ABSTRACT
Challenging neoliberalism in education demands more fundamental change. In particular it means making sure that a new educational narrative comprises features that contest the key elements of neoliberalism in education. Educational purposes establish why education is needed in the contemporary world. They are the bedrock of the wider educational narrative. Once articulated in a new educational narrative, the values, as well as the principles that give practical expression to them, play the role of a reference point or benchmark against which policy and practice can be judged. All three elements of the new educational narrative—purposes, values and principles, and an agreed process—are interrelated and must be addressed. Within a new educational narrative, disagreement about specific policies would involve debate about which policy best realises the agreed values and principles, with participants using research and experience to make their judgements. The neoliberal policy narrative understands equity to involve ‘closing the gap’ in standardised test results between groups of students.
