Abstract:
The theoretical framework of any research field creates a boundary for the ways in which certain words and phrases are used. Academic rigour acknowledges the genesis of any terminology which has come from a different theoretical framework and in so doing provides a critical context for a newer understanding. When terminology crosses its own paradigm boundaries it reaches new audiences. If the boundary crossed is unacknowledged and the crossing is uncritical it can distort previously held understandings. This distortion is exemplified by the uptake of a think tank report into the media and a more general political arena. The report comes from the Grattan Institute, a Melbourne based think tank, and proposes a model of teacher feedback and appraisal. The report moves between genres of advocacy and research writing and so presents as pseudo-academic. It relies heavily on findings from 'education production' research. Research within this paradigm sees teachers, schools and the home as mathematical inputs to a quantitative production-function whose output is student learning, commonly measured by standardised test scores. The terminology from this paradigm privileges discourses involving the economy in teachers' work and the economy of teachers' work and remains unchallenged when presented uncritically to the media and decision makers.