Stephen J. Ball

Foucault, Power, and Education invites internationally renowned scholar Stephen J. Ball to reflect on the importance and influence of Foucault on his work in educational policy. By focusing on some of the ways Foucault has been placed in relation to educational questions or questions about education, Ball highlights the relationships between Foucault's concepts and methods, and educational research and analysis. An introductory chapter offers a brief explanation of some of Foucault's key concerns, while additional chapters explore ways in which Ball himself has sought to apply Foucault's ideas in addressing contemporary educational issues. In this intensely personal and reflective text, Ball offers an interpretation of his Foucault--That is, his own particular reading of the Foucauldian toolbox. Ideal for courses in education policy and education studies, this valuable teaching resource is essential reading for any education scholar looking for a starting point into the literature and ideas of Foucault.

Foucault, Power, and Education

Meg Maguire

Annette Braun

Based on a long term qualitative study of four 'ordinary' secondary schools, and working on the interface of theory with data, this book explores how schools enact, rather than implement policy.

Policy Enactments in Secondary Schools

How Schools Do Policy

"Education policy is being reformed and re-worked on a global scale. Policies are flowing and converging to produce a singular vision of best practice based on the methods and tenets of the neo-liberal imaginary. Philanthropy, business and the governments are coming together in new networks and sites of policy outside of the framework of the nation state. This book is a first step in recording, mapping and making sense of the most important aspects of these new relations and dynamics of policy.Using the approach of policy sociology and the methods of social network analysis, Stephen Ball explores the policy activities of edu-businesses, neo-liberal advocacy networks and policy entrepreneurs, and of social enterprises and new philanthropy. He also addresses the ways in which education and education policy itself are now being exported and bought and sold as profitable commodities and how entrenched problems of educational development and educational quality and access are now being addressed through market solutions. That is, by the involvement of private providers in the delivery of educational services, both independently and on behalf of the state. Ball argues that significant changes are taking place in how policy and public services get done and suggests that the sum of these changes indicates the beginning of the end of state education in its welfare form. A set of new, blurred relationships and interests within policy and within state education are outlined.  This book will be of interest to practising policy analysts and theorists and will be a learning resource for policy studies students: the issues and examples are topical; the literature employed is diverse and up-to-date; and the analysis engages with cutting-edge debates in political science, sociology, social policy and social geography.      U"--

"Do private and philanthropic solutions to the problems of education signal the end of state education in its 'welfare' form? Education policy is being reformed and re-worked on a global scale. Policies are flowing and converging to produce a singular vision of 'best practice' based on the methods and tenets of the 'neo-liberal imaginary'. Philanthropy, business and the governments are coming together in new networks and sites of policy outside of the framework of the nation state. This book is a first step in recording, mapping and making sense of the most important aspects of these new relations and dynamics of policy. Using the approach of 'policy sociology' and the methods of social network analysis the book explores the policy activities of edu-businesses, neo-liberal advocacy networks and policy entrepreneurs, and of social enterprises and 'new' philanthropy. It also addresses the ways in which education and education policy itself are now being exported and bought and sold as profitable commodities and how entrenched problems of educational development and educational quality and access are now being addressed through 'market solutions'. That is, by the involvement of private providers in the delivery of educational services, both independently and on behalf of the state. Universities, schools and education services are being acquired as assets by private equity companies. Private storefront schools are being set-up by local entrepreneurs and through franchising arrangements, funded through microloans"--

policy networks and edu-business

Global education inc

First published in 1990, this book was the first to explore Foucault's work in relation to education, arguing that schools, like prisons and asylums, are institutions of moral and social regulation, complex technologies of disciplinary control where power and knowledge are crucial. Original and challenging, the essays assess the relevance of Foucault's work to educational practice, and show how the application of Foucauldian analysis to education enables us to see the politics of educational reform in a new light.

Disciplines and Knowledge

Foucault and Education

Stephen Ball’s micro-political theory of school organization is a radical departure from traditional theories. He rejects a prescriptive ‘top down’ approach and directly addresses the interest and concerns of teachers and current problems facing schools. In doing so he raises question about the adequacy and appropriateness of the existing forms of organizational control in schools. Through case studies and interviews with teachers, the book captures the flavour of real conflicts in schools – particularly in times of falling rolls, change of leadership or amalgamations – when teachers’ autonomy seems to be at stake.

Towards a Theory of School Organization

The Micro-Politics of the School

The work of Michel Foucault has become a major resource for educational researchers seeking to understand how education makes us what we are. In this book, a group of contributors explore how Foucault’s work is used in a variety of ways to explore the ‘hows’ and ‘whos’ of education policy – its technologies and its subjectivities, its oppressions and its freedoms. The book takes full advantage of the opportunities for creativity that Foucault’s ideas and methods offer to researchers in deploying genealogy, discourse, and subjectivation as analytic devices. The collection as a whole works to makes us aware that we are freer than we think! This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Education Policy.

