New Public Management Reforms and Industrial Relations in the Italian Education System. A Cultural Political Economy Approach

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19

Educational Administration; Administrative Organization; Governance; Privatization; Political Attitudes; Institutional Autonomy; Teachers; Unions; Educational Policy; Educational Change; Collective Bargaining; Foreign Countries; Policy Analysis; Neoliberalism; Educational Philosophy; Teacher Evaluation; Performance Based Assessment; School Business Relationship; Labor Force Development

10.1080/00220620.2022.2094350

0022-0620
1478-7431

This article focuses on the relation between new public management (NPM) reforms and changing patterns of industrial relations (IRs) and social dialogue in the Italian education system. Drawing on data from the research project 'Social dialogue and industrial relations in education: The challenges of multi-level governance and privatisation in Europe' (IR-EDUREFORM), it uses cultural political economy to explore the effects of autonomy, evaluation, and management as policy technologies on teacher unions' collective bargaining, workplace representation and industrial action. Through the Italian case, the study analyses how NPM reforms operated three distinctive transformations: decentralisation of bargaining to school level, juridification and individualisation of industrial action and a shift from collective to professional unions. Beyond critically exploring the implications of NPM reforms and the processes of decollectivation and individualisation of IRs and social dialogue in education, the study also highlights some potential for the emergence of novel sites for collective representation.

As Provided

2023

EJ1395686