ABSTRACT
In countries as diverse as England, Sweden and the United States, school-based education is undergoing significant changes in terms of the delivery of education, with private providers increasingly taking over from public providers. In England, academies have been introduced; in Sweden, grant-aided independent schools ( fristående skolor) colloquially known as friskolor have been introduced; and in the USA charter schools have been established (Lubienski 2013; Zimmer et al. 2009). These changes are significant not least because they represent the influence of a particular set of ideas about the provision of education. They are also important in terms of what they portend for the role of the state in the provision of school-based education.