Michel Foucault and Education Policy Analysis

Based on interviews with key actors in the policy-making process, this book maps the changes in education policy and policy making in the Thatcherite decade. The focus of the book is the 1988 Education Reform Act, its origins, purposes and effects, and it looks behind the scenes at the priorities of the politicians, civil servants and government advisers who were influential in making changes. Using direct quotations from senior civil servants and former secretaries of state it provides a fascinating insight into the way in which policy is made. The book focuses on real-life political conflicts, examining the way in which education policy was related to the ideal of society projected by Thatcherism. It looks in detail at the New Right government advisers and think tanks; the industrial lobby, addressing issues such as the National Curriculum, national testing and City Technical Colleges. The author sets these important issues within a clear theoretical framework which illuminates the whole process of policy making.

Explorations in Sociology

Politics and Policy Making in Education

Ivor F. Goodson

Education, Globalisation and New Times comprises a selection of the most influential papers published over the twenty-one years of the Journal of Education Policy. Written by many of the leading scholars in the field, these seminal papers cover a variety of subjects, sectors and levels of education, focused around the following major themes: education, globalisation and new times policy theory and method policy and equity. Compiled by the journal's editors, Stephen Ball, Ivor Goodson and Meg Maguire, the book illustrates the development of the field of education policy studies, and the specially written Introduction contextualises the selection, whilst introducing students to the main issues and current thinking in the field.

21 Years of the Journal of Education Policy

Education, Globalisation and New Times

Sharon Gewirtz

Richard Bowe

Examines the complexities of parental choices and school responses to the introduction of market forces in education. Particular attention is paid to issues of opportunity and equity, and patterns of access and involvement related to gender, ethnicity and social class are identified.

Markets, Choice, and Equity in Education

Carolina Junemann

Diego Santori

Edu.net builds upon, and extends, a series of research studies of education policy networks and global policy mobilities. It draws on comprehensive data resulting from a Leverhulme Trust research study focused on Africa, and a study funded by the British Academy focused on India, which explored the way in which global actors and organisations bring policy ideas to bear and are joined up in a global education policy network. This timely and cutting-edge new work develops concepts, analyses and methods deployed in Education Plc (2008), Networks, New Governance and Education (2012) and Global Education Inc. (2012). The research is framed by an elaboration of Network Ethnography, an innovative method of policy research. Edu.net presents the substantive findings of the authors’ research by focusing on various kinds of policy movement – people, ideas, practices, methods, money. The book is about both global education policy and ways of researching policy in a global setting. It is an essential read for policy analysts, educational academic researchers and postgraduate education students alike.

Globalisation and Education Policy Mobility

Edu.net

Specially selected by Stephen Ball, this is a collection of the best and most interesting recently published papers that ‘use’ Foucault to analyse, destablise and re-claim educational ‘problems’. Arguably the best known social theorist in the western world, Foucault’s work is now widely used by researchers and writers in many fields of social science. These papers not only demonstrate the practical applicability of Foucault to things ‘cracked’ and things ‘intolerable’ in making them ‘not as necessary as all that’; they are also transposable, in that they offer forms and methods of analysis which can be taken up and applied and used in other settings, sectors, and policy fields.

Putting Theory to Work

Carol Vincent

Childcare is a topic that is frequently in the media spotlight and continues to spark heated debate in the UK and around the world. This book presents an in-depth study of childcare policy and practice, examining middle class parents’ choice of childcare within the wider contexts of social class and class fractions, social reproduction, gendered responsibilities and conceptions of ‘good’ parenting. Drawing on the results of a qualitative empirical study of two groups of middle class parents living in two London localities, this book: takes into account key theoretical frameworks in childcare policy, setting them in broader social, political and economic contexts considers the development of the UK government’s childcare strategy from its birth in 1998 to the present day highlights the critical debates surrounding middle class families and their choice of childcare explores parents’ experiences of childcare and their relationships with carers. This important study comes to a number of thought-provoking conclusions and offers valuable insights into a complex subject. It is essential reading for all those working in or studying early years provision and policy as well as students of sociology, class, gender and work.

