Resisting Neoliberal Restructuring of Public Education in Ontario

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 3:05 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Global Perspectives on Education Policy, Immigration, and Neoliberalism (Table 37)

Abstract

In this paper, I highlight multiscalar sites of resistance to neoliberal education restructuring in Ontario through interviews with education workers and leaders, community and education organizers, and unionists, as well as analysis of news and social media covering education policies between 2019 and 2022. Rather than forwarding a linear narrative about resistance and organizing, I place emphasis on the tension and contradiction inherent between the micro and macro spheres political action. My research locates resistance within the sociocultural and historical context of education policies. It also enacts critical praxis by turning toward those impacted by education policy for insight on resistance, the definition of which centres transformative justice, solidarity, and intersectional frameworks of anti-racism, anti-oppression, and social justice.

Author

• Beyhan Farhadi, University of Toronto