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Session Information
23 SES 11 A, The Privatisation in and of Education in European Countries: The Cases of Italy, Spain, Sweden and England
Symposium
Contribution
The privatization of public services is achieving greater importance and is gaining speed in most countries worldwide. This does not simply concern the provision of public services in a narrow sense, but means a redefinition of the concept of ‘public service’ and the State itself. A re-centralisation is taking place, where the State still plays a crucial role but is closer linked to the economy at all levels – from the global to the local (Dale et al. 2009). The state increasingly acts as a ‘market-maker’, actively promoting, coordinating and regulating market conditions of what was formerly publicly provided services. In this context, education is not only supposed to serve economic growth but increasingly also to constitute a market per se (Ball 2007). Furthermore the work of schools is transformed by importing ideas, methods and practices from the business sector (New Public Management, new managerialism). Privatization of education is thus both external and internal, the latter often expressed in other terms, e.g. as school development, choice and effectiveness (Ball & Youdell 2008).
This development does not happen in a vacuum or as part of an innocuous global convergence process neither can it be understood as a homogenous model that spreads randomly. This symposium will analyse and compare national adaptations of privatisation dynamics in European countries that represent three different welfare-state regimes – the liberal, the social-democratic and sub-protective (Esping-Andersen 1996, Gallie & Paugam 2000). More concretely, the papers will analyse the cases of Italy, Spain, Sweden and England, and consider aspects related to both exogenous and endogenous privatization within these national educational systems. Among other things the papers raise questions of its impact on the roles of different educational actors and in the formation of new purposes, obligations, and dispositions, as well as the transformation of the notion of knowledge and curriculum contents within the national educational systems.
Analysing the dynamics of privatisation of education represents theoretical as well as methodological challenges as the phenomena of research are transformed when the market logic permeates and changes the meaning of schools and education, and when the basic sources of information increasingly are situated in the business sphere rather than the public sector. The symposium will also discuss this kind of questions.
References
Ball, S. J. (2007). Education Plc: understanding private sector participation in public sector. New York: Routledge.
Ball, S. J. & Youdell, D. (2008). Hidden Privatisation in Education. Brussels: Education International. http://download.ei-ie.org/docs/IRISDocuments/Research%20Website%20Documents/2009-00034-01-E.pdf
Dale, R. & Robertson, S. (2009). Globalisation and Europeanisation in Education. Oxford: Symposium Books.
Esping-Andersen, G., ed. (1996). Welfare States in Transition. National Adaptations in Global Economics. London: Sage Publications.
Gallie, D. & Paugam, S., eds. (2000) Welfare Regimes and the Experience of Unemployment in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Programme by Networks, ECER 2021
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
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