Interchange journal: Special issue on Neo-Liberal Networks in Public Education

Call-for-Papers

With neoliberal agendas controlling work in many countries and shaping the future of education, this issue asks, how do neoliberal groups and interest think tanks network? What is this agenda and how does it influence not-for-profit and for-profit universities, and public institutions and private sectors? “Neo-Liberal Networks in Public Education” is a timely and significant theme for fostering critical thinking, inquiry, and activism about neoliberal agendas. Viewed in very different ways, some may see neoliberal agendas as protecting or even elevating human freedom through privatization and other examples in which power and wealth are concentrated, such as transnational corporations and global elite groups, while others may see these undermining transparency and accountability, proliferating anti-democratic thinking, and, more extreme, promoting attacks on disenfranchised groups and on public education.

While networking has become popular, worldwide, serious study is needed of its ideological scope and consequences as exclusionary systems that through globalization reduce all sectors to an economic model and values. Currently, the attention from researchers is on organizational effectiveness and school improvement. A neoliberal strategy includes generating networks of lavishly funded foundations, adding to the regulatory weight of marketeers that dispels critical inquiry, abandons social justice agendas, and worsens economic and societal disparities. It is time to reclaim public education, internationally, by generating knowledge about this sociopolitical agenda.

Authors are invited to submit manuscripts that describe and interrogate networks with respect to neoliberalism in education and other related domains. Focused but varied inquiry on networks in education are encouraged through various rigorous approaches to empirical research and in-depth, preferably “edgy” argumentation. Priority will be given to papers that have a strong conceptual framework and/or an empirical database to the research.


Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:



  • Intersections between democratic and neoliberal agendas, tensions between restricted-access networks and open-access networks, and communities of practice and regulatory bodies

  • Analysis of the networking between school districts and preparation programs as related to neoliberal agendas

  • Networked learning within national and international consortia of teacher and leadership preparation programs

  • Probing of networks within “policed” states and trends relating to privatization and the depoliticization of education

  • Discussion of hidden but emerging networks that influence the neoliberal agenda in a region or the world

  • Need for open and critical dialogue relative to neoliberal agendas (e.g., corporate marketing schemes)  

 

The potential authors listed below are committed to submitting papers by October 31, 2012.

Manuscript Due October 31, 2012
Round of Review December 10, 2012
Acceptance Date February 2013

Manuscript Submission Guidelines


Authors should submit one copy of their manuscript to any of the guest editors, preferably all five (see below), each with an accompanying 1-page abstract and a list of keywords (at least five). Feature length articles only will be accepted in the range of 25-30 manuscript pages. All copy, including excerpts, notes, and references, must be double-spaced and conform to the style of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th or 6th edition). Tables and figures should be kept to a minimum. A separate page should be provided with names, postal addresses, contact information, including email addresses, for ALL authors on the paper. No hard copies are required, only electronic. Please only email and communicate with the guest editors (<link>camullen@uncg.edu, <link>fenglish@attglobal.net, <link>sb295@cam.ac.uk, <link>l.ehrich@qut.edu.au, <link>eugenie.samier@buid.ac.ae)

Aims and Scope of Journal

Interchange, an externally refereed educational quarterly, embraces educational theory, research, analysis, history, philosophy, policy, and practices. The journal seeks to foster exchanges among practitioners, policy-makers, and scholars and to provide a forum for comment on issues and trends in education. The journal specializes in frank argumentative articles on the fundamental purposes of education. Its articles typically challenge conventional assumptions about education and higher education and do so from perspectives in philosophy or the social sciences. Its authors are scattered throughout the world. All contributions to this journal are peer reviewed.

No charges or fees are incurred for authors. Published authors will receive comp copies of the special issue.

Lead Guest Editor:

Carol A. Mullen, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA; <link>camullen@uncg.edu

Guest Editors:

Fenwick W. English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA;  <link>fenglish@attglobal.net

Sue Brindley, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, <link>sb295@cam.ac.uk

Lisa C. Ehrich, Queensland University of Technology, Australia; <link>l.ehrich@qut.edu.au

Eugenie A. Samier, British University of Dubai; United Arab Emirates, <link>eugenie.samier@buid.ac.ae