Abstract:
Spatial theory has contributed to understanding the implications of venture philanthropy (VP) to education governance by theoretical and methodological approaches combining a) network theory (network governance, network ethnography, policy networks); b) mobility (policy mobilities, ‘following policy’); and c) non-binary distinctions (public-private, nonprofit-profit, local-global) ( Rowe, 2023). These have captured the complexities entailed in the influence of VP across educational spaces.
However, spatial theory has been underutilised in analysing how VP configures interspatial networks between the domains of education policy and the private sector. In this sense, we explain how spatial lenses can be employed to examine how VP configures (dys)functional connections between education and economic spaces (e.g., financial sector, oil & gas, etc.) that reallocate political authority on private actors.
By drawing on ‘zones of accumulation’ and ‘spaces of dispossession’ (Trauger & Fluri, 2021), we argue that VP contributes to circuits of value extraction between education policy and economic sectors. Through examples from Australia, Argentina, and Brazil, we illustrate how VP ‘makes use’ of education policy space by constructing circuits of value extraction in the form of symbolic (legitimacy), economic (tax exemptions, profit-making), and political capital (lobbying networks, business opportunities).
We conclude this approach ‘stretches spatial theories in comparative education’ (Beech et al., 2024) by revealing VP’s inherent tensions of value-adding and -extraction. It helps to analyse how VP establishes material and ethical interlinkages between education policy and private sectors that may result in dysfunctional dynamics for the range of crises we face, like inequities and climate change.
However, spatial theory has been underutilised in analysing how VP configures interspatial networks between the domains of education policy and the private sector. In this sense, we explain how spatial lenses can be employed to examine how VP configures (dys)functional connections between education and economic spaces (e.g., financial sector, oil & gas, etc.) that reallocate political authority on private actors.
By drawing on ‘zones of accumulation’ and ‘spaces of dispossession’ (Trauger & Fluri, 2021), we argue that VP contributes to circuits of value extraction between education policy and economic sectors. Through examples from Australia, Argentina, and Brazil, we illustrate how VP ‘makes use’ of education policy space by constructing circuits of value extraction in the form of symbolic (legitimacy), economic (tax exemptions, profit-making), and political capital (lobbying networks, business opportunities).
We conclude this approach ‘stretches spatial theories in comparative education’ (Beech et al., 2024) by revealing VP’s inherent tensions of value-adding and -extraction. It helps to analyse how VP establishes material and ethical interlinkages between education policy and private sectors that may result in dysfunctional dynamics for the range of crises we face, like inequities and climate change.