This article argues that, in Greek higher education policies of the 2000s, "equality of educational opportunities" is not given as much importance as in the 1980s and the 1990s, when higher education had been massively expanded. In the 2000s, the issue of equity is giving way to that of efficiency/quality, in accordance with a neoliberal…

This paper is a reading of the "Free Primary Education" (FPE) policy in Kenya through the lenses of critical theory/pedagogy. The study critiques the National Alliance Rainbow Coalition (NARC) government for adoption of the Freirian banking model to design and implement the policy. The paper argues that such a model has ended up…

This paper offers a critical analysis of the UK coalition Government's educational computing policies. It argues that such policies must be viewed in relation to the broader ideological intent underpinning their development and the neo liberal orientation that seeks to further privatise and marketise education. In examining the related…

Drawing on Derrida this paper considers how inclusive education in England was defined and operationalised within New Labour's educational policy and by those teachers who reconstructed this policy within the confines of schools and individual classrooms. The paper has two critical ambitions. First it argues that the epistemology of inclusion…

Marketisation and standards-based reforms are the two policy levers that have been promoted in education systems across much of the world in the past quarter of a century. The claim that is made on their behalf is that these mechanisms are the means whereby longstanding inequalities in the access to educational goods can be ameliorated. This paper…

This paper discusses the historical continuity and persistence of educational inequalities I postwar Britain. It shows that despite much policy activity, educational inequalities have never really been the real target of policy action. Rather, a more concrete policy target has been the support of the markets, which were expected to act an…

More and more nations are losing the ability to control their education systems. OECD is an important premise provider for educational policymaking championing a neoliberal agenda. With the aim to investigate the impact the OECD may have on national policymaking, this paper compares their recent teacher education policies with those of Norway. The…

The election of Barack Obama appeared to signal a shift in U.S. policy toward the Left, particularly since Obama has been framed as a "socialist," but the education discourse and policy pursued under Obama and voiced by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has shown that education reform remains in the midst of a powerful corporate model. This essay…

The proliferation of post-racial theory (PRT) in both social and political spheres of dominant American hegemony has illustrated a desire among academic circles to move past race and racial categories in social analysis. However, absent within post-racial rhetoric is critical language on how to abolish racism and racial inequality. (Samad 2009) It…

This paper looks at the state of higher education in India--in terms of policies and the trajectory that it has taken in the aftermath of neoliberalisation of the economy. Through studying the discourses that construct the edifice of the educational complex in the country, it unravels the dynamics of how economy, politics and education interact.…

Examining the social attitudes and practical consciousness of young black American youth through an analysis of the 1999 rap song, "Bling bling," by the Hot Boyz, in this work, I review the oppositional culture hypothesis as it pertains to the black/white achievement gap, describe the current debate, and reinterpret the hypothesis within a…

Despite generally being neglected in sociological research, the study of elite schooling provides valuable insights into how educational exclusion operates. The predominance of the privately educated in key leadership positions highlights the extent to which such exclusive schools act as conduits of privilege, where they not alone determine a…

The paper is a critique of discourse focused on at-risk behaviour and homophobic bullying. The paper argues that conversations around homophobic bullying must include discussions of doing equity and achieving social justice,in which the ultimate goal of constructing safe schools is achieved through the utter transformation of school culture.…

This article explores the role of Pell grants in the rise of for-profit colleges and universities (FPCUs) in the United States by examining National Center for Education Statistics data (Pell are financial "needs-based" grants to students to offset cost of tuition; Pell grants are the main source of federal financial support available to FPCUs).…

Public education discourse is dominated by nostalgia for an idea of humanity, which has existed more strongly in high culture discourse than it has in public schools. Political liberal and conservative discourses agree that the process of compulsory public education is an expression of the state as it works to justly distribute "life chances"…