New Managerialism in Education

‘If you put pressure on yourself to produce then that's your responsibility’: Mothers’ experiences of maternity leave and flexible work in the neoliberal university

“…New managerialism is the term that is used to describe a suite of ‘for profit’ management techniques, comprising the organizational component to neoliberalism. It prioritizes efficiency through the increased surveillance of workers and ‘what makes new managerialism “new” is the deployment of managerialist principles in both public sector bodies (Lynch et al, ), and, increasingly, in non‐governmental organizations (McCrea, 2014; Lynch, , p. 1). Although its implementation can vary across cultures, key features of new managerialism in the university sector include a shift to conceptualize students as consumers for whom academics must provide ‘service’ and institutions compete to serve, as well as a focus on outputs that are monitored through the plethora of new performance measures attached to teaching and research.…”

“…While new managerialism practices such as measurement and surveillance might appear as a means to make higher education more efficient and accountable, its use in the sector has been avidly critiqued. Lynch et al (, p. 200), for example, argue that the assumption that the sector is only about products ‘undermines the very processes that created the products in the first instance’. Prioritizing efficiency and effectiveness ‘occurs at the expense of more broadly‐based moral and social values related to care, autonomy, tolerance, respect, trust and equality’ (Lynch, , p. 5) and profit is valued over and above education.…”

“…In short, the extant literature suggests that academia privileges the ‘disembodied worker’ (Acker, ), and that the closest embodiment to this fiction is a white, male, affluent habitus (Berg, ). As a result, an institutional ‘care ceiling’ (Lynch, Grummell, & Devine, ) exists so that ‘… those who have been successful in achieving high office are frequently childless’ (Bagilhole, , p. 20).…”

New managerialism in the academy: Gender bias and precarity

“…As such, higher education is increasingly defined through a management lens. New managerialism is tied to the ideology of neoliberalism (Lynch, ) and can be defined as ‘a philosophy in which the existence and operation of a market are valued in themselves […] and where the operation of a market […] is seen as an ethic in itself’ (Treanor, ). Neoliberalism, therefore, does not mean that academic institutions are autonomous and free, but rather, that they are compelled to conform to the norms of the market (Keisu & Carbin, ; Larner, ).…”

Subjectivation processes and gender in a neoliberal model of science in three Spanish research centres

“…Under neoliberalism, science has received greater recognition from governments as a place for economic progress and international positioning (Bastalich, ; Fassa, ; Fletcher, Boden, Kent, & Tinson, ; Morley, ). Academic institutions are considered motors of the so‐called knowledge economy, now driven by new managerialism, the ‘organizational arm of neoliberalism’ (Lynch, , p. 1), through audit and accountability practices (Deem & Brehony, ; Shore, ). In the name of excellence, the principle of productivity has become compulsory (Fassa, ; Van den Brink & Benschop, ), thereby underpinning a generalized culture of performance (Giroux, ; Thomas & Davies, ).…”