Economising education: From the silent revolution to rethinking education. A new moment of Europeanisation of education?

Abstract

Rethinking Education (EC, 2012) suggests a new phase in European education policy. The constitution of education as a marketable service and the European (Higher) Education area as a market was pinpointed as an implicit agenda in the silent revolution in education landscape fostered by the open method of coordination and the Bologna and Copenhagen Processes. What suggests a new momentum is that: (i) education appears programmatically conceived as a marketable service, in the terms of a business and a European-wide and global market; (ii) a VET reform is underway based on German apprenticeship model, which brings together a version of minimal cheap education and a commercial strategy; (iii) there are signs of centralisation of European education policy on the EC and the CEU, under the European semester, and the apparent decline in importance of the Bologna and Copenhagen Processes and the Education & Training 2020 Programme. When looking at Portugal nowadays, the Europeanisation of education, fostered by economic and financial, as well as educational, European policies, and the choices of the government, presents a complex picture, with the shrinking of the welfare state, the increase in education privatisation and commercialisation, and the growing gap between national and European education welfare levels.

paradox of utilitarian recognition of prior learning

“…These are semiperipheral countries (Sousa Santos, 1993) in the EU, which have different histories, welfare regimes and AE systems (Desjardins, 2017). Furthermore, they are both subject to EU political and economic pressures-for example, imposed structural adjustment and austerity measures after the 2008 economic crisis, which severely affected public funding and let to the privatisation of higher education and AE (Antunes, 2016;Mikulec & Jelenc Krašovec, 2016). Moreover, in the fields of AE and LLL, both countries depend on the funding provided by the European Social Found (ESF), as national funds declined or never were that relevant, such as in Portugal.…”

“…In 2004, the Council adopted the Common European principles for the identification and validation of non-formal and informal learning (CEU, 2004). The same year, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Education and Training (CEDEFOP) prepared the first update on the European inventory on validation-followed by updates in 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016(CEDEFOP, 2020 and published the European guidelines for validating non-formal and informal learning (CEDEFOP, 2009(CEDEFOP, , 2015. In 2011, the Council adopted a renewed European agenda for adult learning (CEU, 2011), which endeavoured to ʻencourage the development of effective lifelong guidance systems, as well as integrated systems for the validation of non-formal and informal learningʼ (p. 3).…”

Education governance and privatization in Portugal: Media coverage on public and private education

“…Some researchers argue that these alterations point to a neoliberal revolution since they led to a profound change in the position that education held in the Portuguese constitution and society (see Antunes, 2016). Even if the neoliberal government's 'coherent and global political project' had not been formulated as such in Portugal, nevertheless 'a neoliberal ideological agenda' was prevalent (Carmo et al, 2014, p. 170) and 'the Adjustment Program has served, above all, to protect and support an agenda of profound transformation […] that, based on fundamentals of essentially ideological nature, very clearly transcends the idea of the simple financial contribution of the education sector to the balance of public finances' (Cantante et al, 2014, p. 76).…”

A ação conjunta de Organizações Internacionais (UE e OCDE) em Educação: Metamorfoses? Observações em torno de Políticas Educativas em Portugal

“…Nesse sentido, essas décadas de europeização constituem um processo e um projeto de desenvolvimento das tendências acima enunciadas, mas também de disputa e de tensões pela afirmação da educação, contraditoriamente, como direito social e humano fundamental e como bem de mercado, como política económica e de emprego e como política de criação da Europa (NÓVOA, 2005;ANTUNES, 2006ANTUNES, , 2016DALE, 2008).…”