The neoliberal turn has driven attempts to marketize education, but how does marketization occur? In this article I draw on ethnographic and linguistic-ethnographic methods to investigate marketization through a microanalytic lens. My investigation focuses on a team of educational professionals, who participated in a workshop led by an…

This study focuses on the perceptions of NGO senior executives regarding their involvement in the design and implementation of education policy in Israel. We applied a qualitative research method, conducting in-depth interviews with NGO senior executives who provided rich and comprehensive descriptions of their perceptions. Data analysis revealed…

This article investigates the rationales and activities of nine nonprofit intermediary organizations operating in Israeli public schools, under similar missions of promoting school entrepreneurship. I apply a multiple case study qualitative methodology with in-depth interviews and complementary content analysis to investigate how those…

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are becoming increasingly important participants in educational programmes and implementing education policy. This study explores governmental policymakers' perceptions and reactions to NGO involvement in the implementation of education policy. We applied a qualitative research method, conducting in-depth…

This paper addresses the question "what is school?," and argues that the answer to this question has an essential political dimension. I focus on two very different attempts to characterize school--Ivan Illich's "Deschooling Society" and Jan Masschelein and Maarten Simons's "In Defence of the School"--and demonstrate…

This study analyses the "de facto" emerging intra-school competition between the Israeli Ministry of Education (MOE) and external organisations at public Israeli secondary schools by exploring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programmes. Given on-going privatisation processes within the education system, the…

Purpose: In recent years, the rise of cross-sector alliances (CSAs) in education has elicited growing concerns regarding the unrestrained influence of external partners. Against this backdrop, this study aims to explore the ways in which public schools perceive and collaborate with nonsystem actors (NSAs). Research Methods: Using a qualitative…

The foundations of higher education in Israel were established in the 1920's with the opening of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1925, after numerous difficulties and opponents were overcome. Not only were the pioneers of higher education plagued by these difficulties, it appeared that they were an integral element in the history of every…

Scholarly writing in the field of education policy analysis often considers two conflicting governance agendas: the social-democratic "public" agenda and the relatively young "neoliberal" governance agenda. These agendas are frequently described as being part of a process of transformation from public or state to private…

Purpose: Regulation and privatization of education systems has led to a "league standing" mentality regarding school achievements. The purpose of this paper is to examine how school principals deal with the pressures of competition and achievements while aspiring to imbue pupils with values and a broad education.…

The State of Israel provides significant opportunities to study social processes that can enhance our understanding of the aging experience. It has high life expectancy and rapid growth of its older population. With an older cohort that is composed largely of former immigrants and includes a minority Arab population, Israel provides much diversity…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to address the involvement of third sector organizations in state public education in Israel, with emphasis on the decision-making processes affecting the geographic distribution of service provision. Design/methodology/approach: A collective case study approach was used to investigate non-governmental…

The consequences of neoliberal policies in education are controversial. Based on the micro-political approach, this study had two aims: (1) to examine teachers' attitudes toward the effect of privatization on inequality and educational improvement; and (2) to examine the link between teachers' positions of power in school and their attitudes…

The purpose of this study is to seek to understand the process of privatisation and deregulation of Israel's higher education system which had been until the late 20th century predominantly public. Since 1994, public and governmental agencies became major clients of private universities. Thus the public sector played a major role in the expansion…

Building on fieldwork conducted in the West Bank settlement Beit-El, this article analyses the generational divide between first- and second-generation settlers in terms of their values and practices, against the backdrop of the new realities created by economic restructuring in Israel. It argues that the investments that settler parents made in…