NGO–school interactions as portrayed by elite and popular press in Israel and England
| Date | 08 July 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-08-2018-0141 |
| Pages | 361-375 |
| Published date | 08 July 2019 |
| Author | Eran Tamir,Miri Yemini,Khen Tucker |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
NGO–school interactions as
portrayed by elite and popular
press in Israel and England
Eran Tamir, Miri Yemini and Khen Tucker
Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to map, characterize and conceptualize the press discourse of
NGO–school interactions within public education in Israel and in England.
Design/methodology/approach –The study is based on a corpus of articles published in key elite and
popular daily newspapers in Israel and in England. The data were analyzed through two complementary
methodologies, framing analysis (FA) and critical discourse analysis (CDA).
Findings –Significant differe nces were observed in the way the to pic is framed in the articles, in par ticular
between the different typ es of newspapers. The elite newspapers (Ha’aretz and The Guar dian)tendedto
frame the events in a them atic manner even when they contained episod ic discussions, while the popular
newspapers (Yedioth A haronoth and The Times) tended to cover the events episodic ally with no thematic
coverage whatsoever. CDA of news items identified two major themes: financial issues, and
problematization vs no rmalization discour se. Consistent with the FA , CDA revealed differenc es in the
approaches advocate d by popular and elite news o utlets in covering news c oncerning NGO–school
relations in each of the examin ed countries.
Originality/value –It is shown how popular newspapers offer the masses that depend on it a narrow
and inferior coverage, of the problematic relations formed between NGOs and schools. A discussion of
possible implications of the findings is presented, in light of the growing prominence of external entities in
public education.
Keywords Schools, NGO, Press
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Education systems worldwide have undergone profound changes in recent decades,
strongly influenced by neoliberal discourse (Ball, 2013). This discourse shapes two
neighboring processes: school governance and decision making are gradually being
decentralized (Hodgson and Spours, 2012), with decision making moving from the central
administration to the local education authority (LEA) and schools (Addi-Raccah, 2015); and
public education is being privatized, as external intermediaries are delivering education
services that previously governments were required to offer (Scott and Jabbar, 2014).
The growing involvement of external organizations[1] in public education is a global
phenomenon (Ball, 2007; Rose, 2010). Such organizations have attained great influence in
both developed and developing countries. Neoliberal policies advocating decreased funding
and lesser direct state involvement in the provision of public education created the context
and need, which facilitates the involvement of various external actors in the system (Ball,
2007). The relations between these new and existing actors are shaped by the diffusion of
economic mindsets and mechanisms that challenge actors’respective roles, authority and
autonomy, given the constant emergence of new actors and agendas (Ball, 2016).
Educational privatization and the entry of organizations into the education system take
on a variety of forms in different contexts and in different countries. In some countries
(e.g. the UK and USA), public entities’establishment and management of schools, alongside
evolving legislation (Gibton, 2013), comprise expressions of privatization. In others
(e.g. Israel and Germany), privatization is manifested primarily through NGOs’partial
control over schools’curricula and classroom teaching (Sagie et al., 2016).
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 57 No. 4, 2019
pp. 361-375
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-08-2018-0141
Received 6 August 2018
Revised 10 October 2018
20 November 2018
Accepted 20 November 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
361
NGO–school
interactions
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