Introduction

From kindergarten to university, national education systems are being transformed. Privatisation is increasing. ‘Choice’ and ‘diversity’ – codenames for the working of market forces – provide a new model of school organisation. Teaching and learning are guided and regulated by central government, in the name of ‘standards’ and competitiveness. Faced with these changes, the movements which, in an earlier era, fought for egalitarian reform, are on the defensive; even where educational provision is expanding, class and ethnic inequalities remain.

These transformations are European in scale. The EU and the OECD provide a policy repertoire which national governments draw from. National policies are benchmarked against targets drawn up in Brussels. It is difficult, in short, to understand or to contest policy change without grasping its European dimensions. Yet for the most part the responses of trade unions and educational movements have been confined to national frameworks, and, even there – though with some notable exceptions, in France, Greece and Catalunya - have tended to be episodic and limited.

This website has been created by the authors of the book ‘Schooling in Western Europe: the new order and its adversaries’ – extracts from which are available on the site. It tries to provide a space for reflection on the kinds of change that are sweeping through European education. It will bring together, in addition, reports and analyses of movements and actions that seek to challenge dominant policies; and it aims to stimulate discussion about alternatives to policy orthodoxy.

The first documents posted here are from a seminar held in Amsterdam in March 2008 to discuss the themes of ‘Schooling in Western Europe’. We invite contributions on these and other topics.

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