Middle Class Parents and their Children

Childcare, Choice and Class Practices

Is the privatisation of state education defendable? Did the public sector ever provide a fair education for all learners? In Education plc, Stephen Ball provides a comprehensive, analytic and empirical account of the privatisation of education. He questions the kind of future we want for education and what role privatisation and the private sector may have in that future. Using policy sociology to describe and critically analyse changes in policy, policy technologies and policy regimes, he looks at the ethical and democratic impacts of these changes and raises the following questions: Is there a legitimacy for privatisation based on the convergence of interests between business and the ‘third way’ state? Is the extent and value of private participation in public education misunderstood? How is the selling of private company services linked to the remodelling of schools? Why have the technical and political issues of privatisation been considered but ethical issues almost totally neglected? What is happening here, beyond mere technical changes in the form of public service delivery? Is education policy being spoken by new voices? Drawing upon extensive documentary research and interviews with senior executives from the leading ‘education services industry’ companies, the author challenges preconceptions about privatisation. He concludes that blanket defence of the public sector as it was, over and against the inroads of privatisation, is untenable, and that there is no going back to a past in which the public sector as a whole worked well and worked fairly in the interests of all learners, because there was no such past. This book breaks new ground and builds on Stephen Ball’s previous work on education policy. It should appeal to those researching and studying in the fields of social policy, policy analysis, sociology of education, education research and social economics.

Understanding Private Sector Participation in Public Sector Education

Education Plc

Education is a hot-button political issue across the globe. It is seen as a crucial factor in ensuring economic productivity and competitiveness and in generating social mobility and tackling social inequality--but are these goals feasible or compatible? Focusing on education policy in the United Kingdom, Stephen J. Ball, in this fully updated third edition of The Education Debate, guides us through the flood of government initiatives and policies of the past twenty years. Ball looks at how policy interventions have changed the landscape and meaning of education, turned children into "learners" and parents into "consumers," and played their part in the reformation of contemporary governance.

The Education Debate

Education is a key political issue and seen as a crucial factor in ensuring economic productivity and competitiveness. In this enthralling book, Stephen J. Ball offers an analysis of the flood of government initiatives and policies that have been introduced over the past 20 years, including Beacon Schools, the Academies programme, parental choice, Foundation Schools, faith schools and teaching standards. He looks at the politics of these policy interventions and how they have changed the face of education.This bestselling book makes essential reading for student-teachers, other students of politics and social policy courses and for the general reader who wants to get beyond the simplistic analyses of the newspapers.

Silvina Gvirtz

Gustavo Fischman

This book seeks to offer the most up-to-date and relevant sample of contemporary research on Latin American education, by inviting the reader to understand the complexities, heterogenetics, nightmares, dreams, crisis and promises of education in the region.

The Educational Hopscotch of Latin America

Crisis and Hope

Nicola Rollock

David Gillborn

How do race and class intersect to shape the identities and experiences of Black middle-class parents and their children? What are Black middle-class parents’ strategies for supporting their children through school? What role do the educational histories of Black middle-class parents play in their decision-making about their children’s education? There is now an extensive body of research on the educational strategies of the white middle classes but a silence exists around the emergence of the Black middle classes and their experiences, priorities, and actions in relation to education. This book focuses on middle-class families of Black Caribbean heritage. Drawing on rich qualitative data from nearly 80 in-depth interviews with Black Caribbean middle-class parents, the internationally renowned contributors reveal how these parents attempt to navigate their children successfully through the school system, and defend them against low expectations and other manifestations of discrimination. Chapters identify when, how and to what extent parents deploy the financial, cultural and social resources available to them as professional, middle class individuals in support of their children’s academic success and emotional well-being. The book sheds light on the complex, and relatively neglected relations, between race, social class and education, and in addition, poses wider questions about the experiences of social mobility, and the intersection of race and class in forming the identity of the parents and their children. The Colour of Class: The educational strategies of the Black middle classes will appeal to undergraduates and postgraduates on education, sociology and social policy courses, as well as academics with an interest in Critical Race Theory and Bourdieu. The Colour of Class was awarded 2nd prize by the Society for Educational Studies: Book Prize 2016.

The educational strategies of the Black middle classes

The Colour of Class

Agnès van Zanten

Brigitte Darchy-Koechlin

This latest volume in the World Yearbook of Education Series focuses on educational elites and inequality, focusing particularly on the ways in which established and emergent groups located at the top of the social hierarchy and power structure reproduce, establish or redefine their position. The volume is organized around three main issues: analyzing the way in which parents, students and graduates in positions of social advantage use their assets and capitals in relation to educational strategies, and how these are different for old and new and cultural and economic elites; studying how elite institutions have adapted their strategies to take into account changes in the social structure, in policy and in their institutional environment and exploring the impact of these strategies on educational systems at the national and global levels; mapping the new global dynamics in elite education and how new forms of 'international education' and 'transnational cultural capital' as well as new global educational elite pathways shape elite students’ identities, status and trajectories. Making use of a social and an institutional approach as well as a focus on practices and policies, the volume draws on research conducted on secondary schools and on higher education. In addition, the global contributions within the book allow for a comparison and contrast of situations in different countries. This results in a comprehensive picture of common processes and national differences concerning advantage and excellence and a thorough examination of the impact of globalization on the strategies, identities and trajectories of elite groups and individuals alongside more general cultural and economic processes.

Stephen J. Ball

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