On Being Useful: Problem-questioning approaches to policy analysis

Context as a critical component of community psychology can be diverted by political and economic imperatives in the drive toward an exclusive focus on utility. This focus also presumes that psychological knowledge is intrinsically useful and helpful. This is particularly evident in the context of education, where typically mainstream psychological knowledge has been applied from policy through to intervention. Offered here is an example of critical policy analysis based on Foucauldian theories focusing on the ways in which wellbeing has been constructed in Australian education policy. This method is highlighted for two main reasons: as a useful way to bring an analysis of power to community psychology; and to raise questions about the assumptions of mainstream psychological knowledge, particularly around young people and education. Findings suggest that despite shifts away from more traditional psychological categorisations, newer ones such as wellbeing are producing subjectivities which fail to encompass the education realities of certain young people. 

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