EDP311_A1

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Jan 9, 2024

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Neoliberalism and the Australian Education System EDP311 Cultural Contexts in Primary Education Assessment 1: Report Contents 1

Introduction 3 The Policy of Neoliberalism 3 The Effects of Neoliberalism on Australian Education 3 Accountability and Performativity 4 Marketisation of Schooling Systems 5 School Choice 5 Competition and School Self-Promotion 6 Inequity 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction 2

Education systems in Western democracies are continually being influenced by outside factors and information. With the current progression of neoliberalism happening in Australia’s society, the educational discourse especially in public schools is changing from a welfare state to a competition approach. This is leading to increased pressure on how schools, in particular public schools, are managed, changes in how the curriculum is being taught and received, as well as marketisation and competition of schools. The Policy of Neoliberalism Neoliberalism emerged in the Australian educational discourse during the 1980s, reducing state involvement and intervention in both economic and social activities (Savage, 2022, p.161). It is a political approach that favours the market values of free trade, privatisation, deregulation, marketisation and individualism. According to Dinham (2014, p.6.), to thrive, education must be deregulated, privatised and open to market forces. The neoliberal reforms emphasised the central role of markets in the governance of society; this translated to a variety of actions, including the sale of public goods and services to private businesses, a move toward minimal regulation of markets, various cuts in government spending, including shrinking the size of government departments and agencies, tax reductions and adjustments to the public sector to bring it into line with the private sector (Savage, 2022, p.164). Despite neoliberalism’s dominance in transforming politics and society, there has been a lot of criticism suggesting that it is a failed strategy, particularly in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. Kevin Rudd, former Australian Prime Minister, criticised neoliberalism’s principles and claimed that they unintentionally promoted extreme capitalism and excessive greed (Savage, 2022, p.165). The Effects of Neoliberalism on Australian Education In Australia, neoliberal influences have fundamentally reshaped government schooling systems and curricula (Savage, 2022 p. 169), leading to a stronger focus on teacher accountability and standardised testing. Since the 1980s, Australia has seen a significant intensification of links between schooling and the economy, and related shifts in how schools are governed (Savage, 2022, p.161). The widespread reimaging of education from an economic perspective has been the most signification impact of neoliberalism on education. Education is increasingly being viewed as a commodity to be purchased and a burden to taxpayers and governments, instead of being an investment in the personal, social and economic prosperity of the nation (Dinham, 2014, p. 6). Students are considered as customers 3

rather than learners, with education being framed and justified in policy as essentially a site for enhancing human capital and boosting economic output (Savage, 2022, p.169). Savage (2022, p.169) stated that this is evident in a wide range of schooling policies, including major statements such as the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration. The declaration, which all ministers of education signed, views education as an economic investment linked to the country's ability to compete internationally. It argues that education is vital to equip young people with the skills they need to engage in the economy and society (Savage, 2022, p.169). Therefore, education is now seen as an investment for economic growth, which can be measured through strategically marketed techniques of accountability, performativity, and competition. Accountability and Performativity Performativity, accountability, and testing are closely related in terms of economic competitiveness and the new audit culture within the education system. Standardised testing regimes are a major aspect of accountability and performativity within schooling systems. The focus on learning basic literacy and numeracy skills has increasingly moved to the narrow form of performance and standardised testing, which has become a more prominent feature of the neoliberal education policy (Bottrell, 2014, p.30). Current testing methods have moved away from traditional assessment to analyse students' learning and progression, but now schools have moved to an approach to self-promote and market their schools as a business to gain additional enrolments. A national testing method that is used to address school accountability and performativity is the National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), which assesses students from a range of ages' academic competency in the areas of literacy and numeracy. This testing works to hold schools accountable by publicly displaying test data on a website called My School, which lists the top-performing schools (Stroud, 2016, p.234). This promotes competition between schools and informs and promotes parent school choice (Savage, 2022, p.172). There is an emphasis that standardised testing can lead to a narrowing of the curriculum and a focus on teaching to test. Government policies endorse the collection and use of testing data to not only inform professional decision-making with schools but also to inform the public about the performance of schools, which is driven by an economic focus (Walker & Gobby, 2022, p.437). According to Savage (2022, p. 172), neoliberal policies in the education system have been designed to increase competition between schools, spurred by new regimes of accountability, measurement and comparison based on results from standardised testing. 4

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