The political uses of the crisis of education. Processes of scandalization and glorification in the disputes for hegemony in the educational field in Uruguay

Abstract

The article problematizes the signifier “crisis of education” in the framework of the disputes in the educational policy arena in contemporary Uruguay. The analysis accompanies a set of studies under development about the disputes over the public character of education in Uruguay in the last twenty years: the signifier “public education” is the one in relation to which the discourse of the crisis makes sense. We address the mechanisms of scandalization and the lines of signification that converge in the construction of the signifier “crisis of education”, particularly those related to Uruguay’s results in international standardized evaluations and to the resistance to change and the proselytizing work of teachers and teachers’ unions. This allows us to understand the logic behind the postulation of alternatives that orient education towards the market as a glorified solution. The aim is to contribute, from a post-foundationalist conceptual perspective, to the understanding of education as a territory in which the construction of hegemonic positions is disputed, the implications of which go far beyond the spheres of formal education.