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Papers by Sandra Vatrella

Research paper thumbnail of Governing Adult Learning Through Influencing Public Debate: How the Media Use PIAAC Data in Denmark, Italy and the United Kingdom

Palgrave studies in adult education and lifelong learning, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of How public media and governments co-construct the adult skills agenda. The OECD's Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies in Italian and Danish newspapers

Research in Comparative and International Education

The ‘Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies’ (PIAAC), developed and man... more The ‘Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies’ (PIAAC), developed and managed by the OECD, is an important source of knowledge about adult skills as well as an intervention in the field of education policy. One level of the intervention is the presence of PIAAC results in public media and debate. This article presents a comparative analysis of the way major newspapers in Italy and Denmark presented and used PIAAC over the period 2013–2019. The press contributes to constructing knowledge and setting agendas for education by presenting information structured from criteria of news value and from ideological stances. The analysis, done as part of the ENLIVEN research project ( Milana et al., 2020 ), traces how PIAAC results were covered in Italian and Danish newspapers and used in the construction of themes, angles and ‘truths’ on skills and adult learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Leadership e contesto organizzativo: benessere democratico a scuola

Research paper thumbnail of KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, PUBLIC MEDIA AND ADULT EDUCATION AND LEARNING:: How the OECD’S PIAAC survey enters the press discourse in Italy and Denmark

Adult Education in Global Times: An International Research Conference (AEGT2021), May 1, 2021

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the way the \u201c Programme for the International ... more This paper presents a comparative analysis of the way the \u201c Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies \u201d (PIAAC), developed and managed by the OECD, entered the popular press discourse in Italy and Denmark over the period 2013 - 2 019. The press contributes to knowledge production by presenting information structured from criteria of news value and from ideolog ical stances. Our analysis, done as part of the ENLIVEN research project, investigates how PIAAC results were covered in Italian and Danish newspapers and used in the construction of themes, angles, and \u201c truths \u201d on adult learning

Research paper thumbnail of Scuola, diseguaglianze e razzismo istituzionale. Dilemmi e prospettive per la pratica educativa in contesti multiculturali

Andare a scuola oggi: scelta e orientamento tra famiglia, scuola e politiche pubbliche, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Collaborative Leadership and Teachers Wellbeing Research Strategies and School Governance in the Italian Education Field

Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 2017

The article deals with the relationship between research methods and strategies of governing in I... more The article deals with the relationship between research methods and strategies of governing in Italian education field. In particular, it relates to the surveys, whose interpretative and methodological machinery colludes with the neomanagerialist re-culturing of education space by embedding new public management ideas and tools within the educational texture. Thus, in order to analyse the generative effects that certain methodological choices can have on producing the field to be inquired, it focuses on the way in which defining unit of analysis, choosing techniques to collect data and aiming to such research objectives contribute to produce the "representation for the field to be governed [...] the techniques to be employed, and the ends to be achieved" (Dean 2010, p. 268) in education field. Our findings show how: the neo-managerialist 'tyranny of numbers' (Ball, 2007)imposed both on education space, and research methods in education field can be refused, because-despite inquiry contexts "governed by numbers" (Ozga, 2009)readings in line with a democratic perspective can be supplied.

Research paper thumbnail of Penitenti educati : migranti in una etnografia carceraria

Research paper thumbnail of Assembling Digital Platforms in Education Policy. A Comparative Analysis of Scuola in Chiaro and Eduscopio

Research paper thumbnail of Research Strategies and School Governance in the Italian Education Field

The article deals with the relationship between research methods and strategies of governing in I... more The article deals with the relationship between research methods and strategies of governing in Italian education field. In particular, it relates to the surveys, whose interpretative and methodological machinery colludes with the neo-managerialist re-culturing of education space by embedding new public management ideas and tools within the educational texture. Thus, in order to analyse the generative effects that certain methodological choices can have on producing the field to be inquired, it focuses on the way in which defining unit of analysis, choosing techniques to collect data and aiming to such research objectives contribute to produce the "representation for the field to be governed [...] the techniques to be employed, and the ends to be achieved" (Dean 2010, p. 268) in education field. Our findings show how: the neo-managerialist 'tyranny of numbers' (Ball, 2007)-imposed both on education space, and research methods in education field can be refused, beca...

