Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology
Schools of war
Glenn Rikowski 1 * , Alisson Slider do Nascimento de Paula 2
More Detail
1 Visiting Fellow in the College of Social Science, University of Lincoln, UK
2 Researcher BPI/FUNCAP, Professor at Centro Universitário Inta (UNINTA), Brazil
* Corresponding Author
Open Access Full Text (PDF)
ARTICLE INFO

Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 2021 - Volume 3 Issue 1, pp. 54-65
https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.2021169956

Article Type: Conceptual Article

Published Online: 20 Jun 2021

Views: 1806 | Downloads: 567

ABSTRACT
In his classic The Condition of the Working Class in England (1845), Friedrich Engels argued that workers engaged in industrial action gained knowledge of economic processes, tactical awareness in struggles and grasped the value of solidarity in the face of employers’ assaults on pay and working conditions. These struggles constituted “schools of war”; significant learning experiences for workers, argued Engels. Yet schools of war can take other forms, such as struggles against the capitalisation of education; educational institutions becoming sites of capital accumulation and preparation for capitalist work. In this sense, education has become a battleground as its privatisation, commodification, marketisation, commercialisation and monetisation have gathered pace in many countries since the second half of the twentieth century. This article argues that there are two main fronts in the war over the penetration of education by capital in contemporary society: the business takeover of education, as educational institutions become value- and profit-making sites; and the reduction of education to labour-power production. It explores these two fronts of war in terms of education policies in England and Brazil and argues for the establishment of forms of education beyond capitalist states and capital’s commodity forms.
KEYWORDS
education policy privatisation commodification labour-power Marxism schools universities alternatives
In-text citation: (Rikowski & de Paula, 2021)
Reference: Rikowski, G., & de Paula, A. S. D. N. (2021). Schools of war. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 3(1), 54-65. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.2021169956
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Rikowski G, de Paula ASDN. Schools of war. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2021;3(1), 54-65. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.2021169956
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Rikowski G, de Paula ASDN. Schools of war. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2021;3(1):54-65. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.2021169956
In-text citation: (Rikowski and de Paula, 2021)
Reference: Rikowski, Glenn, and Alisson Slider do Nascimento de Paula. "Schools of war". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology 2021 3 no. 1 (2021): 54-65. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.2021169956
In-text citation: (Rikowski and de Paula, 2021)
Reference: Rikowski, G., and de Paula, A. S. D. N. (2021). Schools of war. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 3(1), pp. 54-65. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.2021169956
In-text citation: (Rikowski and de Paula, 2021)
Reference: Rikowski, Glenn et al. "Schools of war". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, vol. 3, no. 1, 2021, pp. 54-65. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.2021169956
REFERENCES
  • Bell, P. & Cleaver, H. (2002). Marx’s Theory of Crisis as a Theory of Class struggle. The Commoner, 5, 1-61.
  • Benn, M. (2011) School Wars: The Battle for Britain’s Education. Verso.
  • Collini, S. (2020). Inside the mind of Dominic Cummings. The Guardian, 6th February. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/06/inside-the-mind-of-dominic-cummings-brexit-boris-johnson-conservatives
  • Department for Education [DfE] (2020a). Establishment of the higher education restructuring regime in response to COVID-19. Department for Education, DfE-00121-2020. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/902608/HERR_announcement_July_2020.pdf
  • Department for Education [DfE] (2020b). Plan your relationships, sex and health curriculum. Department for education, Guidance document. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/plan-your-relationships-sex-and-health-curriculum
  • Engels, F. (1845/1976). The Condition of the Working Class in England. Panther Books.
