Adults' beliefs and knowledge about the state of the U.S. education system drive decisions about policy, funding, program adoption, student participation in programs, and the selection of decision makers to elected positions. Amie Rapaport and Anna Rosefsky Saavedra share national survey data showing that U.S. adults have little knowledge about…

Since the early 2000s, billionaires have treated the Denver Public School District as a Neo-liberal education experiment. Using a tangled web of astroturf groups, nonprofits, and training organizations, billionaires have hijacked this public school district, leaving some schools, students, and democracy behind. In this report, Denver's Mike…

Purpose: This study investigated the impact of privatization of advisory services on the quality of the services. Design/methodology/approach: The front- and back-office dimensions of advisory activities were analyzed through interviews with 43 advisers involved in the advisory services provided as part of a cocoa exporter's certification program.…

External privatisation of public education has emerged in Finland in the admission to higher education. A field analysis of thematic interviews (N = 22) with powerful actors in the private educational market and middle-class young people applying for places at universities in the highly competitive disciplines of medicine and law was conducted.…

Migration, xenophobia, barriers and rights to education have emerged as a significant issue in recent South African history. While there is a growing body of work on migrants and refugees within South Africa, little is known of the histories and contexts from which migrants come and how these have shaped their educational trajectories. Using…

The neoliberal turn has driven attempts to marketize education, but how does marketization occur? In this article I draw on ethnographic and linguistic-ethnographic methods to investigate marketization through a microanalytic lens. My investigation focuses on a team of educational professionals, who participated in a workshop led by an…

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…

National policies aiming at marketisation and privatisation in welfare sectors such as Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) require governance and organisation to be realised. In Sweden, the municipalities are key but largely under-researched organisers for preschool quasi-market infrastructures. This study explores the different ways in…

A common idea of research lies in association with virtues of open-mindedness, pursuit of truth and the liberation of humanity from burdens of prejudice. Aside from this "blue skies" picture of scientific research we have "practitioner research" designed by teachers to improve the quality of the education they provide in…

Neoliberal reforms have transformed the early childhood education (ECE) landscape worldwide. The purpose of ECE, what counts as early education and care, and "in" ECE has been dangerously narrowed to the production of human capital and rationalised by the myth that investing in young children (human capital) will guarantee a better…

From climate disaster to the specter of nuclear annihilation to the rise of fascism and destruction of democracy to the advent of AI and other potentially destructive technologies, a number of material threats are matched by symbolic threats that undermine the capacities of people to respond. The war on public and critical education and the public…

This dissertation explores the complex dynamics and conflicts surrounding the privatization of public school services in New Jersey. Through detailed case studies of multiple New Jersey towns, this dissertation examines how local school districts, grappling with funding challenges, consider outsourcing educational support professional roles to cut…

This paper provides a theoretical and conceptual analysis of educational technology (Ed-Tech) including its role in the administration and organization of schools, colleges, and universities; teachers' pedagogical practices; and students' learning. During and since the pandemic period, education has relied more heavily than ever on technological…

Across Canada, school districts have been confronting a backlash to their equity and social justice initiatives. Critics of public education have been arguing that the solution to these controversies is to increase school choice. Using several examples from the United States, this paper argues that the endgame of these strategies is to undermine…

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…