This articles addresses the conservative dynamics of "neoconservatism" in the field of education with particular reference to possible complementarities between the "voices" of two, seemingly alternative public intellectuals. These dynamics are conceptualized as part of what is, in social realist mode,…

The Chicago Public Schools, along with the city of Chicago itself, serve as an exemplary case of neoliberal reorganization, as corporate and governmental "leaders" remake Chicago into a global city meeting the needs of capitalism. As such, Chicago provides us with an example of "actually existing neoliberalism," in which…

This article examines the "Citizen School" project implemented in Porto Alegre, Brazil as an example of how to fight against neoliberal projects. It begins by describing the broader context in which the Citizen School project was born, including the hegemonic agenda for education, first in its global aspects and then in specific…

The child has an elevated position within national policy in South Africa. This concern for children has been translated in varying degrees into policy, particularly in relation to child labour. Internationally there is concern that forms of child work should not impede the development of the child, particularly in health and education. Research…

The aim of this article is to analyse the evident use of the notion "educational quality" from the perspective of a critical "ontology of the present" by focusing on governmental relations. Through mapping present discourses on educational quality and related technologies, the authors analyse how our present concern with quality is part of a…

The article discusses the extent to which multiculturalism has had an impact in the emerging reforms in higher education in Brazil, against the backdrop of the rise of a new non-Conservative, Labour-oriented government whose political agenda is marked by a discursive stand against conservatism, neo-liberalism and neocolonialism. Building on a…

This article reviews the reactions to higher-level National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in the United Kingdom in the context of certification levels by level and subject. The most successful higher NVQs are linked to professional qualifying routes, have generic application across a range of sectors or fill gaps where qualifications were not…

Knowledge economy policies are currently very powerful drivers of change in contemporary university approaches to research. They typically orientate universities to a national innovation system which both positions knowledge as the key factor of economic growth and sees the main purpose of knowledge as contributing to such growth. In this article,…

Over the past decade, "knowledge" has become a key policy buzz-word. This is particularly evident in policy material on education, science and research, where references to the importance of building the "new" knowledge society and economy abound. This article discusses two examples of these new knowledge discourses at work in…

This article shows the changes currently made to higher education in the Netherlands, and what they may mean for its future. Findings from a Delphi study were used to develop three scenarios for Dutch higher education in 2010. The Palatial Garden scenario combined little openness of the system with high governmental involvement, making it more…

In educational policy theory orthodox Marxism is known for its commitment to objectivism or the science of history. Race analysis is developed in its ability to explain the subjective dimension of racial oppression. The two theories are often at odds with each other. This article is an attempt to create a theory by integrating Marxist objectivism…

This article focuses on global trends in education policy during the current epoch of imperializing, militaristic, neo-liberal global capital. It is based on an analysis that global capital, in the form of dominant US multinational capital, together with its client governments, uses the repressive and ideological apparatuses of the state to…