The Rise of Market Mechanisms in Education: Experiences From South Africa and the United States

• In Event: Market Mechanisms and Education Inequities: Experiences From Chile, India, South Africa, Canada, and the United States

Abstract

Purpose. The twenty-first century has witnessed a dramatic increase in education reform policies that promote school choice while at the same time arguing for enhanced equitable access to quality education. The move toward school vouchers and charter schools in the US, and parental choice in South Africa, reflects both a frustration with direct state control of schooling and a logic, if not rhetoric, of equal educational access. This paper examines the issues of markets in education as they shape educational opportunities in South Africa and the US. It examines the effects of market mechanism on communities, especially those from marginalized spaces. We examine conceptual and empirical evidence to show the uneven advantage often manifested in market mechanisms in education in both countries.

Theoretical Perspective. Some education reformers in the U.S. argue against a “one-size-fits-all” model for education and believe that market-style mechanisms of consumer choice and competition between autonomous schools will encourage innovative approaches for increasing students’ achievement (e.g., Bennett et al., 1998; Finn & Gau, 1998; Nathan, 1996). In South Africa, private contractors were invited as external agencies in the running of government schools (Pampallis, 2004). In both countries, these assumptions reflect a “neoliberal” perspective that, while it may value equitable access and outcomes, identifies state administration of public goods as inherently pathological. This perspective asserts that market mechanisms such as consumer choice, decentralization, and competition between autonomous providers—or at least more market-like environments, even for public goods—can produce better, and perhaps even more equitable, results (Author).

Method and Data Sources. We reviewed all known research and scholarly studies available that reported evidence of market mechanism and privatization of schools in the US. In South Africa, we examined research and studies of school choice in post-apartheid, including reform policies in the South African Schools Act (1996). Following Light and Pillemer (1984), this exploratory review of research attempted to “cast as wide a net as possible” in accessing every study available on the topic, to consider a broad range of practices.

Results. The analysis of our findings show that market mechanisms in education fail to recognize the historical injustices in education, especially in these two countries with the history of racial inequalities. The US is at the crossroads in terms of implementing policies that can help us overcome challenges in urban schools. South Africa’s efforts to desegregate public education after 1994 are impeded by market mechanisms. As the findings in this paper reveal, even with the increasing marketization of public schools, many disadvantaged and minority communities continue to be marginalized by market-oriented education policies.

Scholarly Significance. This paper is significant in that it explores the current education reform climate in both countries with the hope that these two countries can learn from each other. The finding will help educational policy makers in both countries to rethink market mechanism in education. It provides policy makers with evidence to show that inherent educational inequalities cannot be simply ameliorated by turning to market reforms, where some students, especially from the disadvantaged backgrounds can be further denied educational opportunities.

Authors

• Christopher A. Lubienski, Indiana University

• Bekisizwe S. Ndimande, The University of Texas - San Antonio