Education International Hidden Privatisation in Public Education Report by

Around the world, forms of privatization are being introduced into our-public education systems. Many of the changes are the result of deliber-ate policy, often under the banner of “educational reform ” and their impact can be far-reaching, for the education of students, for equity, for the conditions of teachers and other educational personnel. Other changes may be introduced un-announced: changes in the way schools are run which may be presented as “keeping up with the times”, but in reality reflect an increasingly market-based, competitive and consumerist orientation in our societies. In both cases, the trend towards privatization of public education is hidden. It is camouflaged by the language of “educational reform”, or introduced stealthily as “modernization”. Hence the title for this study: HIDDEN PRIVATISATION IN PUBLIC EDUCATION. The purpose of this study is to get the trend towards privatization out into the light of day. We need greater transparency, we need to get a better under-standing of what is happening, so that we can engage in an open public debate about the future of education in our societies. Many innovative proposals are put forward by our unions to reform and improve education. The debate should not be about whether education reforms are needed, but rather about the kind of reforms, and the conditions for success. A central issue, as this report so clearly shows, concerns the very ethos of education. One of the striking features that emerges is that hidden priva-tization has many facets. It takes many forms. And these different facets can be inter-related and mutually reinforcing, strengthening trends that are changing the face of education as we know it. Hidden privatization and/or commercialization of public education has enormous implications for the way we think about education, for the values that underpin education. To put it in the starkest possible way: is education about giving each child, each youn