The logics of policy privatisation in schooling, including decentralisation, school autonomy, and discretionary funding mechanisms, shift responsibility for particular types of students onto individual schools and their staff. Burch (2021) asks to what extent the most disadvantaged students in government schools are able to access services most…

The so-called shadow education system of private supplementary tutoring has in some contexts been described as privatization by default rather than by government policy. An allied literature shows that while such tutoring claims to supplement, it may also undermine schooling. This paper, with data from Myanmar, identifies ways in which shadow…

Vocational colleges' social role has been under-developed because they have been marketised and privatised, and because the idea of the vocational college has not been advanced and institutionalised. The paper describes this for public vocational colleges in Australia, which are at the vanguard of competency-based education and in being…

In the wake of the triumphant university student movement that took place 17 years ago, in defense of Article 16 of the Greek Constitution -- a provision which stipulates that higher education should be accessible at no cost and should be provided exclusively by public institutions -- the right-wing conservative government of New Democracy has…

Unions have played a decisive role in promoting democracy and social justice in Tunisia. In 2023, two teacher unions led a yearlong 'silent strike' of withholding student marks from administration. Based on interviews with 60 teachers, this article analyses teacher views on the unions and on ongoing protests. While unions are still considered the…

The central argument of this article is that post-colonial states operate--and have always operated, due to their roots in colonialism and capitalism--according to an "ethos of privatization," through which state agents derive private benefit from positions ostensibly responsible for providing public services. The article offers a…

Employing Stephen Ball's notion of network governance, this study examines the relationships between private companies, non-profit organizations, and public institutions involved with music education in the United States (US) and Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. To identify which public and private actors had a hand in shaping music education…

This paper investigates and compares the policy trajectories of two halted privatisation reforms -- autonomous private high schools in South Korea (2002-2019) and converted schools in China (1992-2008). The two reforms, ambitiously announced, were put under scrutiny and ultimately halted, when the public discontent about education inequalities was…

This paper explores the contrast between the policy vision for public technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges in South Africa, and governance and funding models that have shaped institutional forms and functioning over time. Policy aspires for TVET colleges to play a role in social inclusion and local economic development.…

We study the role of the State in education through the most significant government periods in Argentina in the last 50 years. We use a sociocultural approach, contemplating the historical development of educational policies in the country, exploring conceptual frameworks applicable in the investigation of the State, privatization and…

This paper explores the complex relationship between higher education and the concept of public goods in Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America, with a particular focus on Chile. Through an extensive literature review, the study examines the evolving meanings of public, public/common/global goods in Spanish culture in the context of higher…

Universal voucher policies allow any student, regardless of their family income level or history of attending public schools, to be eligible to use public funding to attend private, often religious, schools or home schooling. From 2021 to 2025, the number of statewide universal voucher programs has gone from zero to thirteen. These efforts have…

This article examines the ways in which teachers and community-based activists collaborated to advance an anti-privatisation agenda within an urban school district. The article emerges from our respective studies of privatisation in Oakland, one a historical study of the advance of neoliberalism and the other a case study (Merriam 2007,…