Data-Driven Performativity: Neoliberalism's Impact on Drama Education in Western Australian Secondary Schools

Abstract

The much touted “difficult economic times” we live in have in recent years resulted in a drastic reduction in arts and education funding in western capitalist nations (Fowles 2014; Henwood and Featherstone 2013; Murray and Erridge 2012; Smith 2013). For example, in Australia, the 2013 landslide victory of the conservative Abbott government resulted in an almost immediate slashing of funding for education (A$1.1 b) and the arts (A$87.1 m) (Riddle et al. 2014, Tregear et al. 2014). Simultaneously, the new Federal government decided to spend A$12 billion on fifty-eight F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft (Tregear 2014). This prioritizing of government spending accords with what Henry A. Giroux would call the twin ideologies of neoliberalism and violence, or what he refers to as “today's culture of consumerism and violence” (Giroux 2013, 458)...