Discusses declining commitment to education as a public good, addressing contemporary changes in economic organization, the correlative reorganization and design of institutions, and the discourse of privatization. Privatization emphasizes the traditional family and the importance of women's unpaid work for children and schools, despite most…

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) plan moves toward proficiency in basic-skills development but ultimately shrinks the notion of educational excellence for all children, occasioning fallacies but not addressing compelling matters that relate to quality, equity and academic achievement for all students. The plan would set up public schools as examples of…

This paper focuses on the role of the World Bank and its subsidiaries in promoting the neoliberal educational reforms of privatization and decentralization globally and in El Salvador. Neoliberalism is first defined as a sociopolitical philosophy that supports concepts such as the free market, market-driven education, and the use of a voucher…

The view that competition initiatives in education, such as Chile's introduction of vouchers, promote socioeconomic segregation in schools is questioned. Chile and Argentina have faced very different decentralization reforms, carried out within different regulatory frameworks, but have arrived at similar situations in terms of schools'…

Rejecting the voucher concept for promoting unequal education, this article endorses the "public/private partnership" model of reinvented school governance. Under this system, teachers and administrators remain public employees but are managed by a private company. Jay P. Goldman's sidebar criticizes privatization schemes as unworkable…

This paper is part of a research project into parental choice, social class and market forces carried out by a team in Zaragoza (Spain). The main objective was to evaluate parents' choice of school and the consequences this may produce in terms of social exclusion and inequality. Additionally, our aim was to determine whether certain populations,…

Arguing that the politicisation of decentralisation appreciably reduces educational quality and efficient resource allocation and negatively affects matters of equity in and delivery of education, the present study provides a critique of decentralisation and privatisation in education in Africa with special reference to Nigeria. On the basis of…

The importance of private schools in Argentina is in contrast with the little attention they have been given in research on the country's education system. This paper has two aims: (1) to provide a brief summary of the outstanding milestones of educational privatization in Argentina; and (2) to review some of the most significant features of the…

Highlights the effects of school autonomy, decentralization, and privatization in the Latin American educational systems focusing on the development of educational policies in Chile and Argentina in order to illustrate the meaning of "freedom" measures in the schools. Provides five conclusions that are relevant for Latin American…

Chile has experienced considerable educational expansion over the past few decades, as well as a privatization reform in 1981 that introduced full parental choice through a voucher system, in the context of a market-oriented transformation of the country. Using a cohort analysis of the 2001 Chilean Mobility Survey, this article examines trends in…

Explores factors that have contributed to recent interest in the privatization of public education and reframes questions about the crisis in public education. The privatization issue has too often been seen as a technical matter, but it should not be pursued without full consideration of the social costs and benefits. (SLD)

The construct of "neo-liberalism" well defines privatisation within a global convergence of educational policy discourses and practices. This study analyses initiatives for and processes of privatisation in Canadian education from K--12 to post-secondary levels. In considering how privatisation is affecting public education systems in…

In World Trade Organization negotiations, it has been proposed that education be treated as a service to be exchanged for profit. This is contrary to the United Nations covenant that education is a universal human right. Educators need to affirm that knowledge is not a commodity, but something whose benefit increases proportionately with the…

Although urban public school educators are not achieving optimal results, there is no evidence that for-profit educational companies will do any better or possess special expertise in educating poor students of color. Education Alternatives, Inc. has trouble retaining low-paid nonunion paraprofessionals and has cut out minority contractors. The…

Educators have long recognized the negative pedagogical effects of the strong centralization, curricular uniformity, and fragmentation that characterizes Israel's equity-driven education system. A recent experiment with site-based management at nine elementary schools may increase teacher and parental involvement, improve school climate, and…