ERIC Number: EJ1328069
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0362-6784
EISSN: N/A
Neoliberal Etiology and Educational Failure: A Critical Exploration
Sharma, Ajay
Curriculum Inquiry, v51 n5 p542-561 2022
Blaming teachers and schools for perceived or actual educational failures are popular tropes for justifying educational reforms in the United States. Critical educational research implicates neoliberalism in the normalized positioning of teachers and schools as the key suspects in educational failures. This article critiques the etiology of neoliberalism through a critical analysis of the nature of causal relata, causal relations, and the assumed populations in causal claims that attribute educational failure to teachers and schools. It makes the case that though the neoliberal etiology may work well for the neoliberal purposes of accountability and governance of public education and the teaching profession, it does not offer valid causal explanations for the instructional dynamic that contributes to educational failures and successes in the school settings. The article argues that the attribution error of blaming teachers and schools can be avoided by adopting complex causality frameworks for understanding educational failure.
Descriptors: Neoliberalism, Etiology, Attribution Theory, Academic Failure, Accountability, Governance, Criticism, Systems Approach
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A