Ethnography as a resource for the analysis of educational policy: A case study

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to indicate how the use of ethnography for the analysis of educational policy, allows to account for the actions developed within educational institutions - actions that are generated from government regulations, as well as others, aside from them-, actions that traditional approaches fail to point out when emphasis is placed on the macro dimension. Ethnography makes possible the observation of the micro dimension, what the subject says and thinks about his daily acting as a participant of the regulations implemented by governments, in order to regulate institutions. This is the reason why the study, which was developed during a year (September 2017 to September 2018) at Universidad Tecnológica de Gutiérrez Zamora (Mexico), is taken as an empirical reference. It consisted in the realization of a school ethnography to account for aspects of the subject as a political subject in the
construction of their daily practices; but also, in the development of personal values, such as commitment, loyalty, respect, responsibility and teamwork that are incorporated within the organizational culture. Finally, it reflects on how the action of the subject goes beyond what is indicated in politics, and although it has an important role in the process of configuration symbolic-institutional orders, the action of the subject transcends it; which is an important fact for current societal conditions, since it allows to focus on the subject who builds strategies to achieve concrete ends.