2022
Alanen, Paula (2022) The education policy instruments and numeric data modifying communica-
tion within social systems: The consequences of knowing and ignorance in
adult education policy. Tampere Univeristy, Faculty of Education and Culture. (in Finnish, English abstract)
This dissertation focuses on exploring numeric data, its origins and inferences in adult education. Specifically, it examines numeric data and its linkages to adult education policy instruments. The analysis of the data dynamics in education system’s internal and external communications allowed for the recognition of the boundaries of knowledge and ignorance that numeric data produce. The research indicates how the value-driven choices that are made during decision-making processes and the policy instruments that are applied shape the data itself and the interpretations based on the data. Hence, these processes produce not only knowledge but also ignorance and may lead to epistemic injustice.