Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The entrepreneurialisation of school work as a central theme in present educational changes: the Portuguese case

2012; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 44; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00220620.2012.658762

1478-7431

Leopoldo Mesquita,

Diverse Education Studies and Reforms

Abstract It is assumed in this paper that the main trend in global education policies is based on an entrepreneurial model intended to submit school work to the same logic that prevails in economic systems at large. Thus, I try to recognise such a model in current educational changes in Portugal. Two paths for the entrepreneurialisation of school work were identified, both of which have a strong influence in this country. As it is the rule in a global context, slogans such as ‘educational excellence’, ‘success for all’, ‘lifelong learning’ or ‘acquisition of essential skills’ are the cornerstones of the educational policies nowadays in Portugal. The continuous improvement of school productivity appears to be the main goal of the public education system in these policies. Keywords: entrepreneurial model in educationdifferent paths for the entrepreneurialisation of school workeducational changes in Portugal Notes 1See Guilbert C. Hentschke, Scot Oschman, and Lisa Snell, ‘Education Management Organizations: Growing a For-profit Education Industry with Choice, Competition and Innovation’ (Reason Public Policy Institute. Policy Brief 21, 2002), http://www.reason.org/pb21.pdf (accessed May 22, 2007); Guilbert C. Hentschke, ‘The Role of Government in Education: Enduring Principles, New Circumstances, and the Question of “Shelf Life”’, in Liberty & Learning: Milton Friedman’s Voucher Idea at Fifty, ed. Robert C. Enlow and Lenore T. Ealy (Washington, DC: Cato Institute, 2006), 11–23; also Patricia Ellen Burch, ‘The New Educational Privatization: Educational Contracting and High Stakes Accountability’, Teachers College Record 108, no. 12 (2006): 2582–610; Alex Molnar, ‘For-profit K-12 Education: Through the Glass Darkly’, in Educational Entrepreneurship: Realities, Challenges, Possibilities, ed. Frederick M. Hess (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2006), 103–23; Susan Robertson, ‘Public–Private Partnerships, Digital Firms, and the Production of a Neo-liberal Education Space at the European Scale’, in Spatial Theories of Education – Policy and Geography Matters, ed. Kalervo N. Gulson and Colin Symes (London and New York: Routledge, 2007), 215–31; and Michael R. Sandler, Social Entrepreneurship in Education – Private Ventures for the Public Good (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2010). 2See Rena F. Subotnik and Herbert J. Walberg, The Scientific Basis of Educational Productivity (Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, 2006); also Chris Whittle, Crash Course – Imagining a Better Future for Public Education (New York: Riverhead Books, 2005), 95–153; Clayton M. Christensen, Michael B. Horn, and Curtis W. Johnson, Disrupting Class – How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008); also Matthew Wicks, A National Primer on K-12 Online Learning, Version 2 (International Association for K-12 Online Learning, 2010), http://www.inacol.org/research/docs/iNCL_NationalPrimerv22010-web.pdf (accessed February 2, 2011); and Michael B. Horn and Heather Staker, The Rise of K-12 Blended Learning (Innosight Institute, Inc., 2011), http://www.innosightinstitute.org (accessed February 2, 2011). 3The present situation, namely in the USA but to some degree everywhere, is particularly revealing about this kind of measures directed to teachers. See, for instance, Patrick McGuinn, Ringing the Bell for K-12 Teacher Tenure Reform (Washington, DC: Center for American Progress, 2010), http://www.americanprogress.org (accessed December 10, 2010); also Sean P. Corcoran and others, Can Teachers Be Evaluated by Their Students Test Scores? Should They Be? The Use of Value-Added Measures of Teacher Effectiveness in Policy and Practice (New York: Annenberg Institute of School Reform at Brown University, 2010), http://www.annenberginstitute.org (accessed December 12, 2010); and Joel Klein and others, ‘How to Fix Our Schools: A Manifesto by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and Other Education Leaders’, The Washington Post, October 10, 2010, B01, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/07/AR2010100705078_pf.html (accessed November 19, 2010). 