Dave Hill
Professor of Education Policy, University of
Northampton, UK
Chief Editor, Journal for Critical education
Policy Studies, www.jceps.com
Fri 2 June
Global Policy and Ideological
Context: Neoliberal Global
Capitalism and Education
Within Education the Agenda of Capita for/in Education
comprises a:
1. Reduction in Expenditure on Public Education Services
2. A Campaign of Denigration of the Public Sector and Pub.
Sect. workers
3. Capitalist Agenda for Schooling and Education- the
production of hierarchically skilled and ideologically
quiescent labour power
4. Capitalist Agenda in Schooling and Education- through
pre-privatisation and privatization, to make profits out of it
5. New Public Managerialism mode of organisation and
surveillance/ control
6. Capitalist Agenda for Education Business - British and
United States (and other leading local capitalist states’)
based corporations in the vanguard of privatisation and
profit taking internationally
7. Differentiated Schooling and Education: cheaper, more
tiered
8. Cheaper Teachers and Workforce: ‘para-teachers’,
deregulation, decentralisation, union-busting
Introduction:
1. Global Policy and Ideological Context
2. What are the main ideologies in
education/?
3. What are New Labour’s Education
Policies?
4. What are their historical and
ideological and welfare policy contexts?
5. What concepts of Social Justice do
they embrace?
6. How sustainable are they?
Ideologies in Education
•
Two main ideologies of education and wider policy in Britain 1940s1970s liberal-progressivism (1960s-1970s), and social democracy
(1944-1970s).
•
The Radical Right in education and in wider policy: Neoliberalism and
Neoconservatism: ThinkTanks, Thatcherism and Blairism…. ‘there is too
much equality’ (and social justice)
•
New Labour’s education policies: six themes… contradictory but overallinegalitarian.
•
Impacts and ideologies of New Labour’s education policies and wider
policies. Who Wins, who loses?...which (‘raced’ and gendered class)..
Non-sustainable competitive marketised individualistic concept of social
justice… the opportunity to be even more unequal
•
Education: Egalitarian principles for schooling and education in
Britain- a Left education manifesto. Sustainable economic and social
justice?
•
Social Democracy, Reforms and Marxism, the Neoliberal Onslaught,
and Resistance: some questions re sustainability of social justice
Ideologies: Social Democracy and
Socialism…and now… New Labour
(and other Social Dem. Govts. In W.
Europe)
•Labour governments (1945-51, 1964-70 and 1974-76) broadly social democratic… strong socialist current.
(2006…only 30 socialist MPs in Parliament, 1 RESPECT MP,
the rest still in the Labour Party) emphasis on social class
meritocratic concept of social justice
•Labour was actually in power 1974 - 1979, but - 1976-79
changed policies – more emphasis on economic aims, less on
social. Cuts. New Labour in govt. 1997- present… no socialism,
a little social democracy, some neoconservatism, huge
emphasis on neoliberalism.. Social justice subordinated to
development of human capital
•The Undemocratisation of New Labour: changes in the party
organisation, membership, ideology: From a capitalist workers’
Social Democracy
•full employment for workers
•the welfare state, relatively high levels of public expenditure,
•relatively high levels of taxation, especially on the rich, with redistributive
taxation seen as a positive social good to create a fairer society
•a mixed pseudo-Keynesian economy (i.e. an economic mix of public
sector and private sector control and provision, together with government
reflation of the economy during recessions)
•trade union and workers’ rights and recognition of the positive role of
trade unions in defending and negotiating the rights/ pay/ conditions of
workers … trade union block vote at the Labour Party Conference
Social Democracy and education
1. comprehensive schooling:
2. expansion of educational opportunities and provision
3. local community involvement
4. local community control
5. a commitment to policies of equal opportunities, especially
regarding social class
6. Affirmative action/ positive discrimination
7. curriculum and education system for meritocracy and a higher
degree of social justice
But: how much did it do this… higher public expenditure, yes,
trade union power yes, high taxation on companies and the
rich…but within a strongly differentiated class system…
schooling and education still reproductive of the economic
and social relations of production: how sustainable is social
democracy … a class balance under capitalism?
