Time to Turn the Tide: Privatisation Trends in Education in the Caribbean
Interview data report and analysis From the interview data, three main themes/claims emerged that point to privatisation in and of education. These are: (1) Favourable conditions for education privatisation exist, (2) Ubiquitous endogenous privatisation is regarded as education modernisation and (3) Exogenous privatisation seems provisionally welcomed. They are explored below.
Claim 1: Favourable conditions for education privatisation exist Generally, interviewees, in thinking about their respective countries, seemed to communicate a set of fundamental values and beliefs in relation to education provision in the Caribbean. These fundamental values and beliefs, which run counter to education privatisation promotion and adoption, include: (1) education, as a public good, should be state-funded; (2) education providers must be educated and trained in education and education-related disciplines; and (3) performancerelated pay of teachers is unwelcomed. Yet, though these appeared to be held to strongly, participants did recognise within their country contexts increasing tendencies towards privatisation in and of education because of existing policies and practices which unwittingly provided favourable conditions for the promotion and adoption of education privatisation in the Caribbean – a finding consistent with that of Ball and Youdell (2007). These conditions include: (1) the existence of education markets, where competition for ‘preferred’ schools is prevalent; (2) limitations in stateprovided education; and (3) pressure on the state for education reform. Because the quality of schools, particularly at the primary and secondary levels, across the Caribbean is highly variable, parents tend to choose higher-performing schools for their children, which incidentally tend to be urban, denominational and/or private fee-paying schools. [T]here are choice schools, which parents do choose and some of them have a population of 600, whereas you might have a school within what you call your country area and that may have 85 students, which is a situation that is not fair (Principal, Barbados)
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