Abstract
In this chapter I begin by outlining some defining features of global neo-liberalism. I go on to address the issue of democracy in the age of global neoliberalism. After this, I look at neoliberalism, GATS (General Agrement on Trade Services), and world poverty. I then consider neo-liberalism and global education. In this context, I differentiate between the Capitalist Agenda for Education, and the Capitalist Agenda in Education. I conclude by examining the specific case of Britain, focusing on New Labour’s Five-Year Strategy for Children and Learners and argue that both agendas are at work in the contemporary British Education System, but in different spheres.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alcoff, L. M. and E. Mendieta. (2000) Introduction. In L. M. Alcoff and E. Mendieta (eds.) Thinking from the Underside of History (Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield).
Beckmann A. and C. Cooper. (2004) Globalisation, the New Managerialism and Education: Rethinking the Purpose of Education in Britain. Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies, 2 (2). Available at http://www.jceps.com/print.php?articlelD=31 (accessed 29 March 2005).
Bowles, S. and H. Gintis. (1976) Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul).
Cole, M. (2005) Transmodernism, Marxism and Social Change: Some Implications for Teacher Education. Policy Futures in Education, 3 (1): 90–105. Available on http://www.wwwordsco.uk/pfi%ontent/pdfs/3/issue3_1.asp#9 (accessed 8 August 2006).
Crouch, C. (2003) Commercialisation or Citizenship (London: Fabian Society).
Department for Education and Science (DfES). (2002) Education Act 2002 (London: HMSO).
Department for Education and Science (DfES). (2004) Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners (London: HMSO).
Department for Education and Science (DfES). (2005) 14–19 Education and Skills (London: HMSO).
Frith, S. (1980) Education, Training and the Labour Process. In M. Cole (ed.) Blind Alley: Youth in a Crisis of Capital, 25–44 (Ormskirk: G. W. and A. Hesketh).
GATSWatch. (n.d.). Available at http://www.gatswatch.org/ (accessed 31 March 2005).
Hatcher, R. (2001) The Business of Education: How Business Agendas Drive Labour’s Policies for Schools (Stafford: Socialist Education Association).
Hatcher, R. (2005) The 14 Plus Youth Training Scheme. Socialist Teacher, 72 (Spring): 24–25.
Hatcher, R. (2006a) Privatisation and Sponsorship: The Re-agenting of the School System in England. Journal of Educational Policy, 21 (5): 599–619.
Hatcher, R. (2006b) Academies, Building Schools for the Future and the 14–19 Vocational Agenda. Talk given at Anti-Academies Alliance Conference, London, 25 November 2006. Available at www.socialist-teacher.org.
Hill, D. (2001) Equality, Ideology and Education Policy. In D. Hill and M. Cole (eds.) Schooling and Equality: Fact, Concept and Policy (London: Kogan Page).
Hill, D. (2004a) Books, Banks and Bullets: Controlling Our Minds—The Global Project of Imperialistic and Militaristic Neo-liberalism and Its Effect on Education Policy. Policy Futures, 2 (3). Available at http://www.triangle.co.uk/pfie/.
Hill, D. (2004b) Educational Perversion and Global Neo-liberalism: A Marxist Critique. Cultural Logic: An Electronic Journal of Marxist Theory and Practice. Available at http://eserver.org/clogic/2004/2004.html.
Hill, D. (2005a) The Global, Regional and National Levers of Neo-liberalisation, Brighton: IEPS (Institute for Education Policy Studies). Available at http://www.ieps.org.uk.cwc.net
Hill, D. (2005b) Globalisation and Its Educational Discontents: Neo-liberalisation and Its Impacts on Education Workers’ Rights Pay and Conditions. International Studies in the Sociology of Education, 15 (3): 257–288.
Martinez, E. and A. Garcia (2000) What Is “Neo-liberalism” a Brief Definition. Economy, 101. Available at http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/econ101/neoliberalDefined.html (accessed 29 March 2005).
Monbiot, G. (2001) Tinkering with Poverty. The Guardian, 20 November, 17.
Rady, F. (2002) The “Green Room” Syndrome, Al-Ahram Weekly. Available at http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/613/in4.htm (accessed 29 March 2005).
Rikowski, G. (2000) That Other Great Class of Commodities: Repositioning Marxist Educational Theory, BERA conference paper, Cardiff University, 7–10 September. Available at http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00001624.htm (accessed 29 March 2007).
Rikowski, G. (2001) The Battle in Seattle: Its Significance for Education (London: Tufnell Press).
Rikowski, G. (2003) The Business Takeover of Schools. Mediactive: Ideas Knowledge Culture, 1: 91–108.
Rikowski, G. (2005) Silence of the Wolves. Education Research Centre, University of Brighton Occasional Paper (Brighton: University of Brighton).
Sardar, Z. and M. W. Davies. (2002) Why Do People Hate America? (Cambridge: Icon Books).
Siqueira, A. C. (2005) The Regulation of Education through the WTO/GATS Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 3 (1) (March). Available at http://www.jceps.com/?pageID=articleamparticlelD=41.
Smith, D. G. (2003) On Enfraudening the Public Sphere, the Futility of Empire and the Future of Knowledge after “America.” Policy Futures in Education, 1 (2): 488–503.
Smith, L. (2004) Britain: Government Outlines Plans to Dismantle State Education. World Socialist Web Site (WSWS). Available at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/aug2004/educ-al1.shtml (accessed 29 March 2005).
Vidal, J. (2005) Global Poverty Targeted as 100,000 Gather in Brazil. The Guardian, 26 January.
Weatherford, J. (1990) Indian Givers; How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World (New York: Fawcett Books).
World Development Movement (WDM). (2005) Stop the GATSastrophe! Available at http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/GATS.htm (accessed 29 March 2005).
World Development Movement. (n.d.) The WTO in Cancun. Available at http://www.wdm.org.uk/campaigns/cancun03/cancun.htm.
World Trade Organisation (WTO). (2005) GATS: Fact and Fiction. Available at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gats_factfictione.htm (accessed 3 April 2005).
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2007 Anthony Green, Glenn Rikowski, and Helen Raduntz
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cole, M. (2007). Neoliberalism and Education: A Marxist Critique of New Labour’s Five-Year Strategy for Education. In: Green, A., Rikowski, G., Raduntz, H. (eds) Renewing Dialogues in Marxism and Education. Marxism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230609679_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230609679_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-53565-1
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-60967-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)