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Abstract
Educational change in the neoliberal state is permeated by the effects of forces from outside the field of education itself. The process of governmentality welcomes, indeed demands, the participation of those non-state actors valorised by neoliberalism as well as government agencies dedicated to the advancement of such groups. Inevitably, the concerns of such organisations become central to how the state sees education. This article traces the assembly of national and international agents from industry, business and special interest groups around the concept of ‘knowledge economy’. It treats this assemblage as an apparatus (dispositif), examining how the construction of an economic problem is brought to bear on the demand for educational change, and how this construction of the problem is used to shape public opinion in order to prepare the public for a radical change of direction. Confining itself to the reform of mathematics education introduced in the Republic of Ireland in 2010, this article traces the emergence of a mathematics discourse focused on market-led education. It interrogates the construction of ‘the mathematics problem’ or ‘crisis in maths’ and argues that the discourse of the present construction is economic in nature, centring as it does on human capital production and market-led reform.
Notes
1. This percentage is based on figures for 2014 received from the State Examinations Commission (SEC).
2. ‘Celtic Tiger’ is a term referring to the economy of the Republic of Ireland between 1995 and 2000, a period of rapid economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment.
3. A multinational audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory service.
4. There is no official ‘fail’ classification for the Leaving Certificate examination although the word is widely used for grades E, F and NG, even by the SEC.
5. This extraordinary result, which was not repeated in subsequent examinations, was cited by many agents in the construction of the problem.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Liz Kirwan
Dr Liz Kirwan is a visiting lecturer at University College Cork. Her research focuses on the nature of the neoliberal agenda on education, with particular reference to mathematics education policy.
Kathy Hall
Kathy Hall is Professor of Education and Head of School of Education in at University College Cork. She is interested in education from a sociocultural perspective. Her most recent book is Networks of Mind: Culture, Learning, Neuroscience which critically examines the ascendancy of neuroscience in education.