The Retreat from Public Education: Global and Israeli Perspectives

The purpose of this book is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the universal elements which characterize markets in education without focusing on any particular country. This includes the examination of the social conditions that facilitate the invasion of all public spaces by the free market, analysis of the various education policies and practices that embody privatization of education, and most importantly, exploring the educational and social consequences of markets in education. Secondly, the book examines the process of the building of the public education system in Israel, and analyze the retreat from it in recent years. The Israeli public (or state) education system emerged shortly after the establishment of the state in 1948. This case study provides a unique opportunity to closely examine the significance of public schooling in the process of nation-building, and in the building of a democracy. This represents a pioneering attempt to study the rise and fall of state education in Israel.