Developing a participatory relational environment in the face of neoliberal logic: a case for hope
FORUM - Print ISSN 1474-7685 - Online ISSN 2047-7171
Volume 68 Number 3 (2026)
Developing a participatory relational environment in the face of neoliberal logic: a case for hope
Lisa Jane Tyler pages 65‑77
DOI: 10.3898/forum.2026.68.3.06
Abstract
The performative policy environment is intensely challenging for schools that might intend to practice collaboration rather than competition. Here, I argue that what schools do, their day-to-day practices, tacitly communicate norms and values to pupils. In fact, there is often conflict between teachers’ personally held values and those of the neoliberal educational landscape. I share observations following my visit to one state school in England that appears to be an outlier within the current policy landscape. This school has an explicit discourse that seems to cohere with its implicit narrative, espousing, but also enacting and embedding, values such as equity, collectivism and trust. I make the case that the structures and processes in place enable the school to establish a participatory relational environment, which allows pupils to encounter trust and equity through the relational interactions of the staff, which constitute part of the fabric of school life. Such interactions cannot directly counteract the pressures of the performative policy environment, which is still apparent in certain school practices. However, pupils have the opportunity to observe different relational forms, which are not constituted in purely competitive or functional terms. I argue that this could kickstart a virtuous cycle by creating an environment to counter the central tenets of the neoliberal paradigm.
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To cite this article
Lisa Jane Tyler (2026) Developing a participatory relational environment in the face of neoliberal logic: a case for hope, FORUM, 68(3), 65-77 . https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2026.68.3.06