NPM and the Reculturing of the Italian Education System. The making of new fields of visibility

In this chapter we present and discuss the key NPM features in the Italian education system, highlighting the main ideas, tools and practices that have promoted the construction of new subjects as managers; new forms of managing and management; and the reframing of power relationship according to a managerialist discourse. We then focus on the how and why of these changes, using as analytical starting points three NPM policy problematizations presented and discussing their translation and recontextualization in the Italian education system. For each problematization, we will frame our argument presenting the main legacies influencing and inflecting the embedding of NPM policy recipes in the national space and the processes through which this is occurring. The conclusion will provide a discussion of the effects of NPM reforms, intended here as epistemic, technological and ethical changes as well as the production of tensions, surprises and paradoxes.