Understanding Education and Economics Key Debates and Critical Perspectives The Routledge Education Studies Series

Understanding Education and Economics explores the multiple ways in which the field of education and schooling has become closely aligned with economic imperatives and interests, and the impact of this on learning and teaching. In particular, the increasing influence of economic arguments, economic ideologies and government involvement in education have made apparent that there is a need to reflect and talk about economic influences and trends in education.

Drawing on the expertise of educationalists around the world, the book articulates key debates and theoretical perspectives which can give both students and staff across several courses within the study of education a framework for discussing and analysing how economics defines and shapes the nature and purposes of education. The chapters offer discussions and reflections on key issues, including:

• the historical developments that led to the creation of a formal education system in England and Wales;
• the ways in which neoliberalism underpins education, including the coercion of education to serve economic needs;
• the economics of the university as an institution.

Addressing philosophical, sociological, historical, psychological and social issues in education and encouraging readers to pose questions about the nature of education, this book is a valuable resource for students and staff alike and will allow them to broaden perspectives on what education could be for, and what it should be for.

1. Introduction: How can we Make Sense of the Influence of Economics in Education? 2. Economics: Introducing key concepts and economics education 3. Elementary Education and Child Labour: From economic to ecological histories of modern childhood 4. Authority and Trust beyond Neoliberalism: A critical reflection on education as useful for the economy 5. Illusions of 'Choice' in Education: Shaping the neoliberal subject in the United Kingdom 6. An Exploration of Human Capital Theory and its Impact on the World of Education 7. Inequalities, Precariousness and Education: Schooling precarious workers 8. The Economics of the University: Knowledge, the market and the state 9. Education as a practice of freedom: negotiating knowledges at a Pakistani women's organisation 10. Concluding Remarks on the Importance of Criticality in Uncertain Times

Jessie A. Bustillos Morales is a senior lecturer in Education Studies and course leader of Education and Social Policy at London Metropolitan University, UK.

Sandra Abegglen is a researcher at the University of Calgary, Canada.