ABSTRACT

This article draws on the work of Nel Noddings to suggest that the current neoliberal, marketised system of education is eroding caring relationships in schools. Data are drawn from a small-scale qualitative study of an ethnically diverse group of high attaining sixth form students from a successful urban academy. Based on this data, we argue that two fundamental aspects of care, students’ relationships with their teachers and an attention to their personal and social concerns, were neglected because of the overriding focus on examination success to maintain the school’s position in the education marketplace. The article offers detailed evidence from the students’ perspective to support the claim that the marketisation of the education system leads to students being valued only in as far as they bring value to the school. It also suggests that care is one of the main casualties in such a system.

摘要

本文利用 Nel Noddings 的工作表明，当前的新自由主义、市场化的教育体系正在侵蚀学校中的关爱关系。数据来自对来自成功的城市学院的高成就六年级学生的种族多元化群体的小规模定性研究。基于这些数据，我们认为照顾的两个基本方面，学生与老师的关系以及对他们个人和社会问题的关注，因为压倒一切地关注考试成功以保持学校在教育市场中的地位而被忽视。这篇文章从学生的角度提供了详细的证据来支持这样一种说法，即教育系统的市场化导致学生只有在他们为学校带来价值的情况下才会受到重视。