On the morality of neoliberal educational policies

Abstract

This thesis consists of a philosophical inquiry into the morality of neoliberal education policies. The first section comprises a definition of neoliberalism, both as an instance of political rationality, and as a specific form of governance. This is followed by an identification of the core principles that underpin neoliberalism as a political rationality, in an effort to construct a deep understanding of the priorities it sets and the trade-offs it endorses. Subsequently, I outline the aims of a neoliberal agenda for compulsory education, while claiming that this entails three priorities that I categorise as efficiency, consumer sovereignty, and employability. Once the neoliberal priorities for compulsory education are identified, I move on to classify the array of policies that need to be institutionalised in order to achieve the set aims. I argue that these can be divided into three categories, namely, policies for educational accountability, policies to enable parental choice, and policies for human capital development. In light of this, I engage with the effects of the neoliberalisation of compulsory education on teachers and students, especially in relation to the issues of impoverished education, segregation, inequality of educational provision, and other repercussions. I conclude that, for those who adhere to a conception of justice where individual negative freedom is prioritised over social equality and manifest the readiness to pay the high moral cost of increased inequality, neoliberal policies are the preferable option, despite their disadvantages. At the same time, I sustain that compensatory measures would need to be implemented concurrently to counteract such policies’ tendency to weaken social cohesion. Unless precautionary measures are put in place, neoliberal education policies may potentially become counterproductive and therefore, not only immoral from egalitarian perspectives, which would demand further distributional efforts, but also from a neoliberal standpoint, through their potential hindrance of economic growth.