Multiple privatisations in public education: issues, theories, and conversations

ABSTRACT

In this article, we introduce the special issue, entitled ‘Private Partners and Profits in Public Schools: New Challenges,’ that illuminates emerging and established cases of education privatisation in various forms, localities, and scales, which deserve greater attention. First, we synthesise challenges that are facing public education under privatisation identified by the authors in this special issue. Then, we discuss the benefits of examining education privatisation through diverse theoretical lenses and using cross-disciplinary methodologies. Following, we introduce a unique feature of this special issue: responses to the articles written by public education practitioners and advocates. We conclude this introduction by articulating the scholarly contributions of this special issue to the growing scholarship on education privatisation.

KEYWORDS:

• Education privatisation
• public education
• neoliberalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Ee-Seul Yoon is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Dr. Yoon’s primary research area includes educational inequity and school choice dilemmas in an era of education marketisation and neoliberalization. Her recent work can be found in journals including Educational Policy, Educational Researcher, Journal of Educational Policy, and British Journal of Sociology of Education, among others.

Sue Winton is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her research examines policy advocacy, influences, and enactment. Dr. Winton’s previous studies include: critical analyses of school fundraising, safe schools, bullying, and character education policies; an examination of the emergence and activities of advocacy groups in education; and an investigation of the meanings and enactment of school success and successful school leadership in Ontario schools.