The third sector and innovation: competitive strategies, incentives, and impediments to change
| Pages | 329-344 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-10-2018-0193 |
| Published date | 08 July 2019 |
| Date | 08 July 2019 |
| Author | Christopher Lubienski,Laura Perry |
| Subject Matter | Education,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education |
The third sector and innovation:
competitive strategies, incentives,
and impediments to change
Christopher Lubienski
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA, and
Laura Perry
Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –Much justification for third sector involvement in education advances from the notion that
attributes from business and non-profit fields could benefit state-run public schools. The purpose of this
paper is to explore this issue by examining theoretical underpinnings and expectations for third sector
participation in public education systems, particularly with respect to educational innovations and
improvements, and the structural opportunities, incentives, and impediments for such innovation.
Design/methodology/approach –The question is how third sector participation shapes the rate, nature,
and types of innovations in education as schools interact in response to competitive pressures. This
conceptual analysis of the third sector examines the political-economic features and structures of the sector in
fostering innovation, with reference to the US sector that was specifically positioned to enhance the
innovative capacity of publicly funded education.
Findings –The analysis indicates that educational innovations are not necessarily more prevalent in or
because of the third sector, and that there are obstacles to their creation and diffusion. Moreover, schools often
respond to competitive incentives in ways unanticipated by policymakers, such as school marketing rather
than instructional improvement, sometimes in ways detrimental to goals set out for public education, such as
social sorting. In fact, instead of the third sector simply developing or incentivizing innovations, there is
evidence that this sector has adopted innovations developed in the state sector.
Originality/value –The analysis suggests that a third sector based more on a professional, as opposed to a
competitive, model may better facilitate the development of innovative capacity in education.
Keywords Policy, Private sector, Competition, Public sector, Markets
Paper type Conceptual paper
The past few decades have seen a global movement to draw models and mechanisms from
non-state sectors into public administration, including in education. Indeed, the third sector
has been nurtured and leveraged by policymakers, in part so that public education would
adopt new, more entrepreneurial strategies, often from business and non-profit models. Yet,
outside of expanding the third sector at the expense of more direct public control of
schooling, the impacts from efforts to borrow private sector mechanisms such as
competition, choice, and autonomy are far from clear. Indeed, some of the stated intentions
for third sector-oriented policies, such as enhancing the innovative capacity of schools,
appear to be not only potentially useful policy objectives, but also effective rhetorical
strategies for advancing these policies in an era infatuated with innovation. But while
competition sparked by the third sector may, at least in theory, increase the rate of
innovation in education (Becker, 1999), there are also considerations regarding the nature of
such innovations, including their portability and desirability.
A range of policymakers have demonstrated a widespread and deepening appreciation
for the third sector in its ability to access some of the known advantages of the business
sector while maintaining crucial public benefits and accountability. Removed from direct
state control and regulation, and fueled by both social benefit and competitive impulses, it is
often assumed that third-sector organizations have the ability and incentive to work with a
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 57 No. 4, 2019
pp. 329-344
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-10-2018-0193
Received 11 October 2018
Revised 15 January 2019
11 February 2019
19 February 2019
Accepted 19 February 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
329
The third
sector and
innovation
range of stakeholders, experiment with new and different approaches, and respond to the
unique needs and preferences of underserved communities. In doing so, they can spark
creative disruption of what some see as the public sector “monopoly”on public schools,
inducing them to adopt more innovative and effective practices for the benefit of all (Brandl,
1998; Christensen et al., 2008; Forstmann, 1999; Kolderie, 1990; Narodowski, 2008; Nathan,
1996). However, in examining the structures of different sectors, we argue that regardless of
the source and types of innovation, the interface between the third sector and the state
sector may make useful innovations not only difficult to produce, but also difficult to share,
as pathologies from the market dynamics in a public-good endeavor necessarily perverts
possible sources and pathways for innovation.
In this conceptual analysis of the role of the third sector in shaping innovations, we
examine the political economy around the third sector that structures both its internal logic
and its interactions with the state sector. In doing so, we focus on a sector that was explicitly
positioned to enhance the innovative capacity of publicly funded education. Rather than
charting the diffusion of innovations, our goal in this endeavor is instead to understand the
structures shaping opportunities and impediments to innovation. That is, we are interested
not only in the relative innovative capacity of different sectors, but also in how that capacity
might be reshaped through the interface of the third sector with other sectors.
To that end, the next section offers an explanation of how we are conceptualizing the
third sector, considers some of the thinking behind the increasing emphasis on third-sector
approaches, and describes some of the primary players in that sector and its expansion.
Moreover, it discusses some of the imperative for innovation placed on that sector. Then we
offer a brief synopsis of the empirical record regarding the patterns of innovation associated
with the third sector, focusing on the charter school movement in the USA. That synopsis
points to some of the possibilities and problems around the third sector as a source of
innovation, and highlights evidence that, instead of simply developing and disseminating
innovations, the third sector also adopts innovations form state-run schools. The concluding
discussion revisits the thinking behind positioning the third sector as a space to incentivize
educational innovation, noting some obstacles to innovation in more comp etitive
environments. We argue that the way the third sector has been structured in the USA
around a more competitive model pre-empts possibilities for innovation from professional
impulses, and presents impediments for the dissemination of improvements in schooling.
The third sector in education
Historically, the third sector has been involved in education in two ways: through the
creation and provision of educational inputs and, more recently, through support for or
provision of education that is conceptualized as an alternative to public schooling.
Throughout the history of schooling in the USA and many other countries, the third sector
has played a large role in the creation and development of educational inputs, such as
textbooks, curriculum materials, teaching and learning resources, and professional
development opportunities. Indeed, many, if not most, educational inputs used in schools
are developed by third-sector actors. On the other hand, the third sector’s involvement in the
funding, sponsorship, operation, and/or ownership of alternative forms of schooling in
the USA –at least since the common school era reforms of the nineteenth century –has been
a small but constant and significant presence, one which has been steadily growing in
influence over the last few decades. In this paper, we are exclusively interested in third
sector involvement in forms of education that compete with traditional forms of public
schooling; our analysis does not include third sector involvement in the provision of
educational resources or services.
The idea of leveraging the third sector to reform and improve education systems is
evident around the globe. In the UK, the most recent move away from state control of
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