XIX ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 15-21, 2018)

86

Neoliberal Accountability and the Commodification of Education: Local, National, and Global Challenges

RC04 Sociology of Education (host committee)

Language: English

Educational accountability has been dominated by Neo-liberal policies and expectations. Neo-liberalism stresses the “marketization” or “commodification” of social life and social institutions (Ball 2003). Neo-liberalism sees the value of an educational system, being a commodity, as couched in its capacity to raise the competitiveness of a nation and more locally in terms of the ratings of schools and school systems.  Social institutions are assessed in terms of their effectiveness (raising achievement based on high-stakes standardized test scores) and their efficiency (reducing costs).  Central to the marketization model is the perception by Neo-liberals that the private sector can sector can provide goods and services of better quality and at a lower, more competitive cost than governments or the public sector. The fate of schools, especially public schools, is determined by passage rates on high-stakes, standardized tests.  Likewise, the fate of nation states depends upon the perceived competitiveness of their future labor forces that are also judged by scores on high-stakes, standardized tests, including PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS, etc.  Schools, school districts, teaching staffs that produce low student test scores are to be replaced and nations whose students score poorly on international standardized tests are to be ignored by multi-national corporations seeking competent labor forces.  Pigozzi (2006) noted that countries with well-educated populations and high scores on standardized tests are likely to strive, while those without such populations and test results tend to stagnate.  Papers in this section should address accountability, Neo-liberalism in education, the commodification of education, and high-stakes testing.