TY - JOUR AU - I'Anson, John AU - Eady, Sandra PY - 2017/11/15 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Partnership as Educational Policy Imperative: An Unquestioned Good? JF - Professions and Professionalism JA - P&P VL - 7 IS - 3 SE - Articles DO - 10.7577/pp.1814 UR - https://journals.oslomet.no/index.php/pp/article/view/1814 SP - e1814 AB - <p>“Partnership” is often promoted as an unquestioned “good” for higher education institutions in relation to its various stakeholder organizations. This paper seeks to problematize this uncritical valorization through a critical interrogation of the concepts and socio-material practices associated with partnership. In the name of partnership, new forms of governance are inaugurated that have far-reaching effects. More specifically, this paper is concerned with a critical analysis of partnership in relation to a longitudinal study of the relational practices between a university and five local authorities within a Scottish educational context. In particular, we trace how a “signature event” transformed a partnership assemblage, from one characterized by a grammar of participation, to a formal partnership aligned with a set of principles that we characterize as a grammar of representation. We argue that this transition led to a new assemblage that enacted new accountabilities, performativities, and alignments under the sign of partnership.</p> ER -