Abstract:
Many researchers devoted to changing education policy give up on sharing their research findings through news media. To feel that one's work has been oversimplified or misrepresented wears down even the most dedicated public scholar, leaving them to wonder if contributing to debate is worth the frustration and disappointment that results. However, if academics are to improve education policy for all, they must continue to connect with the experiences of all.
This paper presents a reworking of Lusted’s (1986) model of pedagogical exchange to appreciate the media’s constitutive role in the education policy. In this reworking, the paper replaces teacher with the media and learner with the audience, thus creating a pedagogical triangle between the media, the audience and knowledge. The contention is that by using such a framework, scholars can think about how to conceptualise their research to shape meaning making along each exchange in the pedagogical triangle by locating themselves within it, rather than just supplying knowledge for media to report or discuss.
The author uses Lusted’s definition of pedagogy to conceptualise an attempt to present a critique of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) through two interviews on talkback radio station 2GB. Further, the paper draws on Fairclough’s (1995) model of discourse analysis to examine these interview texts as products of social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge. In doing so, the paper provides an example of an academic attempting to engage with education policy through the media.
The author of this paper previously worked for several years as a media adviser in state politics and is currently senior policy adviser in the Australian Senate. Consequently, the conference presentation that is based on this paper will use these unique experiences to reflect further on the relationships between education policy, politics and the media.
Keywords: education policy, media, pedagogy, Attention Deficit Disorder
This paper presents a reworking of Lusted’s (1986) model of pedagogical exchange to appreciate the media’s constitutive role in the education policy. In this reworking, the paper replaces teacher with the media and learner with the audience, thus creating a pedagogical triangle between the media, the audience and knowledge. The contention is that by using such a framework, scholars can think about how to conceptualise their research to shape meaning making along each exchange in the pedagogical triangle by locating themselves within it, rather than just supplying knowledge for media to report or discuss.
The author uses Lusted’s definition of pedagogy to conceptualise an attempt to present a critique of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) through two interviews on talkback radio station 2GB. Further, the paper draws on Fairclough’s (1995) model of discourse analysis to examine these interview texts as products of social identities, social relations and systems of knowledge. In doing so, the paper provides an example of an academic attempting to engage with education policy through the media.
The author of this paper previously worked for several years as a media adviser in state politics and is currently senior policy adviser in the Australian Senate. Consequently, the conference presentation that is based on this paper will use these unique experiences to reflect further on the relationships between education policy, politics and the media.
Keywords: education policy, media, pedagogy, Attention Deficit Disorder