Neoliberal approach

Neoliberal/New Right perspectives on education

Neoliberal (sometimes called New Right) perspectives have probably had the most influence on British education in recent years. Neoliberal views are very much in favour of private business and the free market because they believe that competition between companies drives innovation and encourages success. Like functionalists and social democrats, they see education as important for a successful economy, but they think that state education can be inefficient and a drain on a country's resources. High government spending on education and other services is seen as undesirable because it requires high taxes. These taxes ultimately come from company profits, and high taxation therefore makes companies less competitive.

The free market refers to a system in which people are free to buy and sell what they wish. In the free market, producers have to provide what consumers want or they will not be able to sell their products.Firms compete with one another to attract customers so that, at least in theory, consumers get the products or services (including education) they want, and the quality continually improves.

Chubb and Moe (1988) believe that state education is unresponsive to the needs of pupils and parents and tends to have low standards. In contrast, private education has to please its customers in order to survive and therefore standards are high and there is constant pressure to improve further.

Market liberals believe that rising standards are essential as a result of globalisation. If countries are going to compete in an increasingly global economy, workers lacking high levels of skills will lose their jobs to more skilled workers in other countries.

These views have influenced all British governments to a greater or lesser extent since 1979.

Neoliberals take a less positive view of education than functionalists, believing that education needs to be run more as a business. However, their views are strongly opposed by both Marxists and social democrats, who see state education as the only way to provide opportunities for pupils from all classes. From their point of view, private education puts profit before the wellbeing of pupils and will always favour the rich above the poor. Furthermore, this will tend to waste working-class talent and therefore harm the economy.