Foucault, Docile Bodies and Post-Compulsory Education in

Australian post-compulsogy education policies have been subjected to theoretical critiques which question assumptions behind the articulation of policy. One line of critique derives from Foucault's analysis of power, and makes particular use of the theme of 'docile bodies'. A limitation of these critiques is the adoption of a 'top-down' model of policy which fails to test the model against empirical evidence. This article draws upon recent research evidence 'at the extremities' to test the applicability of Foucault's ideas within the Australian context. The research challenges the monolithic image that results from a 'top down' analysis and counteracts untested assumptions about the inevitability of current policies. While it suggests ways in which Foucault's ideas might enables us to lay bare the disjunctures between policy and its plurality in practice, it also highlights the limitations of Foucault's imagery of power. In her analysis of policies in four countries regarding disability education Fulcher drew attention to major limitations in the uses of theory on educational issues. In particular she questioned the tendency to adopt a 'top-down model of policy' which failed to do justice either to the elements of struggle involved in the process of policy formation or to the ways in which social actors at all levels in the educational 'arena' contribute to that process. She was critical of the neat theoretical distinctions made, and of 'gaps between the theoretical standpoints in this literature and my practical experience of processes'- between 'the theory about all this and its empirical reality' (Fulcher, 1989, p. 3). A similar tendency is evident in recent theoretical critiques of post-compulsory education policy in Australia. Since the promulgation of a number of government-spon- sored reports (Finn, 1991; Deveson, 1992; Mayer, 1992; Carmichael, 1992) attempts have been made to place the policy within a theoretical context. These have involved an analysis in terms of theories of the state (Lingard, 1993), economic theories of human