Liberal-Progressivism / Child-Centredness/
Student -centredeness and education …
the hippy let it all hang out, individualistic hedonistic period in an
era of full employment
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
child-centredness,
'readiness' (e.g. reading readiness);
interdisciplinary topic work;
'integrated day'; (not subject-based)
curriculum emphasis on 'relevance'
the teacher as a guide to educational experiences rather
than a distributor of knowledge;
7. the non-authoritarian teacher as friend and guide;
8. 'discovery learning';
9. little competitive testing;
10.individual work and on group co-operation and group
work, rather than on competitiveness
11.aim : flourishing of the individual.
But…. Did it ghettoise children within their own (‘raced’ and
gendered) social class groups… without expanding
horizons… without being bicultural (domestic/ elite
cultures)… did it benefit middle strata and elite strata
most? Was this social justice? How sustainable was it?
Neoliberal Policies
1.
2.
3.
4.
Low public expenditure
marketisation/ quasi-markets
selective education
relegation of most developing states and their populations to
subordinate global labour market positions, specializing in
lower skilled services
5. `new public managerialism’… surveillance, targets,
intensification of work
6. privatisation
7. fiscal `rectitude’
8. decentralisation
9. Deregulation
10.Union Busting: national pay and conditions agreements
busted: unions weakened
result: increasingly differentiated provision of services. (health,
pensions, education)….. Class polarisation… increased
inequalities between social classes, tiered schools, young
people.
The Radical Right: Neo-Liberalism and
Education
1. individualism, individual test performance; as part the neo-liberal
personal ethics, where the general neoliberal vision is that every human
being is an entrepreneur managing their own life and that this individual
maximisation is more important than other (e.g collective responsibility/
social justice) ethics
2. privatisation/ private enterprise: support for private schooling and
private enterprise /business involvement in schools, privatising national
education services such as Ofsted and the Teacher Pensions Agency…
pre-privatisation
3. market competition/consumer choice, e.g. different types of schools
local (school-based) budgetary control), publication of the `league tables’
of schools’ test results, as ‘quality control’ and esteem marker for market
position)
4. Business methods of management (new public managerialism) inc.
surveillance of/ strict control over and measurement of standards and
performance in public services, for example, rigorous inspections of
schools, and teacher education `providers’, and national assessments of
pupils at ages 7, 11, 14, 16,
5. Cuts in funding on education
6. anti-producer power/ distrust of the vested interests and `inefficiency' of
professionals and workers in the public sector
Focus on producing tiered, compliant labour power: cost
reduction vocational technicist uncritical basics education
for the non-elite.
Schooling as an Ideological State Apparatus with Repressive
moments
Neoconservative Policies
1. circumscription, the attempt to straightjacket students’, teachers’ and
professors’ practices- their curricula, their pedagogy- the repressive
use of the local state apparatus.
2. enforcement by the central state apparatuses. These include those
of the security state. This includes blacklists, non-promotion of
oppositional teachers and professors, public vilification and ridicule
3. ‘culture wars’ , the use of the ideological state apparatuses (some
churches, many schools, nearly all mass media) to legitimate neoliberal
and neoconservative ideology, `common-sense’, practices and beliefs.
…the appearance… but lack of… of ideological choice… the denial of
class, the claims of meritocracy, the impeding of class
consciousness
Neoconservative education principles
1. tradition (e.g. the monarchy, traditional family (i.e. pro-marriage, anti
homosexuality), anti-gay `Clause 28’ (of the 1988 Local Government Act).
2. 'back to basics' e.g. in sexual and social morality, in focusing on `the 3
Rs', and in pupil-teacher relationships… return to traditional teachercentred, `chalk and talk’ pedagogy/ teaching methods
3. nation and nationalism (cf. pro-Europe or internationalist), focus on
`Britishness’ within the National Curriculum, .. a `white, middle class, male
curriculum’ monoculturalism and assimilationism regarding 'race' :
opposition to both multi-culturalism and to anti-racism, both being hostilely
labelled as `politically correct’.
