Abstract
Education and education policy are a global political concern, where a focus on quality, value for money, and suitable provision are key discourses. Many international governments often undertake major reviews and policy changes aimed at improving education provision for their citizens. Following political reform and advances in the debates on education provision, cycles of policy changes have shaped the UK’s education landscape. A significant driving force behind late twentieth and early twenty-first century educational policy changes and reforms, was the move towards neoliberal governance. Here, public services are predicated on the ethos of competition, accountability and entrepreneurial efficiencies. Following the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and 1990s, education has undergone a series of significant changes. With change comes tensions. These tensions are elicited by the human desire to stay with the status quo; changes not aligning with individuals’ beliefs; and tensions associated with any change of practice.In light of this, the published works in this thesis explore some of the tensions, challenges and opportunities that these neoliberal reforms have presented. Foucault and his concepts of power and governmentality have been developed as the conceptual framework for this thesis; with the research grounded in Foucauldian principles, and these concepts and notions resonating within each of the outputs, and throughout this thesis. The outputs and investigations themselves centre on a specific area of UK-based education: post-compulsory education. Overall, the research focuses on the three distinct groups of staff, apprentices and applicants, and looks to explore the impact of being a stakeholder in the post-compulsory education sector under a neoliberal public service delivery model.
The thesis contains five separate peer-reviewed articles (outputs), each advancing knowledge and understanding of educational practices within a nuanced aspect of post-compulsory education. All five of the outputs have been published in peer reviewed, academic journals. One output, following a quantitative research design, explores how performativity practices are perceived by different levels of teaching and management staff at a Further Education college. It investigates the differentials identified in terms of how effective performativity (accountability) practices are in regard to positively influencing various factors, such as student outcomes, job satisfaction and innovation. Three outputs follow lines of inquiry surrounding the lived experiences of apprentices undertaking higher level apprenticeship study, through a qualitative research design. They investigate challenges identified for participants undertaking a modern-day apprenticeship, as well as how the need for personal and professional development within the neoliberal marketplace of education, can affect elements such as resilience, identity and self-efficacy. The final output explores the impact of neoliberal practices on those looking to study within the post-compulsory education sector, specifically, how their decision-making processes are influenced by different touch-points throughout the potential application process to a UK-based Higher Education institution. Here, tangible recommendations are offered to universities to inform their ability to successfully recruit future students.
All of the outputs offer both practical and theoretical implications for the sector and its protagonists, including policy-based and operational recommendations, alongside offering avenues for further inquiry and investigation. By drawing on original research data, the outputs collectively suggest an equivocal position regarding the contemporary impact of neoliberal practices on the various stakeholders investigated. Different individuals experience neoliberal practices unequally; similarly, the neoliberal environment impacts different individuals in contrarily and distinct ways. The thesis concludes that no unequivocal assumptions or conclusion can be drawn regarding how stakeholders, as a collective, perceive neoliberal practices within post-compulsory education. Therefore, caution must be exercised when applying theoretical conclusions to individuals and individual groups as to their position regarding the neoliberal landscape. This provides a contemporary counterpoint to some foundational research and literature which often offers a singular perspective as to how neoliberal practices are observed and perceived within the education sector as a whole, single entity.
This thesis follows the format of a PhD by compilation. It follows a structure whereby the context of post-compulsory education and neoliberalism is introduced, with both foundational and contemporary literature used to inform the discourse. The research aims of each output are then detailed and discussed, with each output available for review. The thesis concludes with a metanarrative which integrates each of the pieces of work, offering an overarching summary of the findings and their novel collective contributions to knowledge, as well as limitations, areas of future study and reflections on my development as a researcher.
Keywords: Neoliberalism; Post-Compulsory Education; Performativity; Lived-Experience; Decision- making.
| Date of Award | 29 Apr 2025 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
|
| Supervisor | Nikki Fairchild (Supervisor) & Matthew Round (Supervisor) |