Auctioning out education: On exogenous privatisation through public procurement

Abstract

Privatisation of public education is becoming more and more common across the world. As much current research presupposes causal links between the degree of privatisation and issues of competition and student’s free choice, we see a need for research on other ways of organising the presence of private providers in public education. In this article, we study how two Swedish municipalities use public procurement to contract private providers and organise adult education. Interestingly, we find that competition is more heavily at play in the municipality that outsources half of its adult education, than in the municipality that outsources all adult education. We view these findings as vital for understanding how education is being outsourced to private providers and for furthering the discussion on the consequences of the ongoing privatisation of education.

A cry, a clash and a parting: a French pragmatic sociology approach to ‘the struggle over the teacher’s soul’

“…In the interviews, there were several examples of such critique. All in all, such critique started by establishing value via way of economic or production conventions, which fits well with findings of previous research showing market and business logics as now firmly rooted and present in public education (e.g., Fejes et al, 2016;Graß, 2018;Holmqvist et al, 2020;Read & Leathwood, 2018;Verger et al, 2017). However, there were also examples of critique that challenged the perceived established conventions towards which we will turn next.…”

“…These findings are in line with research on other educational systems (Ball, 2003;Lundström, 2015;Page, 2018). However, the specific organisation and structuring of Swedish adult education make for other conditions and relationships than those present in many other public education systems (Fejes & Holmqvist, 2019;Holmqvist et al, 2020). It is thus important to consider local contexts, also when researching topics of international relevance.…”

“…However, some findings suggest that teachers are expected to spend substantial amounts of time working on administrative tasks such as writing individual student learning plans, not as learning tools, but simply 'in case someone comes to inspect' (Carlson & Jacobsson, 2019, p. 3). This is an example of companies, fighting to secure contracts, making promises, which teachers then must deliver on (Holmqvist et al, 2020). These findings are in line with research on other educational systems (Ball, 2003;Lundström, 2015;Page, 2018).…”

Adult education in Sweden in the wake of marketisation

“…From a teacher's perspective, this flexible system results in uncertainty and a perceived lack of autonomy, leading to difficulties in planning to teach (Holmqvist 2020). Holmqvist et al (2021) also show how different types of policy enactment at the local level influence the outcomes of marketisation. A municipality that outsources all MAE can keep control of its provision, for example through a focus on quality rather than the price during procurement.…”

“…In this article, we continue to analyse policy enactment (Braun et al 2010, Ball et al 2012 in Swedish adult education (Holmqvist et al 2021). From our perspective, the connection between education policy and practice is not seen as a rational process of implementation.…”