Eugenics and personalisation in educational services

FORUM - ISSN 0963-8253
Volume 63 Number 1 (2021)

Eugenics and personalisation in educational services
HELEN M GUNTER pages 100‑106
DOI: 10.3898/forum.2021.63.1.11

Abstract

In 2008 Michael Fielding published an article 'Personalisation, Education and the Market' where he identified that New Labour (1997-2010) had adopted a neoliberal form of personalised education that generated both concerns and a new agenda for revitalising the public realm through personhood. In this article I present an appreciative reconsideration of Fielding's analysis where I argue that his ten concerns remain valid but need to be developed through an understanding of the resilience of eugenicist ideology. New Labour took office in 1997 where their policies were enacted in a segregated education system that was and still is structured according to embedded beliefs about bodies. By the time they left office in 2010 they had not only designed policy that accepted eugenicist assumptions but, as a result, they also emboldened eugenicists who built on legacy of 'needs', 'diversity', 'choice' and the vitality of the private based on who does and does not deserve an education.

Download Full Text PDF

To cite this article
HELEN M GUNTER (2021) Eugenics and personalisation in educational services, FORUM, 63(1), 100-106 . https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2021.63.1.11

Share this