Equity and marketisation: emerging policies and practices in Australian education

Abstract

The conjunction of equity and market logics in contemporary education has created new and different conditions of possibility for equity, both as conceived in policy discourses and as a related set of educational practices. In this editorial introduction, we examine how equity is being drawn into new policy assemblages and how, in the context of marketisation, equity is evolving and being enacted in new ways across education sectors. Different conceptions of equity are considered, including the increasingly influential human capital perspective promoted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We argue that, separate from critiques of neoliberalism and its deleterious effects on equity in education, it is necessary to analyse carefully the increasing rationalisation of equity agendas in economic terms, the associated effects on education governance and policy-making, as well as on the work of educational institutions and educators. Providing an overview of the contributions to this Special Issue, we direct particular attention to the multiple, complex and often contradictory effects of the current education reform agenda in Australia, which has prioritised equity objectives and intensified performance measurement, comparison and accountability as means to drive educational improvement and reduce disadvantage.

Keywords:

• equity
• markets
• policy
• human capital
• governance
• OECD

Summary

While this special issue of Discourse primarily focuses on the changing nexus of markets and concepts of equity in Australian education policies and systems, the cases examined here will no doubt resonate widely and be of interest to policy scholars and practitioners elsewhere, particularly in OECD member nations, given the pervasive influence of the ‘neoliberal imaginary’ in education policy-making (Ball, 2012; Rizvi & Lingard, 2010) and the widespread effects within nations of what Sahlberg (2011) has called the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM). It is important to emphasise that the papers collected here do not necessarily aim to evaluate levels of equity in policies, systems, or schools. Nor do they make a priority of normative discussions about how equity ought to be conceived and pursued. While such work is undoubtedly important in the current moment (see Francis & Mills, 2012), the aim of this issue is to examine how equity is being drawn into new policy assemblages. In other words, we aim to examine how equity is evolving and being enacted across different education sectors in the context of education marketisation.

Drawing on varied bodies of work, the contributors propose and explore a variety of ideas to think about contemporary equity policies in novel ways. Some papers advocate particular theoretical approaches for understanding evolving structures in order to support new lines of analysis and critique. Rather than dismissing market-oriented practices outright, they focus on the different ways in which these practices are playing out in particular contexts, so that alternatives might be identified and pursued by working through current agendas. Other papers examine everyday renderings and enactments of equity and inequity in various educational settings. In some cases, aspects of inequity that have escaped attention or been ignored in policy are presented, while in other cases the ways in which equity policies percolate and are made real through the everyday practices of parents, students and school principals are illustrated. While critiques of market-oriented policies and their detrimental effects on equity and quality abound, we hope that this issue will provide an open focus on the evolving directions and nature of equity in and through education.

Notes

1.It is important to emphasise here that the OECD is an intergovernmental organisation, and this structure has contributed to its distinctiveness and agency in global education policy.