Foggy Futures in Education: The Looming Storms of School Choice and Voucher Programs

Authors

  • I-Fang Lee University of Newcastle
  • Michelle Pérez New Mexico State University

Keywords:

School Choice, Voucher Programs, Neoliberalism, Critical Theory

Abstract

Reinventing education through neoliberal education reform policies has dangerously (re)configured the idea of market approaches in education. Around the globe, as variations of school choice and vouchers programs have gained popularity, the need for critical investigations, analyses and discussions to unravel the myth of ‘freedom to choose’ in shifting to a (semi)market approach in education has become more urgent in this challenging era. As such, this special issue offers a collection of articles with multiple examples to examine neoliberalism, school choice and voucher programs that elucidate the false promises of such education reforms globally as the ultimate solution to ‘fix’ education problems for all.

Author Biographies

I-Fang Lee, University of Newcastle

 Dr. I-Fang Lee is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle. I-Fang's current research foci are on contemporary issues relating to changes and reforms in early childhood education and care, constructions of Asian childhoods, children's mental health and well-being, and global knowledge on appropriate pedagogical practices in the early years. Fundamental to these research foci are her critical perspectives and theoretical lenses on issues relating to equity and justice across different early childhood care and education systems in multiple cultural contexts.

Michelle Pérez, New Mexico State University

Michelle Salazar Pérez holds the J. Paul Taylor Endowed Professorship and is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at New Mexico State University. She uses women of color feminisms to examine dominant constructions of childhoods, particularly how they influence public policy and subjugate the lived experiences of marginalized people/s. She is co-editor of a special issue in the Global Studies of Childhood journal that centers global south onto-epistemologies in childhood studies. Her work has been published in Teachers College Record, Equity & Excellence in Education, the Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, and Review of Research in Education.

References

Bracey, G. (2003). On the death of childhood and the destruction of public schools: The folly of today's education policies and practices. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Friedman, M. (1955). The role of government in education. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press

Levin, H. (2001/2018). Privatizing education: Can the school marketplace deliver freedom and the market. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Ndimande, B. S & Lubienski, C. (2017). Privatization and the education of marginalized children: Policies, impacts, and global lessons. New York, NY: Routledge.

Whitty, G., Power, S. & Halpin, D. (1998). Devolution and choice in education: The school, the state, and the Market. Australian Education Review, No. 41. Melbourne, Australia: Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) Limited.

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Published

2019-12-24

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2019): Foggy Futures in Education: The Looming Storms of School Choice and Voucher Programs

Section

Articles (Peer Reviewed Research)

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