4See on this respect the studies conducted by Jenny Ozga, Martin Lawn, Susan Robertson, Michael Apple, Stanley Aronowitz, Henry Giroux, Alan Reid, Ken Harris, John Smith, among others. See also Daniel Moulthrop, Nínive Clements Caligari, and Dave Eggers, Teachers Have it Easy – The Big Sacrifices and Small Salaries of America’s Teachers (New York, London: The New Press, 2006); also Howard Stevenson, ‘Restructuring Teachers' Work and Trade Union Responses in England: Bargaining for Change?’, American Educational Research Journal 44, no. 2 (2007): 224–51. 5See Leopoldo Mesquita, ‘A Capitalização da Actividade Educativa nos Níveis Básico e Secundário de Escolaridade: O Caso da Instrução das Crianças Pobres e Trabalhadoras em Inglaterra, Entre o Século XVII e o Primeiro Quartel do Século XIX’ [‘The Capitalization of Educational Activity in Elementary and Secondary Education: The Case of the Instruction of Poor and Working Children in England, Between the 17th Century and the First Quarter of the 19th Century’] (PhD diss., University of Porto, 2009), 94–105, 202–7, 329–438; Raymond E. Callahan, Education and the Cult of Efficiency (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1964); Jonathan Kozol, The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005); and Richard J. Meyer, ‘Invisible Teacher/Invisible Children: The Company Line’, in Reading for Profit: How the Bottom Line Leaves Kids Behind, ed. Bess Altwerger (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005), 96–111. 6Gaston Mialaret and Jean Vial, eds., Histoire mondiale de l’éducation, vols. 2 and 3 (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1981); Andy Green, Education and State Formation: The Rise of Education Systems in England, France and the USA (London: Palgrave, The Macmillan Press, 1990). 7National Commission on Excellence in Education, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1983). 8Commission of the European Communities, Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality, Communication from the Commission, COM/2001/0678final (Brussels: EUR-Lex-52001DC0678-EN, 2001). 9Edgar Faure and others, Learning to Be: The World of Education Today and Tomorrow (Paris: UNESCO, 1972). 10Commission of the European Communities, Teaching and Learning: Towards the Learning Society (Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1995), http://europa.eu/documents/comm/white_papers/pdf/com95_590_en.pdf (accessed July 22, 2010). 11Commission of the European Communities, Teaching and Learning, 23–8. 12Ibid., 13–4. 13European Parliament and European Council, Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on Key Competencies for Lifelong Learning (Official Journal of the European Union, December 30, 2006/L394, 2006); European Parliament and European Council, Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on the Establishment of the European Qualifications Framework (Official Journal of the European Union, May 6, 2008/C111, 2008). 14US Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, ESEA Blueprint for Reform. US Department of Education Website, http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/blueprint/ (accessed July 27, 2010); Council of the European Union, Council Conclusions on a Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in Education and Training (ET 2020) (Official Journal of the European Union, May 28, 2009/C119, 2009). 15See, for example: ERT – The European Round Table of Industrialists, Education for Europeans: Towards the Learning Society (Brussels: The European Round Table of Industrialists, 1995); and BRT–The Business Roundtable, Continuing the Commitment: Essential Components of a Successful Education System (Washington, DC: The Business Roundtable, 1995), http://www.businessroundtable.org/pdf/130.pdf (accessed January 10, 2007). 16See Christian Laval and Louis Weber, eds., Le Nouvel Ordre Éducatif Mondial – OMC, Banque Mondiale, OCDE, Commission Européenne (Paris: Éditions Nouveaux Regards, 2002); also Martin Carnoy, ‘Globalization and Educational Reform’, in Globalization and Education – Integration and Contestation Across Cultures, ed. Nelly P. Stromquist and Karen Monkman (Boston, MA: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000), 43–61; and Susan Robertson, ‘Globalisation, GATS and Trading in Education Services’, in Supranational Regimes and National Education Policies – Encountering Challenge, ed. J. Kall and R. Rinne (Helsinki: Finnish Education Research Association, 2006), http://www.bris.ac.uk/education/people/academicStaff/edslr/publications (accessed December 10, 2010). 17Roberto Carneiro, ‘A Dinâmica de Evolução dos Sistemas Educativos. Um Ensaio de Interpretação Institucional’ [The Evolution Dynamics of the Educational Systems. An Essay on Institutional Interpretation], in Colóquio/Educação e Sociedade, no. 6, July 1994 (Lisbon: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1994), 13–60. 