Gobernar la educación a través de los padrespolítica educativa y construcción de subjetividades neoliberales en Inglaterra. (Governing education through parents: education policy and the construction of neoliberal subjectivities in England)

In this paper we explore the relationship between market norms and practices and the
development of the figure of the parent within British education policy. Since the 1970s parents in
England have been called upon to perform certain duties and obligations in their relation to the
state. These duties include internalizing responsibility for risks, liabilities, inequities and the
spectre of crises formerly managed by the state. Rather than characterize this situation in terms
of the ‘hollowing of the state’, we argue that the role of the state includes enabling the
functioning of the parent as a neoliberal subject, so that they may successfully harness the power
of the market to their own advantage and (hopefully) minimize the kinds of risk generated through
a deregulated education system. In this paper we examine how parents are compelled to embody
certain market norms and practices as they navigate the field of education. In particular we focus
on how parents are 1) summoned as consumers or choosers of education services, and thus
encouraged to embody through their behaviour a competitive orientation; 2) summoned as
governors and custodians of schools, with a focus on assessing financial and educational
performance; and 3) summoned as producers and founders of schools, with a focus on
entrepreneurial and innovative activity.