This paper builds on previous research (Ball, 2012, Ball & Junemann, 2012) to explore some aspects of the embodiment of policy. The author draws on Larner and Laurie's (2010) work on technocratic expertise and how, as she puts it, "privatisation ideas and practices are transferred in embodied forms," and in particular her argument…

This article examines the dialectics of Chicago's neoliberal education policies and the grassroots resistance that parents, teachers, and students have mounted against them. Grounding the analysis in racial capitalism and neoliberal urban restructuring, I discuss interconnections between neoliberal urban policy, racism, and education to clarify…

A barrage of pro-privatization policies that cascaded into North Carolina education statutes during the 2013-2014 legislative session helped spark a series of organized protests known as the Moral Monday Movement. Powerful and strategic policy networks, such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), have made privatization and…

Pakistan suffers from an extensive education crisis. Millions of Pakistani children do not attend school, and those that do must deal with absent teachers and poor learning environments, among other challenges. While this crisis is frequently discussed in Pakistan and beyond, it is often misunderstood. This new Wilson Center report, based on…

Social scientists have begun to document the stratifying effects of over a decade of unprecedented charter growth in urban districts. An exodus of students from traditional neighborhood schools to charter schools has attended this growth, creating troubling numbers of vacant seats in neighborhood schools as well as concentrating larger percentages…

The article challenges the deficit view in which education in the Arab region is portrayed by examining the process of educational regionalisation. It takes as its case study the Arab Regional Agenda for Improving Educational Quality in order to explore the construction of an educational quality space that uses data as a governance model. Drawing…

Using a critical ethnographic perspective, I describe how social scientists actively transition into the evaluation industry in a reform environment that is marked by increased privatization of all aspects of public education. I do this by exploring adaptations that contract evaluators use to enhance a sense of personal connection to their work…

Democratic policy production requires the input of citizen voices, ideally through a process that actively engages a broad range of stakeholders in decision-making. This article describes Ontario's curriculum policy formulation process during the 1990s, based on archival documents and interviews with 16 policy actors. The privatization of…

This research reports upon the impact of two concurrent processes of Special Measures and academisation applied to a primary school in the north of England as a result of an unsatisfactory inspection by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). The aim of the study is to describe how the process of being placed in special measures, coupled…

Using New York City schools as a case study, this study draws on interview data from principals, district consultants and administrators, and principal's union representatives to explore the relationship between market-based reform and colorblindness in educational policy. The study is informed by colorblindness theory, which explores the subtle…

This article explores the localisation of the global and European discourse of educational governance in the Greek education system through the changes that have been introduced in the field of education administration since 2009 by the then socialist government. Our research aims to contribute to the critical policy literature on the spreading…

The rise of private higher education in Jamaica plays a key role in expanding educational access to the masses. The shift towards the neo-liberal perspective has directed the focus of education policy reforms toward emphasizing economic efficiency, diversity in choice, and market mechanisms. The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain…

Studying community engagement provides another lens for examining how neoliberal universities collaborate with external organizations to move closer to the market, often in the hope of promoting the public good. This study examined the tension between the public and private aspects of university-community partnerships by studying the impact of…

In this paper we describe a qualitative research project conducted at a public elementary school in a rural community in Guatemala. From analysis of interviews with teachers and the school administrator, we found that a key concern of participants was how they viewed the increasingly problematic relationship between their local educational…

"Keeping the Promise?" examines one of the most complex reforms in education: charter schools. This wide-ranging and thought-provoking collection of essays examines the charter school movement's founding visions, on-the-ground realities, and untapped potential-within the context of an unswerving commitment to democratic, equitable public…