Neoliberalism And Its Impact On The Education System

Introduction
Neoliberalism, a political view backing the privitisation of public goods in order for the economy to grow. The privatisation of public goods encourages markets to be competitive. This neoliberal theory has a great impact on the education system and how it runs. Through the privatisation of public goods, education included, competitive markets created. For the education system marketisation and standardized testing are the results of neoliberalism. Schools are competing against one another and promoting merit to get students in the door. While pressure is placed on teachers and students to perform well on standardised. The stakeholders of the education system are considerably affected by neoliberalism. Marketisation and standardised
Neoliberalism is a political theory devised to improve the economic and social sectors. Neoliberalism involves an aggregation of economic and social policies with the view to increase self-interest among individuals, allow an infinite flow of capital, reduce labour costs and decrease public goods (Thinnes, as cited in Clark, 2013, para 4). Neoliberals regard economic and social sectors as areas that need improvement and put policies in place to enhance these areas. Policies, Welsh (2013, p.236) mentions, are created when something of value is in need of improvement or unattainable and are a means to an end. A policy is a process or plan of action to create improvement and achieve goals. Neoliberals believe to promote improvement within the economic and social sectors public goods should become privatised and the government should cut spending on social services (Thinnes, as cited in Clark, 2013, para 4). Thinnes, as cited in Clark (2013, para 4), goes on to explain the privatisation of public goods and government cuts will create competitive markets that are more effective and efficient. Through the process of selling off public goods and making cuts, the government can produce competitive markets. Competition ensures markets are functioning effectively and are providing consumer choice, supporting market innovation and producing low prices for goods and services (Godfrey, 2008, p.5). Consumer choice, market innovation and low costs for goods and
National testing is on the school reform agenda and is used for school and student performance reporting. Tests such as NAPLAN, are given to assess whether or not students and schools have achieved curriculum outcomes. The National Assessment Program, NAP, (2016) claims NAP provides the benefits of driving improvement and increased accountability. Standardised testing is put into place with the hopes of improving the education system as a whole. All Australian schools will benefit from national testing through obtaining in detail their strengths and weaknesses (NAP, 2016). The opportunity given to highlight strengths and weaknesses allows schools to utilise their strengths and attend to weaknesses, giving schools the opportunity to grow and improve. The community also benefits from standardised testing as the NAP provides accountability. The NAP outcomes are reported for the public allowing the community to gain insight into the achievement and performance of both students and schools (NAP, 2016). The ability to view results on websites such as My School, allows the community to assess the schools and compare on another. While NAP presents the benefits of standardised testing, further investigation uncovers another