large-scale education reform in Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, and the United States is presented. The research looks at the main official documents outlining proposed reforms and at the words of the politicians responsible for introducing those reforms into legislation. The focus is on the similarities and differences between jurisdictions and in the overall nature of official discourse. The text extends the discussion on language and ideology by using a particular set of official documents and pronouncements about purposes and strategies to undergird discussions of the language of reform. The study hinges on two questions: (1) What is the extent to which these various reform programs can be seen as sharing a common language and possibly a common way of thinking as reflected in that language? and (2) What is the role of official discourse in education reform? It was found that at a general level there are many commonalities in the symbolic language used in each country. However, significant differences in the official language of education reform were also evident. (Contains 20 references.) (RJM)