Abstract:
The education sector in New Zealand has undergone an immense reform since 1987. Much
of this has been underpinned by neo-liberal notions about government intervention as
counter to freedom of choice. I argue that while the reforms purport to be liberating
through a restoral of rights and a provision of choices, they instead lead us to constitute
ourselves as "governable" rather than as free individuals. Using the work of French
philosopher Michel Foucault, this thesis provides an alternative reading of the reforms and
shows that what we come to know as freedom is a significantly regulated version of it.
