Decentralisation and Privatisation in Education

Decentralisation and Privatisation in Education explores the ambivalent and problematic relationship between the State, privatisation, and decentralisation in education globally. Using a number of diverse paradigms, ranging from critical theory to globalisation, the authors, by focusing on privatisation, marketisation and decentralisation, will attempt to examine critically both the reasons and outcomes of education reforms, policy change and transformation and provide a more informed critique on the Western-driven models of accountability, quality and school effectiveness. We want to demonstrate that claims of advantages in ‘efficiency’ brought about by privatisation in education are not always supported empirically as proposed by proponents. The book examines the overall interplay between privatisation, decentralisation and the role of the state. The authors draw upon recent studies in the areas of decentralisation, privatisation and the role of the state in education. By referring to Bourdieu’s call for critical policy analysts to engage in a ‘critical sociology’ of their own contexts of practice, and poststructuralist and postmodernist pedagogy, this collection of book chapters demonstrate how central discourses surrounding the debate of privatisation, decentralisation and the role of the state are formed in the contexts of dominant ideology, power, and culturally and historically derived perceptions and practices. The authors discuss the newly constructed and re-invented imperatives of privatisation, decentralisation and marketisation and show how they may well be operating as an educational model of a new global ‘master narrative’― playing a hegemonic role within the framework of economic, political and cultural hybrids of globalization.

Joseph Zajda holds BA (Hons), MA, MEd and PhD from Monash University. He coordinates and teaches Research Methods in Education (M.Ed), Learning, and Education and Society courses. He was awarded ‘Excellence in Teaching’ Award in 2003. He is Chair of the Publications Standing Committee of the World Council of Comparative and Education Societies (WCCES) for the 2003-2006 period. He edits the following international journals in comparative education: World Studies in Education (volume 6, 2005) Education and Society (volume 23, 2005), and Curriculum and Teaching (volume 20, 2005). He has written and edited 24 books and over 100 book chapters and articles in the areas of comparative education, curriculum reforms, learning and teaching, education policy, lifelong learning, education reforms in Russia, and decentralisation and privatisation in education. His recent book publications include: Society and Environment, Curriculum, Culture and Teaching, Learning and Teaching, and Education and Society. He is editor of the two-volume International Handbook of Globalisation, Education and Policy Research (Springer, 2005). He is also editor of the 12-volume book series Globalisation, and Comparative Education (Springer).

Contact address: Dr. Joseph Zajda, School of Education, St Patrick’s Campus, Australian Catholic University, 115 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy, Vic., Australia, 3065. Tel: (613) 9 953-3268; Fax: (613) 9 699 2040. E-mail: j.zajda@patrick.acu.edu.au