A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Private Actors in New Zealand Schooling: Towards an Account of Enablers and Constraints Since the 1980s
Authors: Thrupp Martin, Powell Darren, O'Neill John, Chernoff Sandor, Seppänen Piia
Publisher: SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG
Publication year: 2021
Journal: New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies
Journal name in source: NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES
Journal acronym: NEW ZEAL J EDUC STUD
Volume: 56
First page : 23
Last page: 39
Number of pages: 17
ISSN: 0028-8276
eISSN: 2199-4714
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40841-021-00194-4
Abstract
This article seeks to describe a range of enablers of, and constraints on, private actors in New Zealand schooling, using scholarly, polity and mass media sources. It focuses particularly on the decades since the educational reforms of the 4th Labour Government in the 1980s. The article begins by providing a brief background on educational privatisation and governance in New Zealand and elsewhere, in order to provide some context for the concerns explored in the rest of the article. It then considers policy and practice enablers of private actors related to national ideologies and those of key demographics where long-held beliefs support private actors despite various commitments to public provision. The significance of national politics and policy shifts in formal and party-political senses are discussed next, including ways that enactment of policy has opened up new spaces for private actors with indirect and sometimes unintended effects. Overall it is apparent that the conditions and events supporting the development of private actors in New Zealand have often been intermittent, piecemeal, uncertain, and sometimes serendipitous. A further research agenda in this area is outlined.
This article seeks to describe a range of enablers of, and constraints on, private actors in New Zealand schooling, using scholarly, polity and mass media sources. It focuses particularly on the decades since the educational reforms of the 4th Labour Government in the 1980s. The article begins by providing a brief background on educational privatisation and governance in New Zealand and elsewhere, in order to provide some context for the concerns explored in the rest of the article. It then considers policy and practice enablers of private actors related to national ideologies and those of key demographics where long-held beliefs support private actors despite various commitments to public provision. The significance of national politics and policy shifts in formal and party-political senses are discussed next, including ways that enactment of policy has opened up new spaces for private actors with indirect and sometimes unintended effects. Overall it is apparent that the conditions and events supporting the development of private actors in New Zealand have often been intermittent, piecemeal, uncertain, and sometimes serendipitous. A further research agenda in this area is outlined.
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