Education, Democracy and Social Justice Research Group

This empirical study explores school principals’ perspectives and actions concerning the intricate relationship between education, social gaps, and inequality. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 14 diverse principals, we reveal how neoliberal thinking, characterized by the erosion of the political, permeates their educational philosophy and practice. This undermines education’s potential to foster social justice. Our findings indicate that principals’ political reduction in education is evident in their abstract perception of students, detached from their socioeconomic and cultural contexts, and in their individualistic view of the school’s role. This reduction is actively enabled by specific strategies of psychologization and trivialization, which effectively marginalize the vital social aspect of education and normalize existing practices that lead to the marginalization of disadvantaged populations within the educational system. The diminished role of society as an organizing principle in educational thought prevents schools from being perceived as sites for democratization and social reform. To counteract neoliberal logic, we recommend integrating a theoretical learning module into educational leadership training. This module should focus on the historical and philosophical development of democracy and its evolving foundational concepts.