More Things in Heaven and Earth: contradiction and co‐optation in education policy

ABSTRACT

The Maltese case suggests that the New Right can manifest itself in various forms in different national contexts. Managing contradiction remains, however, a central structural feature. The New Right develops discursive and formal mechanisms to achieve this management. In this article it is argued that co‐optation of pertinent interest groups is the Right's major formal mechanism. Maltese educational policy surrounding new vocationalism, cultural restoration and privatisation is explored and juxtaposed with the position articulated by the Malta Union of Teachers. It is argued here that the Union's own opportunistic strategies have led to a corporate partnership with the state. Both the Right and the Union have participated in a mobilisation of bias in which issues of culture, choice and efficiency have replaced discussion of the problems associated with selection, differentiation and entitlement.