Neoliberalización experimental y redes filantrópicas en educación

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to analyze new processes of “experimental neoliberalization” in the context of philanthropic governance in education to defend incorporating of policy mobilities rather than transfer policy in comparative education field. I defend the substitution of the term “neoliberalism” with “neoliberalization” so as to understand this phenomenon as a “mutative regime”. A review of the literature was carried out in order to provide a systematic overview of the most relevant results of the research on fast policies, policy mobilities and the new governance deriving from philanthropic networks as methodological project, rather than policy transfers. I analyze the concept of neoliberalization characterized by changes which are recontextualized, readapted and founded by the “regulatory experimentation” characteristic of the paradigm of “fast policies” produced by geographical mutations. The following section details methodological aspects of the research conducted within the context of Spanish educational policy as a “distended case- study”. The paper uses network ethnography by combining the techniques of political networks with ethnographic processes. The results section details and analyzes three types of philanthropic networks and their teaching discourses. The “resituated political global network” is the mutation of Teach for All network in Spain, “Empieza por Educar”, which promotes a fast policy aimed at creating new teachers under discursive logic based on principles such as performativity, effectiveness and accountability. The “conservative political philanthropic network” is comprised of a foundation, the Catholic Church and the monarchy along with business alliances that have taken part in training processes for 50,000 teachers in over 3,000 schools. And the “experimental philanthropic policy network” is an emerging philanthropic alliance between foundations belonging to the largest Spanish companies and symbolic actors, aimed at alleviating problems in the education system through experimental programmes.