Education reforms a mask for privatisation, researchers say

Public education is being privatised under the guise of 'education reforms' and 'modernisation', according to an Education International report.

The study, which examines the worldwide trend towards privatising sections of public education, found that it could have a profound impact on the way education is delivered, how curriculum is decided, how teachers are trained and students assessed, and on the fundamental values underpinning public education.

The study, 'Hidden Privatisation in Public Education' by Stephen Ball and Deborah Youdell from the Institute of Education at the University of London, focused on two types of privatisation: one in which ideas and practices from the private sector are imported to make schools more business-like; and one in which public education is opened up to the private sector on a profit-making basis. They found the 'former type often paved the way for the latter'.

Education International general secretary Fred van Leeuwen said: 'Is education about giving each child, each young man or woman, the opportunity to develop his or her full potential as a person and as a member of society? Or is education to be a service sold to clients, who are considered from a young age to be consumers and targets for marketing?'

The report concludes that privatisation can have major consequences for teachers' working conditions, pay and morale.