Beyond Neoliberalism: Governing Education for Civil Society

Stewart Ranson · Jane Martin · Penny McKeown · Jon Nixon

Aug 2026 · Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Ebook

248

Pages

Eligible

About this ebook

The political settlement of 1942-45 was designed to constitute a new world, which would replace the 1930s’ mass unemployment, poverty, exclusion and hopelessness with opportunities for all. Public goods were conceived as requiring collective choice and redistribution. Schools in the most deprived areas required additional resources to support greater need. Over thirty years from 1945 to the early 1970s, prosperity grew. However, the economic crises of the early 1970s, precipitated by the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil embargo, led to rising unemployment and declining growth. The post-war order was called into question. A new regime of neo-liberal democracy was constituted based upon principles of rights, choice and competition. The consumer was empowered at the expense of the provider, equity privileged above equality; children in prosperous areas supposedly receiving the same unit of resource as those in poor areas. Our research across the UK examines the impact of this marketisation of schools: did the loss of resources damage the education of children in areas of severe disadvantage? The study examines how schools managed disadvantage, how they reflected on their practices of teaching and learning and their relations with parents and the community, and how they explored conditions which enabled them to challenge as well as reproduce local cultural traditions. Evidence shows that markets did damage achievement in many schools, but where schools were managed effectively, they could succeed against the odds.

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About the author

Stewart Ranson has made understanding change in public governance and management the focus of his research since the 1970s. He was Professor of Education at Warwick (UK) (2005-9), becoming Emeritus in 2009. Previously he was a researcher, then Professor at the University of Birmingham (UK) for thirty years (1973-2004).

Dr Jane Martin’s research focused on citizen-state relations in public services. As an advocate for effective public accountability, she was chair of Action for Governors, the first director of the Centre for Public Scrutiny, the Local Government Ombudsman for England and a member for the Committee for Standards in Public Life. Jane was awarded the CBE in 2018.

Mrs Penny Mckeown was a lecturer at the University of Ulster and Senior Lecturer at the Queens University Belfast (both based in the UK). For her research, Penny designed a quantitative methodology and analysis of market forces. She was Specialist Advisor to the NI Assembly on the Common Funding Formula for grant-aided schools.

Jon Nixon held posts as Professor of Education at the Universities of: Canterbury Christchurch, Stirling, Sheffield, and Liverpool Hope (all based in the UK). He was Honorary Professor in the Education University of Hong Kong, and visiting Professor of Higher Education, Middlesex University (UK). He died in 2023.

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