Finance capital coming to a school near you

Vanguard July 2012 p. 5
Nick G.

The neoliberal agenda for school education is one of privatization and marketisation, but it also includes direct influence over school leaders and teachers.

The push comes mainly from the finance capital corner of the ruling class.

When the Rudd government established the Business-School Connections Roundtable through then Deputy PM Gillard, there was a smattering of representation from manufacturing and small business peak bodies, but overwhelmingly the groups that were represented were the big local and overseas banks and other financial institutions, as well as the corporate lawyers and consultancy firms that work for them.

Finance capital sees the current neoliberal environment as a ‘powerful opportunity to contribute to shaping…school communities”.  The first recommendation from the Roundtable was for the new national professional standards for teachers and principals to incorporate specific references to “building relationships with business”.

Australian Business and Community Network

This agenda of developing influence over schools is the special prerogative of a group called the Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN).  It currently has 30 corporate members, 13 of which are Australian, 9 US, 2 UK and 6 a mixture of capitals (for example, KPMG which is Dutch but with merger partners who are US, UK and German).

In this group there is only one retailer (Wesfarmers) and three manufacturers: Blackmores (pharmaceuticals), CSR (building products) and O-I (the US glass manufacturers Owens-Illinois).

The other 26 represent finance capital and its corporate service providers: Citigroup, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and others.

The main activity of the ABCN is to partner corporate CEOs with school principals, and corporate executives with senior teachers so as to promote “greater understanding” between business and schools. 

The ABCN website notes that a principal or deputy principal comes into contact with up to 50,000 students during their career and that for business leaders “the development of Australia’s youth and the access and insights into the broader community that working with schools enables, is critical to ensuring a sustainable future for Australia”.  Of course, in class terms, “Australia” here means Australian capitalism which is dominated by imperialism (politically, culturally, militarily etc) and by imperialist finance capital in particular.

Finance capital seeks contradictory things from school education: creative and innovative minds that are socially compliant and politically conformist; job-seekers who can excel at group work yet not see the need for collective organisation and action; people who have cutting edge skills but backward ideas.

The working class also needs a skilled workforce: people who are both technically competent and socially advanced, people who can pull their weight on the job but also organise and lead the fight for our rights and liberties, not just on a day by day basis, but into a future which is determined by the people and not by imperialism for exploitation and profit.