Session Information
23 SES 01 B, New Forms of Governing in School Education (Part 1)
Paper Session to be continued in 23 SES 02 B
Contribution
In 1999, the province of San Luis (Argentina) launched a school-based management policy initiative without precedents in the country, inspired by the US charter school movement and some European experiments. This initiative was part of a set of reforms that attempted to deregulate the provincial educational system (REPETTO; ALONSO, 2004). The implementation of this policy created a group of self-managed schools with greater autonomy in decision-making and per-student funding, and granted parental freedom to choose (CICIONI, 1998).
The effects of this policy were limited both in time and scope and did not lead to the creation of a quasi-market scheme: by 2007, the provincial government had terminated the contracts, aborted the project and made these schools subject to the traditional bureaucratic regulations (HUBERMAN, 2007).
The influence of global tendencies on this experience allowed for the creation of new educational spaces that eventually assembled into a distinct local matrix (DALE, 1999; RIZVI; LINGARD, 2000; CARDINI, 2006). In the case of the province of San Luis, such local matrix was strongly affected by the political slant of the hegemonic government in power: for the last 35 years the same political party has dominated the political scenario of province. From an international perspective, and in line with the new public management policy arrangements, the creation of these schools could be interpreted as the result of both endogenous and exogenous privatization processes (BALL; YOUDELL, 2008). In short, the experiment of these self-managed schools tended to blur the differences between a flexible and autonomous private sector and a rigid and bureaucratic state sector (NARODOWSKI; MOSCHETTI, 2015; CLARKE; GEWIRTZ; MCLAUGHLIN, 2000). Those who supported the initiative had expectations regarding the modernization and democratization of the provincial educational system; those who opposed it claimed it was the starting point of a hidden privatization process in the agenda of neoliberal reforms initiated by the provincial government (DEL PLÁ, 2004).
This paper serves two purposes. First, to analyze the implementation of this school-based management policy in light of the logic of regulation and enactment of public policies within the specific political context of the province. Second, to explore and interpret the circumstances under which the project was dismantled and abandoned prematurely.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
BALL, S. J.; YOUDELL, D. Hidden privatisation in public education. Brussels: Education International, 2008.
CARDINI, A. The influences of globalisation in education policy-making: the case of the charter schools in the Province of San Luis, Argentina. Educate~, vol. 5, n. 1, p. 26-38, 2006.
CICIONI, A. El movimiento de las charter schools: una amenaza y una oportunidad para la educación pública argentina. Buenos Aires: Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Institucional, 1998.
CLARKE, J.; GEWIRTZ, S.; MCLAUGHLIN, E. (Eds.) New managerialism, new welfare? London: SAGE Publications Ltd., 2000.
DALE, R. Specifying globalization effects on national policy: a focus on the mechanisms. Journal of Education Policy, v. 14, n-.1, p. 1-17, 1999.
DEL PLÁ, R. San Luis: la Avanzada del Intento Privatizador de las Escuelas. Tribuna Docente, Diciembre 2004. Available at:
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