The Developing World and State Education: Neoliberal Depredation and Egalitarian Alternatives

Neoliberalism has had a major impact on schooling and education in the Developing World, with social repercussions that have affected the salaries of teachers, the number and type of potential students, the availability of education, the cost of education, and more. This edited collection argues that the privatization of public services and the capitalization and commodification of education have resulted in the establishment of competitive markets that are marked by selection, exclusion and inequality.

The contributors - academics and organization/social movement activists - examine aspects of neoliberal arguments focusing on low- and middle-income countries (including Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, China, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and South Africa), and suggest where they fall short. Their arguments center around the assumption that education is not a commodity to be bought and sold, as education and the capitalist market hold opposing goals, motivations, methods, and standards of excellence.

Dave Hill, Professor of Education Policy (University of Northampton, England), Chief Editor of the Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (www.jceps.com), has published ten books and lectures worldwide. He was Labour Parliamentary candidate, Labour Council Group Leader, trade union regional leader, and co-founded the Hillcole Group of Radical Left Educators.

Ellen Rosskam is Southeast Europe Policy Scholar at the Southeast Europe Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars conducting research on the liberalization of education in Turkey. She is Visiting Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, USA, Work Environment Department and Visiting Senior Fellow at University of Surrey, European Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, England. Dr. Rosskam is a public health and social protection specialist working internationally. She has led research projects at the regional, national and global level, and has worked in over 40 countries.