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The idea of democratic
schooling with its emphasis on equality is seriously attacked
by the marketisation of education. New policies of educational
restructuring emphasise accountability and close links between
school and industry, where schools and students become targets
of constant evaluation and competition. This book challenges
such policies and practices through analyses of their negative
consequences for social justice and democracy. It explores the
effects of restructuring on everyday life in schools and other
educational institutions and presents analyses of how differences
based on gender, social class, ethnicity, nationality and embodiment
are dealt with in educational settings.
The authors draw on a range of
theories, including poststructuralist, postcolonial, feminist
and Marxist perspectives, and the localised ethnographies are
contextualised in changing educational politics. How policies
are contradicted by practices is discussed in relation to the
classroom, teacher education and issues of inclusion and exclusion.
A critical gaze is directed at Nordic countries where restructuring
processes contradict a political discourse based on equality
and comprehensive education.
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