Abstract
This paper explores the idea of metaphor as a persuasive device, using as an example a recent OECD publication purporting to be a quality toolbox for early childhood education and care. Leaving aside the problematic notion of quality, we argue that there is a serious problem with the idea of education as something that can be done with a toolbox, particularly in the formative stages of young children’s education. We suggest that the OECD selection of the toolbox as a metaphor is a way of inserting international economic imperatives into local government education policy, in ways that the citizenry is not aware of. As with any metaphor for education, the selection highlights some aspects while hiding others, a concealment that can’t be exposed by intensifying one’s gaze without a change in perspective. To examine the extent of what remains hidden by the toolbox, we engage in creative play with some different metaphors for education, arguing that particular metaphors may serve to obfuscate rather than clarify, an artifice that is not acceptable from a body as influential and far-reaching as the OECD.
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