ABSTRACT
One of the features of the neoliberal policy environment has been the influence of non-government organisations on the processes of policy development and enactment. This chapter looks at the claims made by one influential conservative commentator about ‘school autonomy’. This will provide not only a sense of the shaky ground upon which much of the ‘school autonomy’ discourse is based, but also a sense of how research can be used and abused in the service of a specific ideology. It reviews the kinds of arguments that are made for ‘school autonomy’ using a case study of the work of one commentator, Dr Kevin Donnelly, who has been at the forefront of the argument for extending the privatising version of ‘school autonomy’ in Australian public education. The ‘evidence’ is usually introduced into the public domain through the mainstream media, and it has created an environment in which policy-makers are looking to consolidate and extend neoliberal versions of ‘school autonomy’.