Research paper thumbnail of Introduction to the European Youth Guarantee

Europe's Lifelong Learning Markets, Governance and Policy, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Can Schools Help Working-Class Students Access University?

Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 2018

This paper analyses the complex relationship between social classes, scholastic stratification an... more This paper analyses the complex relationship between social classes, scholastic stratification and educational choices in Italy, paying due attention to the role teachers may play in enhancing working-class students’ chances to attend university. Our findings show on the one hand how the Italian educational system contributes to reproducing social inequalities, on the other hand how individuals can challenge the system, by reversing the abovementioned negative trend. In fact, working-class students are encouraged to go on to university, when they encounter teachers who inspire them through a positive relationship, good expertise and interesting lessons. In such instances, teachers can become “transformative intellectuals” who contribute to change students’ social dispositions towards education.

Research paper thumbnail of Youth Guarantee and Welfare State Regimes: Cross-Countries Considerations

This chapter applies a Welfare Regimes framework to further examine the processes of domestic ada... more This chapter applies a Welfare Regimes framework to further examine the processes of domestic adaptation to the Youth Guarantee (YG) in Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Belgium, Italy, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom. It connects the evidence from Chaps. 9– 17 to selected Welfare State Regimes’ (WSRs) characteristics, covering also adult education. The results point at features in the domestic adaptation to the YG as not independent from WSRs, but also at the missed opportunity, across WSRs, of seeing this policy instrument as connected to adult education in facing the educational concerns of young adults. Yet, the chapter cautions towards welfare uniformity as it acknowledges that Welfare State theory and frameworks do not fully account for intra-country, local differences.

Research paper thumbnail of The Masked Truths. The Head Teachers' Evaluation in Italy

Research paper thumbnail of Il Mulino-Rivisteweb

This article focuses on the relationship between European governance mechanisms and national poli... more This article focuses on the relationship between European governance mechanisms and national policies. Specifically, we present a study on Youth Guarantee (YG) and examine how this policy tool impacts and modifies the field of adult education and training. In doing so, the article retraces the steps that have led this European instrument to assume its current configuration, identifies the funding mechanisms set up for implementing it and analyses the form YG takes in Italy. The article closes by presenting some considerations about the way these two policy areas (work and education), situated at the crossroads between European initiatives and local translations, converge within a fragmented framework which often stem from and feed into the ‘economic reasoning’ underlying both areas.

Research paper thumbnail of European Governance and Educational Policy. Youth Guarantee as a ‘Trail’ between Labour and Learning

Research paper thumbnail of The Upskilling Pathway

Research paper thumbnail of Tett, L. and Hamilton, M. (2019), Resisting Neoliberalism in Education. Local, National and Transnational Perspectives

Research paper thumbnail of Report on the use of PIAAC in informing policy in selected countries

Research paper thumbnail of Docile bodies and practices of resilience. The «prison careers» of foreign inmates

Research paper thumbnail of Education and Universalism in Europe: When Education Supports Democracy

Athens Journal of Social Sciences, 2019

The increasing of unemployment, social insecurity and poverty are making many Europeans contest t... more The increasing of unemployment, social insecurity and poverty are making many Europeans contest the democratic foundations of Europe. It is a world systemic crisis that, on the one hand, nurtures the migration flows, on the other hand, it intensifies the individualist tenets of neoliberalism and contemporarily the hostility against migrants to which the social insecurity is often attributed because in a sense they are the evident proof of the end of welfare assured by Nation-State in the past. In this context, it is relevant to understand the role of education in promoting the "democratic universalism", the founding value of democracy according to which institutions should remove social inequalities. Today this value is in crisis also because it asks to be re-elaborated recognising cultural pluralism, especially if we consider European societies are becoming multicultural increasingly.

