Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent public schools programme.
The launch of the Independent Public Schools (IPS) programme in Western Australia (WA) in 2010 reflects the neoliberal policy discourse of decentralisation and school self-management sweeping across many of the world’s education systems. IPS provides WA state school principals with decision-making a...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
2013
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4269 |
| _version_ | 1848744468277100544 |
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| author | Gobby, Brad |
| author_facet | Gobby, Brad |
| author_sort | Gobby, Brad |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The launch of the Independent Public Schools (IPS) programme in Western Australia (WA) in 2010 reflects the neoliberal policy discourse of decentralisation and school self-management sweeping across many of the world’s education systems. IPS provides WA state school principals with decision-making authority in a range of areas, including the employment of staff and managing school budgets. Using an analytical toolkit provided by Michel Foucault and Foucauldian scholarship, this article examines how the IPS programme functions as a regime of government and self-government. Data collected from two IPS principals is used to examine the subjective effects of power as it is exercised in the IPS regime. The article finds that the IPS initiative introduces new possibilities for principals to actively participate in practices of self-formation, through which these principals self-steer, exercise their freedom and govern themselves and their schools. It illustrates how governmental mechanisms depend on, harness and shape the autonomy of these principals, and how their individual practices of self-government align with neoliberal governmentalities. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:01:56Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-4269 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:01:56Z |
| publishDate | 2013 |
| publisher | Routledge Taylor & Francis Group |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-42692017-09-13T14:44:01Z Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent public schools programme. Gobby, Brad neoliberalism self-management Independent Public Schools governmentality school principals The launch of the Independent Public Schools (IPS) programme in Western Australia (WA) in 2010 reflects the neoliberal policy discourse of decentralisation and school self-management sweeping across many of the world’s education systems. IPS provides WA state school principals with decision-making authority in a range of areas, including the employment of staff and managing school budgets. Using an analytical toolkit provided by Michel Foucault and Foucauldian scholarship, this article examines how the IPS programme functions as a regime of government and self-government. Data collected from two IPS principals is used to examine the subjective effects of power as it is exercised in the IPS regime. The article finds that the IPS initiative introduces new possibilities for principals to actively participate in practices of self-formation, through which these principals self-steer, exercise their freedom and govern themselves and their schools. It illustrates how governmental mechanisms depend on, harness and shape the autonomy of these principals, and how their individual practices of self-government align with neoliberal governmentalities. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4269 10.1080/17508487.2013.832338 Routledge Taylor & Francis Group fulltext |
| spellingShingle | neoliberalism self-management Independent Public Schools governmentality school principals Gobby, Brad Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent public schools programme. |
| title | Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent public schools programme. |
| title_full | Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent public schools programme. |
| title_fullStr | Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent public schools programme. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent public schools programme. |
| title_short | Principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the Western Australian Independent public schools programme. |
| title_sort | principal self-government and subjectification: the exercise of principal autonomy in the western australian independent public schools programme. |
| topic | neoliberalism self-management Independent Public Schools governmentality school principals |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4269 |