  • Grimston, J. & Oakeshott, I. (2010). Conservatives to let private firms run state schools at a profit. The Sunday Times 11 April. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/conservatives-to-let-firms-run-state-schools-at-a-profit-tfzxmzb73kn
  • Grimston, J. & Griffiths, S. (2012). Gove’s War over Pay for Teachers. The Sunday Times, 9 December. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/goves-war-over-pay-for-teachers-6m8g5dvlrv2
  • Harrison, A. (2010). Schools are promised an academies “revolution”. BBC News (Education & Family). http://www.bbc.co.uk/newes/10159448
  • Harvey, D. (2006). A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford University Press.
  • Hill, D. (2012). Immiseration capitalism, activism and education: resistance, revolt and revenge. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 10(2),1-53.
  • Hill, D. (2019). Marxist education and teacher education against capitalism in neoliberal / neoconservative / neofascist / times. Cadernos GPOSSHE Online, 2(1), 91-119.
  • Hill, D., Lewis, C., Maisuria, A., Yarker, P. & Hill, J. (2016). Conservative education reloaded: policy, ideology and impacts in England. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 14(3), 1-42.
  • Holloway, J. (1991). The state and everyday struggle. In S. Clarke (ed.), The State Debate. Macmillan.
  • Holloway, J. & Picciotto, S. (1991). Capital, crisis and the state. In S. Clarke (ed.), The State Debate. Macmillan.
  • Hurst, G. (2010). Businesses will bid to run hundreds of state schools, The Times, 31st March, pp.6-7.
  • Kliman, A. (2009a). “The destruction of capital” and the current economic crisis. Pace University, Department of Economics. http://akliman.squarespace.com/crisis-intervention
  • Kliman, A. (2009b). Talk for “state capitalism and a new deal” panel. Left Forum, New York City. http://akliman.squarespace.com/crisis-intervention
  • Law, S. (2006). The War for Children’s Minds. Routledge.
  • Leher, R. (2016). Uma etapa crucial da contrarreforma, Le Monde Diplomatique – Brazil. 3rd November, pp. 6-7.
  • Leher, R., Vittoria, P. & Motta, V. (2017). Education and commodification in the midst of Brazil's political-economic storm, Germinal: Marxism and Education in Debate, 9(1), 14-24.
  • Levinson, M. (2017). End of a golden age. Aeon. https://aeon.co/essays/how-economic-boom-times-in-the-west-came-to-an-end
  • Malott, C. & Ford, D. (2015). Marx, capital and education: toward a critical pedagogy of becoming. Peter Lang.
  • Mansfield, I. & Owen, G. (eds.) (2020). Visions of ARPA: embracing change, transforming technology. Policy Exchange.
  • Marx, K. (1973). Grundrisse: foundations of the critique of political economy (rough draft), (Trans. M. Nicolaus). Penguin Books.
  • Marx, K. (1975). Theories of Surplus Value – Part 1. Lawrence & Wishart.
  • Morgan, J. (2020). Cummings ‘winning battle’ for new Arpa to be outside UKRI. Times Higher Education. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/cummings-winning-battle-new-arpa-be-outside-ukri
  • Motta, V. C. & Frigotto, G. (2017). Why the urgency of secondary education reform? Provisional Measure No. 746/2016 (Law No. 13.415/2017), Education and Society, 38(139), 355-372.
  • Motta, V. C., Leher, R. & Gawryszewski, B. (2018). The pedagogy of capital and the meaning of working class resistance. be social, 20(43), 310-328.
  • Neary, M. (2020). Student as producer: how do revolutionary teachers teach? Zero Books.
  • Rikowski, G. (2002). Education, capital and the transhuman. In D. Hill, P. McLaren, M. Cole & G. Rikowski (eds.), Marxism against postmodernism in educational theory. Lexington Books.
  • Rikowski, G. (2017). Privatisation in education and commodity forms. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 15(3), 29-56.
  • Saraiva, K.& Vargas, J. R. (2017). The dangers of school without a party. Webs, 19(51), 68-84.
  • Seki, A. K. (2019). Bolsonaro and cuts in higher education: preliminary considerations. Santa Catarina: University on the Left.
  • Verger, A., Fontdevila, C. & Zancajo, A. (2016). The privatization of education: A political economy of global education reform. Teachers College Press.
  • Verger, A., Steiner-Khamsi, G. & Lubienski, C. (2017). The emerging global education industry: Analysing market-making in education through market sociology. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 15(3), 325-340.
  • Whittaker, F. (2019). What does Gavin Williamson's leaked education plan mean for schools? Schools Week. https://schoolsweek.co.uk/what-does-gavin-williamsons-leaked-education-plan-mean-for-schools/
LICENSE
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.