ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out the case for school improvement as an example of cultural violence. It discusses the current hegemonic discourse around school improvement, and assesses the cultural, structural and direct violence that can result from it. On the one hand, school improvement is hard to argue against; it is one of the new orthodoxies of the education world. On the other hand, as with any immediately appealing rhetoric, it is essential to probe beneath the surface and to question how rhetoric contributes to the evolution of discourse. There are three main critiques of school improvement discourse that tie it in with structural and cultural violence: that it serves political interests; that it serves market interests; and that it harms teachers and students. School improvement discourse has real-life implications for teachers and students, and for what is taught, measured and valued in schools.
