Business-Managed Democracy

“Business-managed democracies are those in which the political and cultural arrangements are managed in the interests of business”

Sharon Beder

Home About Contact Sitemap

Business-Managed Education

Reduced Teacher Autonomy

In England during the 1960s and 70s teachers had a great deal of autonomy with respect to the curriculum, methods of teaching and evaluation of students. However the school reforms of the 1980s changed all that. Now the central government specifies not only the syllabus for English and maths but the methods for teaching them in primary schools “down to the level of sections of each hour-long daily lesson”. For example the National Numeracy Strategy, which was implemented in all primary school classes in 1999/2000, included:

Reference: Margaret Brown, et al., ‘The Key Role of Educational Research in the Development and Evaluation of the National Numeracy Strategy’, British Educational Research Journal, vol 29, no 5, 2003, p. 656.
an increased emphasis on number and on calculation…
a three-part template for daily mathematics lesson, starting with 10-15 minutes of whole class oral/mental arithmetic practice,
detailed planning using a suggested week-by-week framework of detailed objectives, specified for each year group,…
a systematic and standardised national training programme [for teachers]

In the US, the imperatives of high stakes testing are leading to increased use of learning drills and scripted lessons that train students to be able to answer test questions. Learning drills and scripted lessons involve direct teacher command and controlled student responses. They punish student spontaneity, eliminate humour, laughter and fun, and formalise student interactions.

Teachers across the map complain that the joy is being drained from teaching as their work is reduced to passing out worksheets and drilling children as if they were in dog obedience school. Elementary “test prep” classroom methods involve teachers snapping their fingers at children to get responses, following scripted lessons where they simply recite prompts for students…

Contributers' Updates and Examples

If you have any examples or updates you would like to contribute please email them to me and I will add them here. Please give references for where you sourced the information.