privatisation of education

Question 1

what is privatisation in education?

Answer 1

• privatisation involves transferring public assets like schools to private companies
• there has been a growing trend of privatisation in education in the UK and globally
• education becomes a source of profit for capitalists, which Ball refers to as the ‘education services industry’ (ESI)

Question 2

what activities do private companies in the education services industry (ESI) engage in?

Answer 2

• building schools
• providing supply teachers
• offering work-based learning and careers advice
• conducting ofsted inspection services
• running entire local education authorities

Question 3

what are public-private partnerships (PPPs) in school building projects?

Answer 3

• private companies provide capital to design, build, finance, and operate educational services
• contracts typically last for 25 years or more, with local councils paying monthly lease and management fees from public funds
• companies involved can make up to ten times more profit than on other contracts
• however, local authorities often obliged to enter these agreements due to lack of central government funding for new schools

Question 4

how do private sector companies benefit from personnel moving between the public and private sectors? (blurring the public/private boundary)

Answer 4

• senior public sector officials, like head teachers and local authority directors, move to private sector education businesses
• these companies bid for contracts to provide services to schools and local authorities
• example: two companies hold four of the five national contracts for school inspection services
• companies gain ’insider knowledge’ to help win contracts and sidestep local authority democracy (as noted by Pollack)

Question 5

what role do foreign-owned companies play in the education services industry? (privatisation and globalisation of education policy)

Answer 5

• many private companies in the education services industry are foreign-owned
• Edexcel exam board is owned by the US educational giant Pearson
• exam answers for Pearson GCSEs are marked in Sydney and Iowa (according to ball)

Question 6

how do global multinationals influence the UK education services industry? (privatisation and globalisation of education policy)

Answer 6

• the UK’s four leading educational software companies are owned by global multinationals like Disney, Mattel, Hambro, and Vivendi (according to Buckingham and Scanlon)
• many educational service contracts in the UK are sold to other companies, including banks and investment funds
• in a globalised world, these contracts are often bought by overseas companies

Question 7

how do UK edu-businesses operate internationally? (privatisation and globalisation of education policy)

Answer 7

• some UK edu-businesses, like Prospects, work in countries like China, Macedonia, and Finland
• private companies often export UK education policies (e.g., Ofsted-type inspections) to other countries
• these companies then provide services to deliver the policies
• as a result, policymaking is shifting from nation-states to a global level, often becoming privatised

Question 8

what is the ‘cola-isation’ of schools?

Answer 8

• refers to the private sector’s indirect influence on education
• involves vending machines on school premises and the development of brand loyalty through logos and sponsorships
• the process is known as the ’cola-isation’ of schools

Question 9

why do private companies target schools according to Molar? (the cola-isation of schools)

Answer 9

• schools carry “enormous goodwill” and can confer legitimacy on anything associated with them
• in other words, schools act as a form of product endorsement for private companies

Question 10

what are the limitations of private sector involvement in schools? (the cola-isation of schools)

Answer 10

• benefits to schools and pupils are often limited
• Ball notes that a Cadbury’s sports equipment promotion was scrapped after it was revealed that pupils would have to eat 5,440 chocolate bars to qualify for volleyball posts
• Beder highlights that UK families spent £110,000 in Tesco supermarkets in return for just one computer for schools

Question 11

what conclusion does Ball draw about privatisation in education? (education as a commodity)

Answer 11

• Ball concludes that privatisation is becoming the key factor shaping educational policy
• Education services are moving out of public sector control and into the hands of private companies
• Education is increasingly being turned into a commodity to be bought and sold in an education market, making it a “legitimate object of private profit-making”

Question 12

what is the overall effect of privatisation in education according to Ball? (education as a commodity)

Answer 12

• the state is losing its role as the provider of educational services
• more areas of education are now subject to business practices and financial logics, being bought and sold as assets
• privatisation continually expands, opening more education services for profit, with policy over time increasing the scope for this shift

Question 13

how do marxists, like hall, view coalition government policies on education? (education as a commodity)

Answer 13

• marxists like **hall*/ see coalition government policies as part of the ‘long march of the neoliberal revolution’
• hall views academies as an example of handing over public services to private capitalists, such as educational businesses
• the neoliberal claim that privatisation and competition improve standards is seen as a myth used to legitimate turning education into a source of private profit

Question 14

policies on gender

Answer 14

• in the 19th century, females were largely excluded from higher education
• under the tripartite system, girls often had to achieve higher marks than boys in the 11+ exam to gain a grammar school place
• since the 1970s, policies like GIST (Girls in Science and Technology) have been introduced to reduce gender differences in subject choices, aiming to encourage girls to pursue traditionally male-dominated subjects like science and technology

Question 15

policies on ethnicity (assimilation)

Answer 15

• focused on helping minority ethnic groups assimilate into mainstream british culture
• aimed to raise achievement, especially for those whose first language wasn’t english
• compensatory education was a key policy
• however, critics argue african caribbean pupils already speak english
• real causes of underachievement are poverty and racism

Question 16

policies on ethnicity (multicultural education)

Answer 16

• promoted achievements of minority ethnic groups by valuing all cultures in the curriculum
• aimed to raise self-esteem and achievements of minority pupils
• criticised by stone: black pupils don’t fail due to lack of self-esteem
• critical race theorists: MCE is tokenism, focusing on stereotypes but not tackling institutional racism
• new right critics: MCE perpetuates cultural divisions, education should promote shared national culture

Question 17

policies on ethnicity (social inclusion)

Answer 17

• monitoring exam results by ethnicity
• amending race relations act to promote racial equality in schools
• support for voluntary ‘Saturday schools’ in the black community
• english as an additional language programmes
• mirza: policy focuses on culture, behaviour, and home, not structural causes like poverty and racism (takes soft approach)
• Gillborn: institutional racism in curriculum, assessment, and streaming continues to disadvantage minority pupils