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Philanthrocapitalism and the State: Mapping the Rise of Venture Philanthropy in Public Education in Australia

Version 2 2024-06-19, 15:36
Version 1 2022-12-13, 00:16
journal contribution
posted on 2022-12-13, 00:16 authored by Emma RoweEmma Rowe
Purpose This article maps the rise of venture philanthropy in public education in Australia, exploring how policy networks mobilize high-level systemic reform and governance technologies. This is philanthrocapitalism, a fundamental shift for policy mobility and modes of redistribution. Design/Approach/Methods Drawing upon network ethnography, I focus on a node called Social Ventures Australia (SVA), an organization committed to revolutionizing venture philanthropy in Australian education reform. SVA, the brainchild of McKinsey & Company and multinational corporations, is a useful example to map how venture philanthropy leverages resources and, in the process, fundamentally changes the shape, functionality, and form of traditional government. Findings SVA has successfully advocated for several intermediaries, such as an evidence broker (Evidence for Learning), a national charity (Schools Plus), and a national education research institute (Australian Education Research Organisation). Overlapping philanthropy and state, the intermediaries stand as a critical assemblage and technology of governance. Originality/Value Venture philanthropy and the way in which these networks achieve high-level systemic reform is under-researched in Australia. It stands as a critical lever of policy reform in public education. This article will scrutinize and map the way these networks mobilize reform and function as an identifiable form of economic exchange.

Funding

Venture philanthropy in public education: governance, policy and practice | Funder: Australian Research Council | Grant ID: DE210100513

Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100513 [ 2021-07-12 - 2024-10-16 ]

History

Journal

ECNU Review of Education

Pagination

1-23

Location

London, Eng.

ISSN

2096-5311

eISSN

2632-1742

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Publisher

SAGE Publications

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