Author
John Fitz
Bio: John Fitz is an academic researcher from Cardiff University. The author has contributed to research in topics: School choice & Education reform. The author has an hindex of 22, co-authored 52 publications receiving 1612 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
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Book•
01 Jan 2003TL;DR: In this article, the authors introduce two debates about markets in education: school choice and equity, and how to measure social segregation and how do we measure it, and the role of the LEA.
Abstract: Part 1: Introduction to the debates 1. Markets in public policy: the case of school composition 2. Introducing two debates about markets in education Part 2: School choice and equity 3. What is social segregation and how do we measure it? 4. Changes in the social composition of schools Part 3: School choice and standards 5. What is school performance and how do we measure it? 6. Describing trends in school performance Part 4: Explanation and case studies 7. The role of geography 8. The impact of school organisation 9. The role of the LEA 10. Market frustration for families and schools? 11. Re-appraising the impact of markets
211 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: The Assisted Places Scheme and its evaluation antecedents and origins of the assisted places scheme formulation and implementation arguments and predictions the allocation and take-up of assisted places the scheme in the schools in three localities pupils and parents.
Abstract: The Assisted Places Scheme and its evaluation antecedents and origins of the Assisted Places Scheme formulation and implementation arguments and predictions the allocation and take-up of assisted places the scheme in the schools the scheme in three localities pupils and parents - beneficiaries of assisted places choice of school and perceptions of schooling the Assisted Places Scheme and beyond.
157 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a summary of the findings of what so far is the largest study of school choice in publicly funded schools and the first analysis of changes over time in the characteristics and performance of students in an entire national school system (that of England and Wales).
Abstract: We present here a summary of the findings of what so far is the largest study of school choice in publicly funded schools, and the first analysis of changes over time in the characteristics and performance of students in an entire national school system (that of England and Wales). Our finding, in contradiction to some smaller studies reported previously, is that the socio-economic stratification of school students declined after the introduction of choice policies. We also show that standards in publicly funded schools rose relative to those of private schools over the same period. The extent to which these changes can be attributed to the impact of market forces in education is the subject of our discussion.
92 citations
TL;DR: This paper used longitudinal data from the secondary schools in six of the new unitary authorities in South Wales to provide an empirical test of the academic debate concerning the likely effects of school choice on the social composition of differing schools.
Abstract: This paper uses longitudinal data from the secondary schools in six of the new unitary authorities in South Wales—Cardiff, Swansea, Merthyr Tydfil, Dridgend, Caerphilfy and Rhondda Cynon Taff local education authorities—to provide an empirical test of the academic debate concerning the likely effects of school choice on the social composition of differing schools. Using several measures of segregation between schools, including a new one calculated from eligibility for free meals, the study concludes that the introduction of choice reforms for England and Wales in 1988 may have had a small but significant positive effect on the pre‐existing social stratification between schools. In coming to this conclusion, the study inevitably raises questions about the findings generated by some previous qualitative studies of markets and choice in education.
87 citations
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: The authors found that overall segregation between schools has been declining since 1988 so that schools are generally becoming more mixed in their intakes over time, and that there are variations in segregation, and in the changes to that segregation, between different regions.
Abstract: This paper confirms two characteristics of socio-economic segregation between schools since 1988 in England and Wales. First, using figures from all schools in England and Wales relating to family income and special educational needs, it is made clear that overall segregation between schools has been declining since 1988 so that schools are generally becoming more mixed in their intakes over time. This is true of special educational needs and eligibility for, and takeup of, free school meals in both England and Wales, and at primary as well as secondary level. Second, there are variations in segregation, and in the changes to that segregation, between different regions. Although most LEAs show a marked decline in between-school segregation, some show no change and a few show a marked increase. One possible explanation for these differences is tested here, using figures relating to the growing number of parental appeals against school placement, and the diversity of schooling available in different regions...
86 citations
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TL;DR: In this article, what is policy? TEXTS, TRAJECTORIES, and TOOLBOXes, and what is policy are discussed. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 10-17.
Abstract: (1993). WHAT IS POLICY? TEXTS, TRAJECTORIES AND TOOLBOXES. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 10-17.
1,073 citations
TL;DR: In this article, it is argued that the public sector has been transformed from a Keynsian Welfare State to a Schumpeterian Workfare State, which involves fundamental changes to forms of provision, patterns of access, forms of work, client relations, worker relations, interinstitutional relations and values and ethics.
Abstract: The paper undertakes two related exercises; one substantive and one meta‐analytical. The first concerns changes in public sector provision. It is argued that the public sector has been ‘transformed’, in Jessop's terms, from a Keynsian Welfare State to a Schumpeterian Workfare State. This transformation involves fundamental changes to forms of provision, patterns of access, forms of work, client — worker relations, inter‐institutional relations and values and ethics. The constitution of citizenship has also been affected. The second concerns the conception of and engagement with social policy by educational researchers. A template for examination of the ‘surface epistemology’ of education policy research is presented — that is the relationships between conceptualisation, research design and conduct and the interpretation of data. It is argued that there is a basic tension at the heart of education policy research, between a commitment to the pursuit of efficiency and a commitment to the pursuit of...
493 citations
TL;DR: Fish as discussed by the authors argues that while we can never separate our judgments from the contexts in which they are made, those judgments are nevertheless authoritative and even, in the only way that matters, objective.
Abstract: In literary theory, the philosophy of law, and the sociology of knowledge, no issue has been more central to current debate than the status of our interpretations. Do they rest on a ground of rationality or are they subjective impositions of a merely personal point of view? In \"Doing What Comes Naturally,\" Stanley Fish refuses the dilemma posed by this question and argues that while we can never separate our judgments from the contexts in which they are made, those judgments are nevertheless authoritative and even, in the only way that matters, objective. He thus rejects both the demand for an ahistorical foundation, and the conclusion that in the absence of such a foundation we reside in an indeterminate world. In a succession of provocative and wide-ranging chapters, Fish explores the implications of his position for our understanding of legal, literary, and psychoanalytic interpretation, the nature of professional and institutional culture, and the place of reason in a world that is rhetorical through and through.
485 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, it is argued that following the demise of the age of professional accountability, a regime of neo-liberal corporate accountability has dominated the governance of education and that possibilities of change may lie in the contradictions of accountability within the regime of governance.
Abstract: The practices of accountability and the dispositions they have engendered have changed over time since the mid‐1970s. It will be argued that following the demise of the age of professional accountability a regime of neo‐liberal corporate accountability has dominated the governance of education. The distinctive dimensions of this regime – of consumer choice, of contract efficiency, quality, and capital ownership – have been introduced at different times since 1979. While it is possible to periodize their inception it is necessary to see them as, over time, extending and intensifying into a coherent regime of regulation. Thus understanding of the present modes can only be understood by clarifying the historical and political conditions which have shaped them. Nevertheless, possibilities of change may lie in the contradictions of accountability within the regime of governance.
471 citations