Zombies, hauntings, and contagions: A study of embodied neoliberal education reform

Abstract

The central question of this dissertation is, "How does a full-service community school interact with neoliberal education reforms as demonstrated through its teachers?" First, neoliberal education reforms are defined as those reforms that rest on free-market principles that include, but are not limited to: choice, accountability, opening of public sectors to private investment, competition, and individualism. Second, Full Service Community Schools (FSCS) are defined as any school where social, mental, and health services that benefit the entire community are deeply connected to the school itself. In some cases, these services are housed within the school. The result of these types of partnerships is a fully integrated combination of community and school, where both have a vested interest in the growth and prosperity of the other. Thirdly, the choice of the word "interact" is intentionally made as to leave room for a myriad of ways that these two worlds come together and to not foreclose any possible descriptions of such an interaction. Lastly, the locus of this interaction is the teachers within the school. This is done for two reasons: the first is to hone the specifics of the study, and the second is to give voice to teachers, who are the subject of much derision as a result of the neoliberal education reform efforts. Eventually, this dissertation moves away from teacher practice and into how such reforms are embodied in teachers and students by relying on several theoretical metaphors. These embodiments are then considered vis-á-vis the Full Service Community Model.