Instructing the Neoliberal Student on the Conduct of School: A Case Study

• In Event: AERA Virtual Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

Schoolwide positive behavior interventions and supports are employed by schools across the globe. Such neoliberal systems of conduct instruct children about how to conduct themselves so that they can succeed in school and the larger society. Yet, how such programs impact school personnel and students’ conceptions of what it means to be a student is rarely troubled. Through a case study of schoolwide positive behavior intervention in a kindergarten classroom in the United States, we investigated this issue. We employed Foucault’s conceptions of biopolitics to examine how a sample of school personnel and kindergarteners made sense of their schoolwide positive behavior system. Doing so provided us with the opportunity to rethink and challenge these neoliberal systems of control.

Authors

• Christopher P. Brown, The University of Texas at Austin

• Joanna Englehardt, San Francisco State University

• Da Hei Ku, The University of Texas at Austin