Kalervo N. Gulson

A critique of what lies behind the use of data in contemporary education policy While the science fiction tales of artificial intelligence eclipsing humanity are still very much fantasies, in Algorithms of Education the authors tell real stories of how algorithms and machines are transforming education governance, providing a fascinating discussion and critique of data and its role in education policy. Algorithms of Education explores how, for policy makers, today’s ever-growing amount of data creates the illusion of greater control over the educational futures of students and the work of school leaders and teachers. In fact, the increased datafication of education, the authors argue, offers less and less control, as algorithms and artificial intelligence further abstract the educational experience and distance policy makers from teaching and learning. Focusing on the changing conditions for education policy and governance, Algorithms of Education proposes that schools and governments are increasingly turning to “synthetic governance”-a governance where what is human and machine becomes less clear-as a strategy for optimizing education. Exploring case studies of data infrastructures, facial recognition, and the growing use of data science in education, Algorithms of Education draws on a wide variety of fields-from critical theory and media studies to science and technology studies and education policy studies-mapping the political and methodological directions for engaging with datafication and artificial intelligence in education governance. According to the authors, we must go beyond the debates that separate humans and machines in order to develop new strategies for, and a new politics of, education.

A critique of what lies behind the use of data in contemporary education policy While the science fiction tales of artificial intelligence eclipsing humanity are still very much fantasies, in Algorithms of Education the authors tell real stories of how algorithms and machines are transforming education governance, providing a fascinating discussion and critique of data and its role in education policy. Algorithms of Education explores how, for policy makers, today’s ever-growing amount of data creates the illusion of greater control over the educational futures of students and the work of school leaders and teachers. In fact, the increased datafication of education, the authors argue, offers less and less control, as algorithms and artificial intelligence further abstract the educational experience and distance policy makers from teaching and learning. Focusing on the changing conditions for education policy and governance, Algorithms of Education proposes that schools and governments are increasingly turning to “synthetic governance”-a governance where what is human and machine becomes less clear-as a strategy for optimizing education. Exploring case studies of data infrastructures, facial recognition, and the growing use of data science in education, Algorithms of Education draws on a wide variety of fields-from critical theory and media studies to science and technology studies and education policy studies-mapping the political and methodological directions for engaging with datafication and artificial intelligence in education governance. According to the authors, we must go beyond the debates that separate humans and machines in order to develop new strategies for, and a new politics of, education.

The empirical focus of this book is on the twenty year struggle by parents and members of the Black community in Toronto to introduce an Africentric Alternative School (AAS) with Black-focused curricula. It brings together a seemingly disparate series of events that emerged from equity and multicultural narratives about the establishment of the school – violence, anti-racism and race-based statistics, policy entrepreneurs, and the re-birth of alternative schools in Toronto - to illustrate how these events ostensibly functioned through neoliberal choice mechanisms and practices. Gulson and Webb show how school choice can represent and manifest the hopes and fears, contestations and settlements of contemporary racial biopolitics of education in multicultural cities.

Drawing on three case studies of K-12 public schooling in London, Sydney and Vancouver, this book examines the geographies of neoliberal education policy in the inner city. Gulson uses an innovative and critical spatial approach to explore how the processes and practices of neoliberal education policy, specifically those relating to education markets and school choice, enable the pervasiveness of a white, middle-class, re-imagining of inner-city areas, and render race "(in)visible." With urbanization posited as one of the central concerns for the future of the planet, relationships between the city, educational policy, and social and educational inequality deserve sustained examination. Gulson’s book is a rich and needed contribution to these areas of study.

Drawing on three case studies of K-12 public schooling in London, Sydney and Vancouver, this book examines the geographies of neoliberal education policy in the inner city. Gulson uses an innovative and critical spatial approach to explore how the processes and practices of neoliberal education policy, specifically those relating to education markets and school choice, enable the pervasiveness of a white, middle-class, re-imagining of inner-city areas, and render race "(in)visible." With urbanization posited as one of the central concerns for the future of the planet, relationships between the city, educational policy, and social and educational inequality deserve sustained examination. Gulson’s book is a rich and needed contribution to these areas of study.