4. authority, order and social control, for example within classrooms and
schools, with teachers being exhorted to `dress smartly’
5. elitism and hierarchicalism … resources targeted at the elite and the
high achievers for example with the 1981 Assisted Places Scheme, the
very first Conservative legislation of their 1979-1987 period
The Unity and Disunity of the Radical
Right in Education
Thatcherism : populist amalgam of neo-liberal and neo-conservative
ideology developed… a (neo-conservative)`strong state' defending
the (neo-liberal) `free market‘
The Radical Right: Four principles in common between the Neolibs and
the Neocons:
opposition to and derision, distrust and disrespect for:
•
public services
•
socialist/Marxist egalitarianism
•
liberal-progressivism/ child-centred/ student-centred pedagogy and
education
•
the theory purporting to underlie what the Radical Right sees as
essentially practical activities, such as teaching and initial teacher
education.
Neoliberalism and Neoconservatism: Global Similarities, National
Variations
New Labour Achievements
Universal nursery education for all 4 year olds… a significant expansion for
3 year-olds. In total there are 120,000 more free nursery places than in 1997'
Sure Start (a programme aimed at helping pre-school children in poorer
areas) to include 500 programmes, to support 400,000 under-4s, one-third of
under-4s living in poverty, by 2004'
Standards Overall • best ever results at ages 11, 14, 16 and 18’.
Standards in Poor Areas •
Expansion of Further and Higher Education • `Over a quarter of young
people start Apprenticeships and we now have the highest number ever going
to university. The proportion of 18 to 30-year-olds going into higher education
has risen from an elite few of around six per cent in the 1960s to 44 per cent in
2004’
Staffing and Spending: More teachers and Support Staff •
More teachers in schools – 28,000 more than in 1997 and
105,000 new support staff. Every secondary school will be
rebuilt or refurbished over the next ten to 15 years’
School support staff numbers have doubled since 1997, to
269,000’
Spending on Schools Substantial and sustained
investment Spending on education in England real increase in
funding of 29% per pupil, and significant investment in the
workforce, in books and technology and in the fabric of the
school estate.
Teachers’ pay has increased 20% in real terms; and pay and
promotion are increasingly linked to results and pupil progress’
Education Maintenance Allowances •for 16-18 year olds
staying on at school’
Six Themes in New Labour’s Education
Policy
Theme 1: a social democratic theme: `Inclusion’: Targeted
Expenditure, Redistribution and Spending
Theme 2: a neo-conservative theme: `Back to Basics’:
Curriculum, Pedagogy and Traditionalism.
Theme 3: a neo-liberal theme: Managerialism: Target-Setting,
Surveillance and Punishment
Theme 4: another neo-liberal theme: Killing off the
Comprehensives: Market Competition, New Schools and
`Diversity’ and Selection
Theme 5: yet another neo-liberal theme: `New Partnerships’:
Pre-Privatisation, Corporation Control and Schools for Sale
Theme Six: Education for Capital: the Social Production of
Labour Power: Schools and Media as ideological and
Repressive State Apparatuses.. keep’em in line, keep‘em skilled,
keep’em in their place
Six Themes in New Labour’s
Education Policy
Theme 1: a social democratic theme: `Inclusion’: Targeted Expenditure,
Redistribution and Spending
EAZs and Excellence in Cities
Ending `per capita’‘ funding
Increased Funding
Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs)
Expansion of higher education.
Ending of Student Grants for higher education/ replacement by student
loans
Public Expenditure
From 1999-00 to 2005-06 public spending will have risen by four-and-a-half percentage
points of GDP, from 37.4% to 41.9%
Theme 2: a neo-conservative theme: `Back to Basics’: Curriculum,
Pedagogy and Traditionalism.
Curriculum
Traditionalism… 'back to basics' in the curriculum with the Literacy Hour and
Numeracy Hour in Primary schools).
Pedagogy
The assault on mixed ability teaching, return to teacher-centred pedagogy…. No
critical pedagogy!!!!
`Teacher Training’
Teacher training curriculum: prescriptive, heavily geared to skills training, and
leaves very little time for the development of critical thought, or consideration of
the social and political contexts of education/ schooling, or if issues such as
social class, `race’ gender, special needs, sexuality
…..a curriculum for conformity.
