Abstract
This essay coins and conceptualizes the term “publicwashing.” In educational systems and organizations, publicwashing is a symbolic communication that emphasizes organizational publicness for the purpose of a superficial repair of reputation. The essay defines publicwashing and describes its motives and manifestations. Additionally, it illustrates publicwashing by discussing the concept in the context of the U.S. charter school reform. Adopting the lens of symbolic communication in the charter school case illustrates how the discrepancy between the “public” label and private characteristics of charter schools is managed through public relations. Future studies of publicwashing in education can further apply the symbolic communication approach to various cases, contexts, and deceptive strategies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Educational Researcher |
| Early online date | 7 Jan 2022 |
| DOIs | |
| State | E-pub ahead of print - 7 Jan 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022 The Author(s).
Keywords
- educational policy
- organization theory/change
- policy analysis
- private education
- organization theory
- change