“Aspiration” has become a popular term in recent policy debates in the UK. It is particularly prominent in social and educational policy concerned with issues of social disadvantage and exclusion (Archer, Hollingworth & Mendrick, 2010). The perceived lack of “aspiration” in individuals from disadvantaged groups is presented as an obstacle to social inclusion and to the prosperity of the nation state. Placing individuals and their attitudes at the centre of policy can be regarded as an expression of a tendency towards individualising responsibility for social inclusion. This trend has been reinforced by the Labour Government in the UK since the late 1990s (Clarke; 2005; Kelly, 2001) and can be observed in policies of “activation” most European states (Spohrer, 2011).

One key target group of the recent “politics of aspiration” (Raco, 2009) are young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds who are portrayed as lacking in educational and occupational “aspirations”. The policy debates set this in the context of a changing national economy in need of a more highly qualified workforce and a nation state that is no longer able to financially support the citizens excluded from the labour market (Cabinet Office, 2009). Educational policies therefore focus their effort on creating social mobility through the achievement of higher levels of qualification. Examples of this are initiatives aimed at “Widening Access” to Higher Education and promoting “Excellence” in disadvantaged schools and neighbourhoods (Riddell, 2010).

This paper presents findings from a PhD project examining how official ideas on “aspiration” are enacted and negotiated in a school context. The analysis aimed to trace influences of official ideas on the school’s practices and young people’s subjectivities.

The study drew on Michel Foucault’s concept of discourse, assuming that “official” discourses shape the ways we understand ourselves and the world around us (Foucault, 2002). It was furthermore assumed that when discourses enter local contexts, they are not simply adopted, but subject to negotiation and resistance (Bernstein, 1990; Bowe, Ball & Gewirtz, 1994). Previous studies in institutional contexts have shown that the appropriation of discourse is shaped by both by structural characteristics and individual actors (Braun, Maguire & Ball, 2010; Trowler, 2001). Research on young people’s negotiation of dominant educational discourse has highlighted the influence of socially structured positions according to ethnicity, class and gender (Archer, Hollingworth & Mendrick, 2010; Bradford & Hey 2007).

The study pursued the following research questions:

How are official discourses on aspiration interpreted and enacted in the school?

How do young people navigate and negotiate ideas and practices they encounter in the school?

How do the young people make sense about their futures drawing on “interpretative repertoires” in different contexts?

Archer, L., Hollingworth, S., & Mendrick, H. (2010). Urban youth and schooling: Open University Press. Arribas-Ayllon, M., & Walkerdine, V. (2008). Foucauldian discourse analysis. In C. Willig & W. Stainton Rogers (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research in psychology (pp. 91-108). London: SAGE. Ball, S. J. (1994). Education reform: a critical & post-structural approach: Open University Press. Bradford, S., & Hey, V. (2007). Successful subjectivities? The successification of class, ethnic and gender positions. Journal of Education Policy, 22(6), 595 - 614. Braun, A., Maguire, M., & Ball, S. J. (2010). Policy enactments in the UK secondary school: examining policy, practice and school positioning. Journal of Education Policy, 25(4), 547 - 560. Foucault, M. (2002). The archaeology of knowledge. London: Routledge. Kelly, P. (2001). Youth at risk: processes of individualisation and responsibilisation in the risk society. Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education 22(1), 23-33. Riddell, R. (2010). Aspiration, identity and self-belief: snapshots of social structure at work. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham. Raco, M. (2009). From expectations to aspirations: state modernisation, urban policy, and the existential politics of welfare in the UK. Political Geography, 28(7), 436-444. Spohrer, K. (2011). Deconstructing “aspiration” – UK policy debates and European policy trends. EERJ, 10(1), 53-63. Trowler, P. (2001). Captured by the discourse? The socially constitutive power of new higher education discourse in the UK. Organization, 8(2), 183-201. Willig, C. (2008). Foucauldian discourse analysis. In C. Willig (Ed.), Introducing qualitative research in psychology: adventures in theory and method (pp. 112-131). Maidenhead: Open University Press.