Ethnography of a Neoliberal School

Garth Stahl, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Education at the University of South Australia and Research Fellow, Australian Research Council (DECRA). His research interests lie on the nexus of neoliberalism and socio-cultural studies of education, identity, equity/inequality, and social change. Currently, his research projects and publications encompass theoretical and empirical studies of learner identities, gender and youth, sociology of schooling in a neoliberal age, gendered subjectivities, equity and difference, and educational reform.

"This richly theorised, fascinating ethnography of charter schools is a must-read for all those concerned about the impact of neoliberalism on schooling. In an analysis that both grips and challenges the reader, Garth Stahl uncovers the harmful consequences of privatisation on schooling in the US, setting out the corporate and managerialist policies and practices that are hollowing out public schooling not just in the US but increasingly across the globe. Ethnography of a Neoliberal School brings powerfully to life the damage wrought by educational policies that focus remorselessly on competition, individualism, and raising aspiration without recognising wider social and economic realities. In doing so it bears damning witness to neoliberalism's contributions to the injuries of class and race." --Diane Reay, Professor of Education, University of Cambridge"In this groundbreaking book Garth Stahl combines thick ethnographic description with sociological theory to unravel the rich tapestry of everyday neoliberalisation in the ‘post-disciplinary’ environment of a US charter school management organisation. Using descriptive scene-setting vignettes and personal reflections, Stahl draws our attention to the role and impact of different species of corporate logic and the enterprise form to confront the messy actualities of stealth privatisation in public education in the US, and offers penetrating insight into the contrived pedagogies, technologies of expertise, cults of efficacy, and ideologies of deliverology resulting from these machinations. Moreover, Stahl uniquely captures some of the conflicting tendencies at the heart of these reforms, namely precariousness and permanence, and explores the significance of these trends to cultivating performative workers and the smooth functioning of neoliberalisation more generally. This book is essential reading for practitioners and researchers interested in the deeper frames and ground logic which help to secure the technocratic embedding of neoliberalism in the day to day organisation of schools."--Andrew Wilkins, Reader in Education, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK."In Ethnography of a Neoliberal School, Garth Stahl presents a lucid, insightful and ultimately excellent account of policies and practices in a US Charter School Management Organizations (CMOs). Firmly positioned in the context of existing work on the charter school movement and the field of institutional ethnography, the book explores and analyses the ways in which neoliberal agendas play out through and within various aspects of schooling. Stahl presents a compelling and at times confronting read, setting carefully his own daily experiences in a charter school against wider literature in the area. This book marks an important and significant contribution to research on neoliberal agendas in education, and has something to offer for both advocates and critics of the marketisation and corporatisation of schooling. A must read for all educators and parents interested in how education and schooling are shaped and experienced today." --Andrew Peterson, Professor of Civic and Moral Education, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

• List of FiguresPrefaceAcknowledgementsChapter 1: IntroductionPart I Chapter 2: School ethnography, school effects and schooling in neoliberal timesChapter 3: Charter schools, the reform movement and CMOsChapter 4: Corporatization, CMOs and the "unique blend"Part IIChapter 5: LeadershipChapter 6: TeachersChapter 7: StudentsChapter 8: AssessmentChapter 9: ReflectionsAppendix A – Qualities of Exemplary Teaching (QET) Deliverables Rubric