School graduation exam as a governance technique in education policy
Keywords:
EGE, koulutuspolitiikka, päättökokeet, VenäjäAbstract
This article explores the Russian Unified State Exam (USE) as a governance technique in education policies. The exam constitutes one of the most recent and significant reforms in the Russian education system. It combines into a single procedure high school graduation examination with entrance exams to tertiary education. Within the Foucault-inspired governmentality framework, the article tackles two questions. First, how does the USE function as a governance technique that regulates and makes policies at a distance? Second, what changes in the subjectivities does the exam seek to accomplish? These questions are explored in the context of the neoliberal turn, which has introduced the notions of accountability, market and customership into public policies and education. The article argues that the USE is much more than a mere pedagogical practice that measures learning achievements. It has turned into a flexible and widely utilised governance technique that seeks to restructure state-societal relations and mould subjectivities. It exposes a new approach to governing which, through the initiation of standards and performance steering,
strengthens the control of the state over the education system and beyond.
