Sep 9, 2021: Malin Ideland – FuturEducation II

Thursday, September 9, 2021 at 14:15-15:45 (UTC+3):
“Problem-solving, future-making and a source of joy. A look on the bright side of neoliberalized education.”

Malin Ideland is a professor of educational sciences specializing in ethnology at the Deptartment of Childhood, Education and Society, Malmö University. She is PI of the ongoing project “Education Inc. Exploring conditions, forms and consequences of edu-preneurial engagement in Swedish schools” and the national doctoral school “Education, Learning and Globalization”. She has long-standing experience in exploring cultural and political perspectives on education, most recently on the commercialization of education.

From the growing field of research on the marketization and neoliberalization of the education sector, numerous negative consequences of the dominating policies and practices have been reported. Despite these negative effects, an expanding education market is observed, advancing in terms of both an increasing share of schools managed by private authorities and growing number of private actors offering educational products and services to schools in both private and public sectors.

There are many explanations on why the neoliberalization and marketization of schooling continues. In this lecture I intend to draw attention to the businesspeople themselves; what do they want to achieve – for themselves and for school – through their business engagements? Through that approach, I will illuminate the seemingly bright side of neoliberalism – the imaginations on how market solutions could contribute to a better school. I will argue that we need to understand more of the personal and societal benefits of market solutions in order to critically engage in what neoliberalization and marketization actually do to school.