This article is about the "who" of policy rather than the "what". It is a plea for debate and discussion about the purposes of education. It is an argument for replacing technocratic solutions with democratic ones. It is about possibility rather than necessity.

Neoliberalism is often addressed by commentators and critics as a set of ideas or a doctrine. This article considers neoliberalism as a set of financial practices and exchanges--as about money and profit--and goes on to suggest that as practitioners, researchers, activists we need to understand and engage with that logic and its mechanisms.…

One of the tricky things we have to wrestle at present is whether or not we should believe what often sounds like good policy, policy that trumpets the involvement of those who are to be affected by it. Is "engaging with the local" to be taken seriously or not? Is the language of participation a linguistic sleight of hand or an indicator of a…