The halted neoliberalising of public schools: policy trajectories of two ‘failed’ privatisation reforms in South Korea and China

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates and compares the policy trajectories of two halted privatisation reforms – autonomous private high schools in South Korea (2002–2019) and converted schools in China (1992–2008). The two reforms, ambitiously announced, were put under scrutiny and ultimately halted, when the public discontent about education inequalities was widely expressed. We particularly focus on the profound entanglement between neoliberal forces and contextual specificities, and their conjoint influences on the two reforms. The non-linear trajectories are explained through their reified embrace of neoliberal discourses and strategies, deep-rooted ideologies, political systems, and legitimisation derived from the shared Confucian ideals of ‘benevolent governance’ and social stability. This paper argues that, in these contexts, the verb form ‘neoliberalising’ better captures the dynamics and openness of privatisation reforms and renders nuanced understandings beyond the currently dominant neoliberal frames of reference.KEYWORDS: Neoliberalismneoliberalisingautonomous private high school (jaripyeong saripgo)converted school (zhuanzhi xuexiao)educational equityeducational privatisation Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Considering discursive and iterative nature of policy, this evaluation is based on the policy status at the point of the investigation.2. In South Korea, ‘private’ schools have received subsidy from the government except for those established by international entities. But APHSs did not gain such fund, in exchange for autonomy in highly regulated areas such as finance and curriculum.3. The decision to abolish APHSs was made in this year.4. While translating Tian into ‘Heaven’ and later renzheng into ‘benevolent governance’ is rather simplified, a sophisticated philosophical articulation of these two concepts is beyond the scope of this paper and has been well done by scholars like Hall and Ames (Citation1987).5. The current president Yoon Suk Yeol, who is affiliated with the conservative party, reappointed Lee Ju-ho as the Minister of Education. Lee cancelled the APHS abolishment policy in June 2023, but some teacher associations and educational governors are demanding the revocation of Lee’s decision (Kim Citation2023). The currently operating APHSs will remain open at least till 2023, when the delayed licence review will be conducted. Meanwhile, some APHSs are converting themselves to other types of schools (e.g., alternative education institutes) to avoid uncertainties.6. Evaluation of previous government interventions on private education in Korea shows that the rich could redistribute their wealth to alternative private after-school tutoring programs to keep their edge, and educational inequality would still remain (e.g. Choi Citation2021).7. There was no official explanation about ‘weak schools’. Nevertheless, according to Ding (Citation2012, 148), weak schools were those poorly managed and performed, with unsatisfactory teachers and low social reputation.8. Although there is no specific study regarding the public discontent about CSs, almost all the papers published at the time, including those cited in this section, described this phenomenon to legitimate the necessity of policy change.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Key Project Funds for Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences, Chinese Ministry of Education, under Grant [22JJD880019]. It is available open access via the agreement between the Journal and the University of Southampton, UK.