A Foucaultian discourse analysis of educational 'underachievement' : psychology's run away concept : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

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dc.contributor.authorEggleton, Tamsin
dc.date.accessioned2017-09-19T22:36:39Z
dc.date.available2017-09-19T22:36:39Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractUnderachievement is a dominant feature in educational discourse; it is often framed as a ‘crisis’ affecting different social groups, or even whole countries. A particularly common depiction of underachievement is that of a ‘gap’ affecting ethnic minority and working class groups. Nearly 60 years of research, reform and policy attempts to address this ‘gap’ have made little progress in lifting achievement levels. This paper uses a Foucaultian discourse analysis method to encourage a reformulation of underachievement discourse, particularly as it relates to minority ethnic students. A genealogy of the conditions of possibility which gave rise to underachievement reveals this concept and its related assumptions and processes (such as testing) to be part of a broader system of power relations which structure education in favour of dominant cultural and economic needs. The discipline of psychology has been instrumental in providing a supposed scientific basis to the dominant educational values of scientific management, efficiency and neoliberalism. This thesis posits that underachievement is a socially located concept which is able to exist and shape social realities due to its convenience to dominant educational and cultural practices. In revealing the social nature of psychological knowledge on underachievement, psychology’s claims of the possibility of objective social knowledge under post-positivistic, empirical methods are also brought into question. Keywords: Underachievement, Foucault, Discourse Analysis, Genealogy, Psychology, Educationen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10179/11860
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherMassey Universityen_US
dc.rightsThe Authoren_US
dc.subjectUnderachievementen_US
dc.subjectPsychological aspectsen_US
dc.subjectMinoritiesen_US
dc.subjectEducationen_US
dc.subjectEducational equalizationen_US
dc.subjectResearch Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Educationen_US
dc.subjectFoucaulten_US
dc.subjectDiscourse analysisen_US
dc.subjectGenealogyen_US
dc.subjectPsychologyen_US
dc.titleA Foucaultian discourse analysis of educational 'underachievement' : psychology's run away concept : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealanden_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
massey.contributor.authorEggleton, Tamsin
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychologyen_US
thesis.degree.grantorMassey Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Arts (MA)en_US
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