Theme 3: a neo-liberal theme: Managerialism: TargetSetting, Surveillance and Punishment
Surveillance/ Monitoring 'getting tough', partly through `naming and shaming
'failing' schools and LEAs, closing some schools down, and various measures to
enable private `for profit’ corporations to take over `failing LEA’ services and
opening up schools to takeover by `not-for-profit’ corporations. T
Teachers are `tested’ for example when they apply for `Performance Related Pay
after 5 years teaching.
Stratifying the teaching workforce,
stratification of the workforce in schools, for example by Performance Related Pa
(PRP) and the introduction of new `types’ and grades of teacher, on different rate
of pay…..
expansion in the number of teaching assistants
Pay and Conditions
A key element of Capital’s plans for education is to cut its labour costs For this, a
deregulated labour market… ‘flexploitation’, casualisation
Theme 4: another neo-liberal theme: Killing off the
Comprehensives: Market Competition, New Schools and
`Diversity’ and Selection
Policies on altering the structures of schooling- patterns of ownership,
control, instituting different types of school.
New Types of School:
Academies
…publicly funded independent schools with voluntary or private sector sponsors
and control. at least 200 academies established by 2010 Academies…outside
LEA control. …can set pay and conditions, and change/ `vary’ the curriculum.
Specialist Schools
allowed to select up to 10% of their pupils `by aptitude'. Those with more than
500 pupils have to raise £50,000 in sponsorship as part of their bids,
…over 90% of all secondary schools in England will become `Specialist Schools'
by 2006.
Independent Trust Schools
…many, or most, or all LEA controlled primary and secondary schools becoming,
in effect, independent state schools’, outside of LEA/ local democratically
accountable control- with the power to `vary’ the national curriculum- and `vary’
(alter) the pay and conditions of staff such as teachers, and `vary’ the `skill mix’
(e.g. the ratio of teachers to teaching assistants).
Theme 5: yet another neo-liberal theme: `New Partnerships’: PrePrivatisation, Corporation Control and Schools for Sale
Business Involvement in Schools:
Academies
For £2 you get a school…and £25 million of govt. money
Independent Trust Schools
`to the cynical, the trusts look like city academies without the £25m price tag. The
key to understanding the Trust Schools lies in the White Paper description of them
as "independent state schools".
Privatisation
Pre-Privatisation and Business Involvement
the General Agreement for Trade in Services (GATS), and opening up to free
trade in services by national and by multinational and foreign Capital (Glenn
Rikowski). By currently encouraging private companies to bid for/ own/ run/
manage state schools, New Labour is actively encouraging future privatisation
and private control of state schools.
Theme Six: Education for Capital: the
Social Production of Labour Power
Impacts and Ideologies of New Labour’s
Education Policies…
1. Capital, Corporations and Education
2. Selection, Inequality, and (`Raced’) Class
3. The triumph of Neoliberalism: Greater equality of opportunity
(via targeted spending) is suffocated by neo-liberal and neoconservative policies. The quiescent, non-critical neoconservative subject curriculum and hidden/ informal curriculum in
schools serves to dampen- but not to suppress- resistance to an
increasingly capitalised, commodified and unequal society.
RESULT… This process of increasing educational inequality is
reflected in and amplified by wider social, housing, and fiscal and
economic policies, which have resulted in increasing inequalities
in the wider society
This is New Labour’s
`class war from above’…. .
An Alternative, Alternative
Education Policy: an Egalitarian
Education Policy: Sustainable
Economic and Social Justice
• vastly increased equality (of outcome)
• comprehensive / common provision (i.e. no
private or selective provision of schooling)
• democratic community control over
education, not private or religious or nonelected control
• use of the local and national state to achieve
a socially just (defined as egalitarian), antidiscriminatory society, e.g. affirmative action,
rather than simply an inegalitarian meritocratic
focus on equal opportunities to get to very
unequal outcomes.
An Alternative Society: an
Egalitarian Society
• The Value of Reforms
• The Limitations of Reforms in crises of
capital accumulation
• Social Democracy and Marxism
• Problems of Social Democracy: an alibi for
Capitalism
• The Ravages and Dangers of
Neoliberalism
• Contemporary Resistance and Models
GOOGLE
<dave hill Marxist>
<dave hill education policy>
and see the
Journal for Critical Education Policy
Studies
www.jceps.com
and the Institute for Education
Policy Studies
www.ieps.org.uk