20 years of debates on education policies.

Contributions of the Swiss Journal of Educational Research (2000-2020)

Abstract

This article provides a review of the contents of the thematic issues of the Swiss Journal of Educational Research (RSSE) dealing specifically with the issue of education policy, over a 20-year period (2000-2020). A content analysis was carried out on 15 thematic issues, representing 95 articles published in the Journal. In order to document the importance of education policies in the Journal over the last two decades, we identified the institutional affiliation of the authors and, above all, traced the evolution of the topics dealt with by the contributors to the Journal. This analysis was guided by five strands identified in the (mainly French-speaking) literature on education policies: 1) globalisation and international surveys; 2) curricular reforms; 3) governance reforms; 4) diversification of forms of privatisation; and 5) inclusive schools. This literature allowed us to put into perspective (both in terms of objects and in terms of epistemological shifts) the concerns present in the issues published by the SJER over the last 20 years in the field of education policies.