Neoliberalization of educational policy discourses in Chile

Pitton, Viviana

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/32033 Copy

Description

Title

Neoliberalization of educational policy discourses in Chile

Author(s)

Pitton, Viviana

Issue Date

2012-06-27T21:29:16Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Rizvi, Fazal

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Rizvi, Fazal

Committee Member(s)

• McCarthy, Cameron R.
• Peters, Michael A.
• Miraftab, Faranak

Department of Study

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Discipline

Educational Policy Studies

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• neoliberalism
• education reform
• discourse analysis
• critical policy analysis
• Chile

Abstract

In an age of globalization dominated by a neoliberal ideology, many scholars have studied the effects of a market-driven model on education systems in different parts of the world. They have focused on the scope and effects of neoliberalism on school funding, governance, student and school performance, among others. These works, however, have paid less attention to the transformations of neoliberalism or to the language used to reshape educational policies in market terms. Building upon literature which emphasizes neoliberalism’s fluid nature and historic contingency and recognizes the struggles and compromises through which its meaning is both reconfigured and reasserted in different contexts, this dissertation looks at the way in which neoliberal ideas were rearticulated in Chile’s new General Law of Education (LGE). The LGE can be regarded as a response to the shortcomings of the neoliberal logic embedded in its predecessor, the Constitutional Organic Law of Education (LOCE), a law promoting school competition and privatization which became the target of virulent student protests in April of 2006 because of its ill effects on disadvantaged students. At a time when education systems around the world are dealing with the shortcomings of neoliberalism and trying to reconcile equity concerns with a salient emphasis on competition and quality performance, this work provides some insights about the tensions and challenges involved in articulating the former with the later through a discursive analysis of the LGE. It also emphasizes that while global neoliberal frameworks might contribute to shape national policy discourses, understanding their intricacies, the meanings and articulations of the words chosen, and ultimately, their solutions, requires considering the forces involved in the policy creation, their discursive struggles, along with their compromises and value trade-offs.

Graduation Semester

2012-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/32033

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Viviana Pitton

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