Discourse authorities: contributions for an analysis of deliberation in education policies

Abstract

The present paper explores elements of the national political debate on education, focusing on the authoritative references used in deliberation. The systematic identification and analysis of the intertextualities present in the debates on education that took place in the Portuguese National Assembly (AR) between 1978 and 2018, allowed to map the sources of authority used – national and international; legal and expert – and disclose structural features of the discourse on education. The results point to the existence of a discursive environment that is not very favourable to evidence-based deliberation, in which the questioning of sources of authority and the results achieved is persistent. Discourse evolves around the horizon of international comparison, with the persistence over time of the ideas of crisis and change.