Selling visions for education: What do Australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how?
This article analyses the educational visions put forward by Australian federal politicians in their maiden (first) speeches to Parliament. The theoretical approach was a Habermasian-based analysis of the communication strategies adopted by the politicians, meaning that it was not only the content o...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Australian Council for Educational Research
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12357 |
| _version_ | 1848748053941452800 |
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| author | Pitman, Tim |
| author_facet | Pitman, Tim |
| author_sort | Pitman, Tim |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article analyses the educational visions put forward by Australian federal politicians in their maiden (first) speeches to Parliament. The theoretical approach was a Habermasian-based analysis of the communication strategies adopted by the politicians, meaning that it was not only the content of the speeches but also the delivery that was the focus of the analysis. The findings reveal bipartisan agreement on the importance of education to personal and national economic prosperity, and the importance of quality in education. There were ideologically opposed beliefs in the importance of personal choice and responsibility in education on the one hand, and the need for a democratic and equitable education system on the other. Communicatively, politicians from both sides preferred axiomatic ‘truths’ as a strategic tool to support their various positions, as opposed to strategies of ‘sincerity’ or ‘rightness’. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:58:56Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-12357 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:58:56Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | Australian Council for Educational Research |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-123572017-09-13T14:57:35Z Selling visions for education: What do Australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how? Pitman, Tim This article analyses the educational visions put forward by Australian federal politicians in their maiden (first) speeches to Parliament. The theoretical approach was a Habermasian-based analysis of the communication strategies adopted by the politicians, meaning that it was not only the content of the speeches but also the delivery that was the focus of the analysis. The findings reveal bipartisan agreement on the importance of education to personal and national economic prosperity, and the importance of quality in education. There were ideologically opposed beliefs in the importance of personal choice and responsibility in education on the one hand, and the need for a democratic and equitable education system on the other. Communicatively, politicians from both sides preferred axiomatic ‘truths’ as a strategic tool to support their various positions, as opposed to strategies of ‘sincerity’ or ‘rightness’. 2012 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12357 10.1177/000494411205600303 Australian Council for Educational Research restricted |
| spellingShingle | Pitman, Tim Selling visions for education: What do Australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how? |
| title | Selling visions for education: What do Australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how? |
| title_full | Selling visions for education: What do Australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how? |
| title_fullStr | Selling visions for education: What do Australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Selling visions for education: What do Australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how? |
| title_short | Selling visions for education: What do Australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how? |
| title_sort | selling visions for education: what do australian politicians believe in, who are they trying to convince and how? |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/12357 |