Democratic Implications of the Privatization of Education

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Williamson and Hogan’s (2020) examination of the pandemic-related explosion of the edtech industry is both enlightening and alarming. As a K-12 teacher, I can personally attest to the immediate and rapid increase in the use of numerous digital technologies because of the pandemic’s emergent shift to online learning and many shifts from online to in-person learning through the various COVID waves. Williamson and Hogan’s work makes it evident that “privatization of education has expanded – through increasing participation of private actors in public education – and of how commercialization of education has developed through the creation, marketing and sale of education goods and services to schools (and parents) by external providers” (para. 15).

Alarm bells should be ringing for any individual who is concerned about the rise of neoliberalism across the globe. Giroux (2021) argued that as a result of increased private and corporate interests in education, “both public and higher education institutions are now subjected to neoliberal modes of governance that view students as consumers, faculty as a pool of casual labor, and knowledge as a commodity” (p. 6). Giroux further contended that “democratic institutions such as the independent media, schools, the legal system, certain financial institutions, and higher education are under siege” (p. 7).

An example that immediately comes to mind is the closure of the Alberta Distance Learning Centre (ADLC). The ADLC provided distance learning programs to school boards and students in the entire province for free, was funded (and then defunded) by the Alberta Government, and run by the Pembina Hills School Division until it closed in September 2021 (Edwardson, 2020). Immediately, concerns were raised that the closing of the ADLC would open doors for private e-learning providers and reduce equitable access to quality public education (Edwardson, 2020). Following the ADLC’s closure, the government launched a new e-learning hub in January 2022 which was intended to address concerns of pandemic-related learning gaps, but received overwhelmingly negative reviews (Zielinski, 2022).

Selwyn (2010) argued for the necessity of “placing more emphasis on understanding the often uneven, contested and contradictory realities of technology use within educational settings – therefore seeing educational technology as a profoundly social, cultural and political concern” (p. 67). As private industry becomes more entrenched in public education systems, it would be wise to take the words of Selwyn and Giroux to heart and approach educational technology with a critical lens and bring the social, cultural, and political implications to the fore.

References

Edwardson, L. (2020, March 3). Block funding for Alberta Distance Learning to be phased out over next two years. CBC News. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/block-funding-for-alberta-distance-learning-to-be-phased-out-over-next-two-years-1.5483262

Giroux, H. A. (2021). Education, Politics, and the Crisis of Democracy in the Age of Pandemics. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 21(4). https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/33792/37266 

Selwyn, N. (2010). Looking beyond learning: Notes towards the critical study of educational technology: looking beyond learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(1), 65–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2009.00338.x

Williamson, B., & Hogan, A. (2020, July 14). The evolution of the global education industry during the pandemic. Code acts in education. https://codeactsineducation.wordpress.com/2020/07/14/evolution-global-education-industry-during-pandemic/

Zielinski, S. (2022, January 21). Alberta’s online tutoring program misses the mark. Red Deer Advocate. https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news/albertas-online-tutoring-program-misses-the-mark/

By: Amber Donahue

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