New Right: Privatisation of Education

Question 1

Overview

Answer 1

Privatisation involves the transfer of pupil assets such as schools to private companies. In recent years there has been a trend towards the privatisation of important aspects of education, both in the UK &
globally. Private companies are involved in an ever-increasing range of activities in education, including building schools; providing supply teachers; careers advice & Ofsted inspection services.

A03: critics argue that money can be drained from the education system if private providers do not reinvest profits back into education. Profit-making companies may just try to cherry-pick what they regard as the best schools

private companies can go out of business
Students from low-income working
class homes or certain ethnic backgrounds may be seen as ‘unattractive investments

Question 2

examples

Answer 2

setting up of new-style academies. Since New Labour, the establishment of new-style academies has meant greater involvement of the private sector in running schools. Academies are allowed to seek 10% of their funding from businesses or charities, which increases the influence of private interests over the running of the school, & some recent academy chains such as the Academies Enterprise Trust are run by private companies, & managed by people with a background in business

building & maintaining school buildings – Under New Labour a programme of new buildings for schools was financed through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Private companies did the building, but in return were given contracts to repay the investment & provided maintenance for 25-35 years. The colleges, schools or local education authorities had to pay the ongoing costs.

The Expansion of the Education Services Industry two obvious examples include Google & Apple, both of which are well poised to play an increasing role in providing educational services for a profit.

Question 3

Arguments for

Answer 3

The Neoliberal/ New Right argument is that state-run education is inefficient. They argue that the state’s involvement leads to ‘bureaucratic self-interest’, the stifling of initiative & low-standards. To overcome these problems the education system must be privatised, & New Right Policies have led to greater internal & external privatisation.

The basic argument for internal (endogenous) privatisation is that the introduction of marketisation within education has increased competition between schools & driven up standards. • The basic argument for external (exogenous) privatisation is that private companies are used to keep costs down & will run certain aspects of the education system more efficiently than Local Education Authorities (LEAs), even if they make a profit. Thus it’s a win-win situation for the public & the companies.

Question 4

Arguments against

Answer 4

If private companies have an increasing role in running the education system this may change the type of knowledge which pupils are taught – with more of an emphasis on maths & less of an emphasis on critical humanities subjects (such as Sociology!) which aren’t as profitable. Thus a narrowing of the curriculum might be the result.

• Stephan Ball has also referred to what he sees as the cola-isation of schools – the private sector also increasingly penetrates schools through vending machines & the development of brand loyalty through logos & sponsorships which could be seen as unethical.
• There might be an increasing inequality of educational provision as private companies cherry pick the best schools to take over & leave the worst schools under Local Education Authority control.