18The main legislative instruments directed to strongly spread private schools in Portugal were created between 1979 and 1991. On a number of occasions, a legislative move to authorize the private management of public schools was about to get accomplished. See Roberto Carneiro, ‘O Estatuto do Ensino Particular e Cooperativo – Subsídios Para uma Análise Interpretativa’ [The Statute of the Private and Cooperative Schools – Contributions to an Interpretative Analysis], in Ensino Livre: Uma Fronteira da Hegemonia Estatal [Free Schooling: A Frontier From State Hegemony], ed. Roberto Carneiro (Rio Tinto: Edições Asa, 1994), 103–10; also Pedro da Cunha, ‘A Evolução do Ensino Particular e Cooperativo na Vigência do XI Governo Constitucional (1987–1991)’ [The Evolution of Private and Cooperative Schooling Under the 11th Constitutional Government], in Ensino Livre: Uma Fronteira da Hegemonia Estatal [Free Schooling: A Frontier from State Hegemony], ed. Roberto Carneiro (Rio Tinto: Edições Asa, 1994), 129–43. 19See, for instance, the following statement of the Secretary of State for the Educational Reform: ‘What deeply characterizes what we may already call the Roberto Carneiro educational reform, it is both a …steady, unusual state intervention to expand and modernize education, and a gradual unstatization in the organization of the educational system, in order to get it closer to families and communities, serving their liberty and autonomy’, Pedro d'Orey da Cunha, ‘A Desestatização do Ensino em Portugal’ [The Unstatization of Education in Portugal], in Cadernos de Economia, no. 6, January 1989 (Lisbon: Publicações Técnico-Económicas, Lda., 1989), 15. 20Pedro d'Orey da Cunha, ‘Excelência e Qualidade em Educação’ [Excellence and Quality in Education], in Educação em Debate [Debating Education], ed. Pedro d'Orey da Cunha (Lisbon: Universidade Católica Editora, 1997), 83–112. 21A prominent element of R. Carneiro's team, then the president of the Institute of Educational Innovation, stated about this subject the following: ‘Schools are not (or should not be) places where the main activity is teaching, but instead they are places where one can learn … We may perfectly conceive a school without teachers … provided the pupils could learn’. See Joaquim Coelho Rosa, ‘Sucesso Escolar’ [School Success], in Educação em Debate [Debating Education], ed. Pedro d'Orey da Cunha (Lisbon: Universidade Católica Editora, 1997), 123. 22See art. 82 of the first Statute of the Teaching Career, officially published April 28, 1990. 23Ruben Cabral, ‘A Reinvenção da Escola’ [Reinventing School], in Educação em Debate [Debating Education], ed. Pedro d'Orey da Cunha (Lisbon: Universidade Católica Editora, 1997), 75–7; Rosa, ‘Sucesso Escolar’, 120–4. 24Maria de Lurdes Rodrigues, A Escola Pública Pode Fazer a Diferença [The Public School Can Make the Difference] (Coimbra: Edições Almedina, 2010), 15, 34, 56, 137, 221, 229, 236. 25Ibid., 269. 26Ibid., 268. 27New Statute of the Teaching Career, officially published January 19, 2007, reviewed and officially published September 30, 2009, and June 23, 2010; New System for the Evaluation of Teachers’ Performance, officially published January 10, 2008, reviewed and officially published June 23, 2010; Rodrigues, ‘The Public School’, 263–78. 28New System of Autonomy, Administration, and Management of Public Schools, officially published April 22, 2008; Licínio Lima, interview by Jornal da Fenprof, no. 244 (July 2010), 4–9. 29New Statute of the Teaching Career; Rodrigues, The Public School, 221–7. 30Rodrigues, The Public School, 69–70, 235–43. 31Ministério da Educação [Ministry of Education], Programa Educação 2015 [Education Programme 2015], September 2010, http://www.scribd.com/doc/37878599/Programa-Educacao-2015 (accessed September 20, 2010); also EPIS-Empresários pela Inclusão Social [Business for Social Inclusion], http://www.epis.pt (accessed September 10, 2010); and Rodrigues, The Public School, 81–106, 175–82. 32Project Skoool.pt, sponsored by Intel Corporation, http://www.skoool.pt (accessed April 17, 2010); also Ministério da Educação, Direcção Geral da Inovação e Desenvolvimento Curricular [Ministry of Education, General-Direction of Innovation and Curricular Development], Currículo Nacional do Ensino Básico Competências Essenciais [National Curriculum of Basic Education – Essential Competences], 2010, http://www.dgidc.min-edu.pt/basico/Paginas/CNacional_Comp_Essenciais.aspx (accessed September 20, 2010); and Rodrigues, The Public School, 165–71. 33Regime Jurídico do Sistema Nacional de Qualificações [Juridical Regime of the National Qualifications System], officially published December 31, 2007; Quadro Nacional de Qualificações [National Qualifications Framework], officially published July 23, 2009.