Challenging the Harris government's mandate to improve the quality of public education with less public expenditure: The political economy of public education reform in Ontario.

摘要

The impetus behind the Hands government's restructuring agenda for Ontario's public education system comes from changed political perceptions of the best way to produce the ‘right’ conditions for economic growth and prosperity. Pointing to an expanded political focus on restoring corporate profitability, including educating for a different type of citizen, this thesis explores some of the relationships—new and old—among public education, citizenship and capitalist culture. Beginning with an historical overview of public education's major waves of reform, this paper aims to shed light upon the Hams government's education restructuring agenda in terns of both its location along a continuum of education reform in Ontario and its historical specificity. Guided by the government-outlined restructuring objectives for more affordability, greater accountability and higher quality education, this paper is an investigation of claims and counter claims surrounding the Harris mandate to improve the quality of education with less public expenditure.