Research paper thumbnail of Governing Adult Learning Through Influencing Public Debate: How the Media Use PIAAC Data in Denmark, Italy and the United Kingdom

Palgrave studies in adult education and lifelong learning, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of How public media and governments co-construct the adult skills agenda. The OECD's Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies in Italian and Danish newspapers

Research in Comparative and International Education

The ‘Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies’ (PIAAC), developed and man... more The ‘Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies’ (PIAAC), developed and managed by the OECD, is an important source of knowledge about adult skills as well as an intervention in the field of education policy. One level of the intervention is the presence of PIAAC results in public media and debate. This article presents a comparative analysis of the way major newspapers in Italy and Denmark presented and used PIAAC over the period 2013–2019. The press contributes to constructing knowledge and setting agendas for education by presenting information structured from criteria of news value and from ideological stances. The analysis, done as part of the ENLIVEN research project ( Milana et al., 2020 ), traces how PIAAC results were covered in Italian and Danish newspapers and used in the construction of themes, angles and ‘truths’ on skills and adult learning.

Research paper thumbnail of Leadership e contesto organizzativo: benessere democratico a scuola

Research paper thumbnail of KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION, PUBLIC MEDIA AND ADULT EDUCATION AND LEARNING:: How the OECD’S PIAAC survey enters the press discourse in Italy and Denmark

Adult Education in Global Times: An International Research Conference (AEGT2021), May 1, 2021

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the way the \u201c Programme for the International ... more This paper presents a comparative analysis of the way the \u201c Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies \u201d (PIAAC), developed and managed by the OECD, entered the popular press discourse in Italy and Denmark over the period 2013 - 2 019. The press contributes to knowledge production by presenting information structured from criteria of news value and from ideolog ical stances. Our analysis, done as part of the ENLIVEN research project, investigates how PIAAC results were covered in Italian and Danish newspapers and used in the construction of themes, angles, and \u201c truths \u201d on adult learning

Research paper thumbnail of Scuola, diseguaglianze e razzismo istituzionale. Dilemmi e prospettive per la pratica educativa in contesti multiculturali

Andare a scuola oggi: scelta e orientamento tra famiglia, scuola e politiche pubbliche, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Collaborative Leadership and Teachers Wellbeing Research Strategies and School Governance in the Italian Education Field

Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 2017

The article deals with the relationship between research methods and strategies of governing in I... more The article deals with the relationship between research methods and strategies of governing in Italian education field. In particular, it relates to the surveys, whose interpretative and methodological machinery colludes with the neomanagerialist re-culturing of education space by embedding new public management ideas and tools within the educational texture. Thus, in order to analyse the generative effects that certain methodological choices can have on producing the field to be inquired, it focuses on the way in which defining unit of analysis, choosing techniques to collect data and aiming to such research objectives contribute to produce the "representation for the field to be governed [...] the techniques to be employed, and the ends to be achieved" (Dean 2010, p. 268) in education field. Our findings show how: the neo-managerialist 'tyranny of numbers' (Ball, 2007)imposed both on education space, and research methods in education field can be refused, because-despite inquiry contexts "governed by numbers" (Ozga, 2009)readings in line with a democratic perspective can be supplied.

Research paper thumbnail of Penitenti educati : migranti in una etnografia carceraria

Research paper thumbnail of Assembling Digital Platforms in Education Policy. A Comparative Analysis of Scuola in Chiaro and Eduscopio

Research paper thumbnail of Research Strategies and School Governance in the Italian Education Field

The article deals with the relationship between research methods and strategies of governing in I... more The article deals with the relationship between research methods and strategies of governing in Italian education field. In particular, it relates to the surveys, whose interpretative and methodological machinery colludes with the neo-managerialist re-culturing of education space by embedding new public management ideas and tools within the educational texture. Thus, in order to analyse the generative effects that certain methodological choices can have on producing the field to be inquired, it focuses on the way in which defining unit of analysis, choosing techniques to collect data and aiming to such research objectives contribute to produce the "representation for the field to be governed [...] the techniques to be employed, and the ends to be achieved" (Dean 2010, p. 268) in education field. Our findings show how: the neo-managerialist 'tyranny of numbers' (Ball, 2007)-imposed both on education space, and research methods in education field can be refused, beca...

