This presentation focuses on the participation of new non-state actors in educational governance in Portugal, seeking a new analytical perspective: how these actors build their public image through the media. This focus stems from the interest in education policy studies in non-state actors over recent decades, recognizing their expanding role in reshaping education governance (Ball, 2012; 2016; Lubienski et al, 2022). These include firmly established global political actors such as the UN, OECD, UNESCO, the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank, as well as governmental cooperation organizations, non-profit organizations, edu-businesses, think tanks and philanthropic foundations (Brent Edwards et al., 2021).
Think tanks and philanthropic foundations have received particular and growing attention from the academic community (Reckhow & Snyder, 2014). It is well-established that they have evolved into key players in educational policies, creating and producing new and relevant policy networks, acting as "policy actors" or "state-makers" (Lingard & Rawolle, 2011; Sellar & Lingard, 2014).
Previous research has illuminated the strategies employed by these actors for advocacy and policy influence, such as knowledge brokerage, networking and the creation of new policy networks, “problem-solving” and “leading by example” (Williamson & Hogan, 2020; Fontdevila, Verger & Avelar, 2021; Matovich & Esper, 2023). Following a long-established tradition in other countries, in recent years, Portugal has witnessed the emergence and consolidation of this phenomenon and think tanks and philanthropic foundations are acting as intermediary actors (Viseu & Carvalho, 2021; Carvalho & Viseu, 2023).
Simultaneously, studies on the media have focused on analyzing the thematization and framing that the media perform on education, demonstrating how a) the media attribute relevance to certain themes to the detriment of others, acting as instruments to simplify the complexity of the social world and narrow down the possibilities of how education is perceived and interpreted by the public (Santos, Carvalho & Melo, 2022); b) are used by state and non-state actors to manage expectations about public education, place certain educational policies on the agenda, or strengthen/undermine support for specific educational policies, practices, and ideologies. They also help define the boundaries of accountability and social responsibility for public education, shaping the field of educational policy (Blackmore & Thorpe, 2003; Anderson, 2007).
Studies have also revealed that the media produces a critical and negative portrayal of educational systems (Dixon et al., 2013), depicting them as damaged and in crisis. This has contributed to creating public outcry about their performance (Yemini and Gordon, 2015; Baroutsis & Lingard, 2023) and validating social distrust in public school educators (Baroutsis, 2016). In this regard, some studies reveal how the narratives constructed by the media about teachers contribute to the creation of an ideal type of teacher whose characteristics and attributes are highly valued by the private sector (Gautreaux & Delgado, 2016).
The relevance of the media as a political influence arena with significant effects is further demonstrated by studies that analyze the increasing presence of non-state actors in the media (Blach-Ørsten & Kristensen, 2016). However, studies examining how these non-state actors strategically use their presence in the media as a means of constructing their public image and, in turn, legitimizing their (positive) actions are still very scarce. Our work aims to contribute to filling this gap. Thus, this presentation aims to describe and analyze the image that non-state actors project about themselves and their interventions in the media, positioning as the political actors capable of contributing to solving the existing problems in schools and the “education crisis”.

The study follows a qualitative approach, using document analysis and focusing on two actors: EPIS - Entrepreneurs for Social Inclusion, a corporate philanthropy established in 2006, positioning itself as a pivotal figure in fostering social inclusion and academic success in Portugal; and EDULOG, a self-title think tank, operating since 2015 within the philanthropic endeavours of a private foundation, with the mission of contributing to the improvement of education policies. These actors were chosen because a) earlier empirical-based research already showed how they perform as intermediary actors in education governance in Portugal (Viseu & Carvalho, 2021), which led us to the expectation that the way these actors construct their public image through the media would have differentiated contours justified by the nature of their intervention, as data subsequently demonstrated; b) both provide on their websites an area that includes the "copy of an article about an organization or company that has appeared in the media," i.e., the clipping (Heath, ed. 2013). Therefore, the documentary corpus consists of clippings disclosed on the websites until 2022, corresponding to 206 news articles. For content analysis purposes, we followed a deductive and inductive strategy where the following categories were considered: frame, issue, solution, who we are/what we do/evoked relationships and knowledge mobilization. For the categorization and analysis of data, investigator triangulation was employed (Archibald, 2016; Bans-Akutey & Tiimub, 2021). This methodology was suitable for two main reasons: 1) through triangulation, we compared the information to determine its validation and corroboration; in other words, it is a qualitative cross-validation process involving the three investigators (Wiersma 2000); 2) validation provides the elimination of biases that might skew the research results (Onwuegbuzie, 2000).

The empirical work is still ongoing, but we will discuss this media presence as one of the intervention strategies that these actors activate to legitimize their presence in the public sphere (alongside networking, knowledge brokerage, etc.), assuming that their ability to intervene -and ultimately their existence- is dependent on constructing a public image. So far, data pointed to three main results. First, since their creation, EPIS and EDULOG had a regular presence in the press over the years, more regarding EPIS (173) than EDULOG (33). Second, there are differences in how both present themselves in the media, regarding the: a) status and scope of the media (national and leading press vs. local and alternative press); b) nature of these actors' intervention (more oriented towards problem construction and diagnostics vs. orientation towards practice and problem-solving). Thus, these data confirm that for these actors to exist in the public scene, they need to be in the media, and their presence in the media constructs and reinforces the image they want to be known for: in the case of EDULOG as a "diagnostics maker" on education; in the case of EPIS as a "solution maker", leading by example; c) clipping appears to be a good place to analyze how these actors strategically want to be recognized, influencing the public perceptions constructed about them, asserting themselves as political actors who can contribute to solving the problems in schools and the crisis in the education system.

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