Session Information
13 SES 06 A, Free Schools, the Third Term, and the Body
Paper Session
Contribution
Recent reforms to the English educational system saw the introduction of free schools: all-ability, publicly-funded schools set up by groups of parents, teachers, charities, trusts or faith groups to meet parental demand (DfE 2015). This is an explicit case of policy borrowing, drawn on the development of independent schools in Sweden (DfE 2010; West 2014) and a key strategy to reinforce choice and diversity in the education quasi-market. Theorists of choice systems in education (Hoxby 2003; Le Grand 2007) have argued for the extrinsic, instrumental, value of choice in driving quality and effectiveness. At the same time, choice is also conceived as of intrinsic value, a “good in itself” inasmuch as it is said to empower users by enhancing individual autonomy. Critics have emphasized the limits of choice systems. Research has focused on structural constraints and on the inelasticity of both supply and demand (Waslander 2010; Allen and Burgess 2010); on the implicitly narrow conceptualization of users as ‘rational and utilitarian choosers’ (Ball 2003; Ben- Porah 2009; Bradbury 2012); and on equity concerns, because, it is argued, choice has become a ‘social device through which social class differences are rendered into educational inequality’ (Reay and Ball 1997).
The paper builds on this literature pointing at the limitations of choice but focuses specifically on autonomy as the core concept underlying the supposed intrinsic value of choice. While autonomy is at the centre of debates in moral and political philosophy (Feinberg 1989; Dworkin 1988), in the area of school choice autonomy has attracted attention mainly in relation to responsibility (Higham 2014), child-parent dynamics (Brighouse 2002) and social justice (Clayton 2006; Ben-Porah 2009). Instead, I propose to focus on the notion of autonomy itself and construct a rigorous philosophical framework to show the variety of meanings that underlie its use. The fact that the literature often conflates different aspects of autonomy remains overlooked. A clear analysis of this notion is essential to evaluate policies and arguments based on the alleged intrinsic value of choice.
This research is part of a larger project aimed at comparing theory and practice in the specific context of free schools in England and establishing which aspects of autonomy are promoted and for whom, casting light on the dynamics between different actors and on potential inequalities of autonomy. The present paper will develop a conceptualisation of the notion of autonomy in relation to school choice; and, using this conceptualisation, examine the assumptions underlying the debate surrounding free schools in England. I will employ this framework to analyse in what way the notion of autonomy is relevant to the government’s stated goals. This will allow me to compare, from the standpoint of autonomy, the government’s rhetoric and strategy with the theory underlying school choice in general.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Allen, R. and Burgess, S. (2010) The future of competition and accountability in education, 2020 Public Services Trust at the RSA report. Arpaly, N. (2003), Unprincipled Virtue, OUP, Oxford. Ball, S. (2003) Class Strategies and the Education Market: The Middle Classes and Social Advantage, Routledge Falmer, London. Ben-Porath, S. R. (2009). School choice as a bounded ideal, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 43, 527–544. Boudon, R. (1974), Education, opportunity and social inequality. Changing prospects in Western Society, Wiley, New York. Bradbury, A., McGimpsey, I. and Santori, D. (2013), Revising rationality: the use of ‘Nudge’ approaches in neoliberal education policy, Journal of Education Policy, 28:2, 247-267. Brighouse, H. (2002), School Choice and Social Justice, British Journal of Educational Studies, 50:3, 402-403. Burchardt, T., Evans, M. and Holder, H. (2015) Public policy and inequalities of choice and autonomy. Social Policy & Administration, 49:1, 44-67. Clayton, M. (2006) Justice and Legitimacy in Upbringing, OUP, Oxford. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11, 227-268. DfE (Department for Education), (2015) 2010 to 2015 government policy: academies and free schools. Policy Papers. DfE (Department for Education), (2010), The Importance of Teaching. Cm 7980. HMSO, London. Dworkin, G. (1988). The Theory and Practice of Autonomy, CUP, New York. Feinberg, J. (1989), “Autonomy,” in Christman (ed.), The Inner Citadel: Essays on Individual Autonomy, Oxford University Press, New York, 27–53. Frankfurt, H. (1998), The importance of what we care about, in The Importance of What We Care About: Philosophical Essays, Cambridge: CUP, 80-94. Higham (2014) Free schools in the Big Society: the motivations, aims and demography of free school proposers, Journal of Education Policy, 29:1. Hoxby, C. (2003) The Economics of School Choice, University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Le Grand, J. (2007), The Other Invisible Hand: Delivering Public Services through Choice and Competition, Princeton University Press. Reay, D., Ball, S. (1997) ‘Spoilt for Choice: The Working Classes and Educational Markets’, Oxford Review of Education, 23(1), 89-101. Velleman, D. (2006), Self to Self: Selected Essays, CUP, Cambridge. Waslander, S., C. Pater and M. van der Weide (2010), Markets in Education: An Analytical Review of Empirical Research on Market Mechanisms in Education, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 52. West, A. (2014), Academies in England and independent schools (fristående skolor) in Sweden: policy, privatisation, access and segregation, Research Papers in Education.
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