Covering algorithmic control, digital governance, machine learning, the corporate parasitisation of service provision, assessment as both regulation and accountability, performance and performativity, hegemony, signallage and disorientation, and actors and agency, this is an invaluable toolkit for educators, educational researchers and activists, in understanding the methodological implementation of neoliberal governance.

Richard Hall, Professor of Education and Technology, De Montfort University, UK

A crisis in economically and politically just forms of education governance provides the backdrop for this collection’s consideration of social theory. This is a thought-provoking and stimulating collection that positions education governance as a powerful mechanism for working through this crisis towards fostering more democratic and equal societies. It provides new ways of understanding and interpreting both the problematics and possibilities of the data, evaluation, knowledge and institutional regimes that govern education. It is highly significant in moving theorising in this space forward and a must read for educators, scholars and researchers in the field of education governance.

Amanda Keddie, Professor of Education, Deakin University, Australia

“Education governance” often gets kicked around in policy and reform circles, treated generically and atheoretically, with little thought given to assumptions undergirding the concept. It is not often that such a set of first-rate scholars can be convened to direct their expertise towards such a deep concern. Yet Wilkins and Olmedo have assembled a stellar group of papers from leading theoreticians and researchers to shine some light on this issue. This volume will be the go-to source for serious thinking on education governance for the foreseeable future.

Christopher Lubienski, Professor of Education Policy, Indiana University, USA

As the editors note in their lucid and engaging introduction to this wide-ranging book, governance has been enjoying a growing popularity in social and educational research and writing; yet it is not always clear to the uninitiated reader quite what the term ‘governance’ signifies. This timely and logically-structured collection comes to the rescue of such readers, with clearly written and accessible contributions from cutting-edge international scholars that locate governance in wider conceptual and theoretical networks and illustrate its critical purchase through case studies of policy and practice. As such, the book will serve as an invaluable resource for novice researchers looking for an authoritative pedagogic resource, as well as for established academics seeking inspiration, providing both groups with an essential point of reference in social and educational research for years to come.

Matthew Clarke, Professor of Education, York St. John University, UK

This book is a must-read for academics interested in ‘education governance’ as an area of research and an object of critical inquiry.

Scottish Educational Review