Research paper thumbnail of Introduction to the European Youth Guarantee

Europe's Lifelong Learning Markets, Governance and Policy, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Can Schools Help Working-Class Students Access University?

Italian Journal of Sociology of Education, 2018

This paper analyses the complex relationship between social classes, scholastic stratification an... more This paper analyses the complex relationship between social classes, scholastic stratification and educational choices in Italy, paying due attention to the role teachers may play in enhancing working-class students’ chances to attend university. Our findings show on the one hand how the Italian educational system contributes to reproducing social inequalities, on the other hand how individuals can challenge the system, by reversing the abovementioned negative trend. In fact, working-class students are encouraged to go on to university, when they encounter teachers who inspire them through a positive relationship, good expertise and interesting lessons. In such instances, teachers can become “transformative intellectuals” who contribute to change students’ social dispositions towards education.

Research paper thumbnail of Youth Guarantee and Welfare State Regimes: Cross-Countries Considerations

This chapter applies a Welfare Regimes framework to further examine the processes of domestic ada... more This chapter applies a Welfare Regimes framework to further examine the processes of domestic adaptation to the Youth Guarantee (YG) in Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Belgium, Italy, Slovakia, Spain and the United Kingdom. It connects the evidence from Chaps. 9– 17 to selected Welfare State Regimes’ (WSRs) characteristics, covering also adult education. The results point at features in the domestic adaptation to the YG as not independent from WSRs, but also at the missed opportunity, across WSRs, of seeing this policy instrument as connected to adult education in facing the educational concerns of young adults. Yet, the chapter cautions towards welfare uniformity as it acknowledges that Welfare State theory and frameworks do not fully account for intra-country, local differences.

Research paper thumbnail of The Masked Truths. The Head Teachers' Evaluation in Italy

Research paper thumbnail of Il Mulino-Rivisteweb

This article focuses on the relationship between European governance mechanisms and national poli... more This article focuses on the relationship between European governance mechanisms and national policies. Specifically, we present a study on Youth Guarantee (YG) and examine how this policy tool impacts and modifies the field of adult education and training. In doing so, the article retraces the steps that have led this European instrument to assume its current configuration, identifies the funding mechanisms set up for implementing it and analyses the form YG takes in Italy. The article closes by presenting some considerations about the way these two policy areas (work and education), situated at the crossroads between European initiatives and local translations, converge within a fragmented framework which often stem from and feed into the ‘economic reasoning’ underlying both areas.

Research paper thumbnail of European Governance and Educational Policy. Youth Guarantee as a ‘Trail’ between Labour and Learning

Research paper thumbnail of The Upskilling Pathway

Research paper thumbnail of Tett, L. and Hamilton, M. (2019), Resisting Neoliberalism in Education. Local, National and Transnational Perspectives

Research paper thumbnail of Report on the use of PIAAC in informing policy in selected countries

Research paper thumbnail of Docile bodies and practices of resilience. The «prison careers» of foreign inmates

Research paper thumbnail of Education and Universalism in Europe: When Education Supports Democracy

Athens Journal of Social Sciences, 2019

The increasing of unemployment, social insecurity and poverty are making many Europeans contest t... more The increasing of unemployment, social insecurity and poverty are making many Europeans contest the democratic foundations of Europe. It is a world systemic crisis that, on the one hand, nurtures the migration flows, on the other hand, it intensifies the individualist tenets of neoliberalism and contemporarily the hostility against migrants to which the social insecurity is often attributed because in a sense they are the evident proof of the end of welfare assured by Nation-State in the past. In this context, it is relevant to understand the role of education in promoting the "democratic universalism", the founding value of democracy according to which institutions should remove social inequalities. Today this value is in crisis also because it asks to be re-elaborated recognising cultural pluralism, especially if we consider European societies are becoming multicultural increasingly.