Community, Social Justice and Neoliberalism: Alternative Discourses of The Free School Model

Initially, Swedish free schools were mainly founded by interest groups offering specialist education. However, this type involvement has waned since the policy’s introduction in 1992, usurped by a rapid rise in for profit providers offering a more general education. Despite a heavy commitment to community and diversity, there are signs that the English free schools model will follow a similar drift towards private, homogenous provision.
This paper will argue that the high failure rate of community involvement in Swedish free schools is to be expected. Partnership models such as free schools share the same ideological reference points as neoliberal doctrine, founded on a dislike of the state (Linder, 2000). neoliberal doctrine ignores historical formations and practices. As a result, political forums within which community projects can flourish have been withdrawn, weakened or ignored in policy making. Therefore, new community voices will always struggle to establish an alternative discourse within existing contexts.