Introducing reform through prescribed policy discourse(s): a critique of policy rhetoric in Maltese education

A central issue in system improvement is the propagation of a common
sense of purpose where individual institutions can simultaneously bond with
the wider system while exercising autonomy in context – hence the centrality
of networks and collaboration (Hopkins 2007). The Maltese state education
system responded to this concomitant move towards ‘network governance’
through the introduction of school networks (legally termed ‘colleges’),
mandated by the policy document For All Children to Succeed (Ministry of
Education, Youth and Employment 2005). I explore the implications of this
move for the policy actors involved and the system within which this policy
reception, translation and enactment unfold through a documentary analysis
of the policy document FACTS, thus depicting how a relatively small state
education system utilized multi-site school collaboratives to implement
system-wide reform. Despite FACTS’ promise of autonomy, the state’s
struggle for the retention of hegemony emerges very strongly – this has
implications for policy and practice