Management tools do more than manage and organise - they classify and contribute to the construction of education-as-concept. This article shows how tendering-based procurement, used by Swedish municipalities to outsource adult education to non-public providers, works to commensurate 'education' into measurable tender evaluation criteria. Drawing…

The Chilean educational system is widely known as one of the most marketized systems globally. However, new political dynamics have emerged, challenging the extent to which education has been privatised and set in train what we might call the 'unmaking of the market'. Across the literature, there are numerous accounts on making markets. However,…

Between 2003 and 2016, the percentage of undergraduates taking at least one course online nearly tripled, increasing from 15.6 to 43.1. Initially, that enrollment was concentrated in the proprietary, or for-profit, higher education sector. In response, and to make up for declining numbers of "traditional" college students and the…

This discursive paper selectively reviews the empirical papers informing the major part of the special issue. In doing so it focuses particularly on issues which are apparent across many papers. One major point of contrast is the advanced state of marketisation in schools situated at the lower socioeconomic margins. This is relative to those…

In many nations around the globe, including Pakistan, education is losing ground as a public good to become another market-based commodity as the state shrinks its responsibility to schooling. This presents challenges to democratic futures, and particularly for young democratic states such as Pakistan. The government of Pakistan is pouring a…

Enrollment pressures and other considerations spur Master of Public Administration online offerings, and specific skillsets are needed for implementation. Online program management providers (OPMs) are for-profit companies that bundle services to establish academic programs in exchange for tuition revenue sharing agreements, upfront fees, or a…

This paper examines the increasingly diverse range of roles played by the corporate sector in shaping education policy. While a growing body of scholarship has documented the deepening embeddedness of the corporate sector within policy-making processes, empirical research on the strategies mobilized by corporate actors remains unsystematised and…

The rapid rise of online enrollments in public universities has been fueled by a reliance on for-profit, third-party providers--especially online program managers. However, scholars know very little about the potential problems with this arrangement. We conduct a mixed methods analysis of 229 contracts between third-party providers and 117…

The years following the end of martial law and the democratization of Taiwan have been marked by sizable political and social reform. In the interests of increasing social participation and decreasing direct state control of economic and social development programs, public-private partnerships (PPP) have been emphasized as the primary means to…

This article focuses on the relation between new public management (NPM) reforms and changing patterns of industrial relations (IRs) and social dialogue in the Italian education system. Drawing on data from the research project 'Social dialogue and industrial relations in education: The challenges of multi-level governance and privatisation in…

The last few decades have been ones of complexity and contradiction. Long-term socio-economic restructuring has produced deep and growing wealth disparities, leveling great constraints on urban public schools that must confront the social and educational repercussions of chronic poverty. Long-standing political austerity, coupled with fallout from…

This paper provides a critical analysis of the edu-businesses currently working in partnership with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority to deliver the Commonwealth government policy initiative of the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). These emerging public--private partnerships (PPPs) exemplify…

Over the last 40 years, American institutions of higher education have been encouraged to align with the private sector by policymakers, think tank experts and businessmen in order to become more efficient and more accountable. In a wider sense, this new partnership may be evidence of what has been termed "disaster capitalism." In…

Over the last two decades, education privatization has become a widespread phenomenon, affecting most education systems and giving place to a consistent increase in private school enrolment globally. However, far from being a monolithic phenomenon, privatization advances through a variety of context-sensitive policy processes that translate into…

Since 2002, British Columbia's education system has undergone extensive change following amendments to the "BC School Act" ("Bill 34"). This article presents a critical analysis of policy changes to the K-12 education finance system, particularly the expansion of the legal capacity of school districts to create "'school…