Grant Frost, The Attack on Nova Scotia Schools: The Story Behind 25 Years of Tumultuous Change

Grant Frost's account of the past twenty-five years of policy development and discourse in Nova Scotia is compelling for its grounded review of education privatization policies, illustrating global trends implemented in a local context chronologically and with a clear understanding of the impact these policies have on teachers and those underrepresented in the discourse.As an educator, author, and Halifax Local Nova Scotia Teachers Union President until 2020, Frost highlights the fundamental difference between those who see public schools as a vehicle for public good and those who see schools as an economic tool for competition and individual financial gain.His analysis of the manifestations of privatization in Nova Scotia and his exploration of the relationship amongst international actors, the media, and the government provide real-world accounts to supplement observations made by other researchers from across the globe.Frost outlines what he sees as a neoliberal reformist perspective on public education.In this view, reformists consider increased accountability, a focus on core subjects, and increased competition as critical components of effective education reform.While these concepts might sound good in theory, Frost contends that increasing accountability through standardized testing and data collection, prioritizing certain types of knowledge, and connecting test results to teachers' livelihoods or school funding do little to improve student performance.Instead, he argues that these measures limit teachers' creativity and autonomy to teach based on local context, centering the test as a core reason for education and making it harder for teachers to adapt content to their students' specific needs.This structure, Frost warns, takes power from the collective by discouraging collaboration and goes against the social message that public education is supposed to advocate for.This view builds on work by researchers, such as Stephen J. Ball and Deborah Youdell's report, Hidden Privatization in Public Education, who warn that privatization policies can present a great ethical danger as they redefine relationships in the education system from collective and collaborative to individualistic and competitive interactions.The shift in ethical perceptions was demonstrated in one of Frost's examples in the book, where teachers who used to volunteer their time for additional tasks, such as supervising students during recess, refused to do those

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