Showing papers in "Journal of Education Policy in 2004"
TL;DR: The authors explored the possibilities of using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in critical policy research in education, drawing on a larger research project which is investigating the equity implications of Education Queensland's reform agenda.
Abstract: A number of writers have drawn attention to the increasing importance of language in social life in ‘new times’ and Fairclough has referred to ‘discourse driven’ social change. These conditions have led to an increase in the use of various forms of discourse analysis in policy analysis. This paper explores the possibilities of using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) in critical policy research in education, drawing on a larger research project which is investigating the equity implications of Education Queensland’s reform agenda. It is argued that, in the context of new times, CDA is of particular value in documenting multiple and competing discourses in policy texts, in highlighting marginalized and hybrid discourses, and in documenting discursive shifts in policy implementation processes. The last part of the paper discusses how such research might be used by policy activists inside and outside education department bureaucracies to further social democratic goals.
345 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a survey of 1,500 parents of students in 11 private, eight public and 10 alternative elementary schools in Alberta, Canada, explores the logic, values, and concerns that inform parental decision making in the selection of an elementary school for their children and discusses implication for policy and educational reform.
Abstract: Rational choice theory suggests that parents are utility maximizers who make decisions from clear value preferences, that they are able to demand effective action from local schools and teachers, and that they can be relied upon to pursue the best interests of their children. This paper presents a different perspective and argues that parents invest a mixture of rationalities when selecting schools. Based on the results of a survey of 1,500 parents of students in 11 private, eight public and 10 alternative elementary schools in Alberta, Canada, this paper explores the logic, values, and concerns that inform parental decision making in the selection of an elementary school for their children and discusses implication for policy and educational reform.
207 citations
TL;DR: The authors demonstrate the usefulness of the theory of Bourdieu, including the concepts of field, logics of practice and habitus, to understand relationships between media and policy, what Fairclough has called the "mediatization" of policy.
Abstract: This paper is concerned to demonstrate the usefulness of the theory of Bourdieu, including the concepts of field, logics of practice and habitus, to understanding relationships between media and policy, what Fairclough has called the 'mediatization' of policy. Specifically, the paper draws upon Bourdieu's accessible account of the journalistic field as outlined in On television and journalism. The usefulness of this work is illustrated through a case study of a recent Australian science policy, The chance to change. As this policy went through various iterations and media representations, its naming and structure became more aphoristic. This is the mediatization of contemporary policy, which often results in policy as sound bite. The case study also shows the cross-field effects of this policy in education, illustrating how today educational policy can be spawned from developments in other public policy fields.
186 citations
TL;DR: This article argued that teacher overwork is, in part, a result of the expansion of teacher work roles, and argued that teachers who embrace the expanded role conception strive to sustain it.
Abstract: This paper illuminates the tensions between the rhetoric and presumed rewards of an expanded conception of teachers' work and the work demands and strains introduced by such a conception. Based on data collected in the United States, this paper draws on multi‐day, 24‐hour time and task diaries recorded by case‐study teachers, together with ethnographic interviews and observations, to illuminate the disjuncture between reform rhetoric and workplace demands. I use these data to assess the usefulness of existing theories of overwork as they may apply to teachers and teaching. This paper suggests that teacher overwork is, in part, a result of the expansion of teacher work roles. The argument unfolds in three parts. First, teachers' work roles have been expanded but structural supports for the expansion have been uneven. Second, the nature and extent of organizational support influences teacher experience of role expansion and, finally, teachers who embrace the expanded role conception strive to sustain it eve...
112 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a preliminary refinement of the notion of educational triage is offered, with such practises identified at bureaucratic, institutional, and classroom levels, in a marketized context marked by hegemonic individualism.
Abstract: This paper seeks to contribute to existing understandings of the impacts of education policy reform by drawing together analyses of state‐level policy reforms; institutional responses to these; and day‐to‐day school‐ and classroom‐level practises that constitute particular sorts of learners. The paper draws on data generated through a school ethnography, with detailed interview and observational data set alongside school‐ and state‐level documentary evidence. The paper suggests that, in a marketized context marked by hegemonic individualism, practises of educational triage become both acceptable and necessary. A preliminary refinement of the notion of educational triage is offered, with such practises identified at bureaucratic, institutional, and classroom levels. In addition, the paper draws on the notion of subjectivation to demonstrate how intersecting discourses of ability and conduct are deployed in the constitution of ideal, acceptable, and unacceptable learners—learner identities that are deployed...
109 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored the expectations of higher education responsiveness of key employer, education, and training constituency in South Africa through a series of focus group and individual interviews, and analyzed in terms of distinctions in the ideal relationship between education and the workplace.
Abstract: This paper explores the expectations of higher education responsiveness of key employer, education, and training constituencies in South Africa. Empirical data was gathered through a series of focus group and individual interviews, and analysed in terms of distinctions in the ideal relationship between education and the workplace. The paper demonstrates that there are clear differences in the way the call for responsiveness is framed and legitimated in the expectations of representatives of the private and public sectors, Professional Associations, Sectoral Education and Training Authorities, and higher education institutions. Nevertheless, a common new model of ‘employability’ that assumes a direct link between higher education and the labour market increasingly underpins these expectations. The tacit skills, knowledge, and attitudes formerly developed through work experience are now expected to be an integral part of higher education programmes and curricula, to provide the ‘soft’, ‘transverse’, ‘life’,...
98 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that the formation of this knowledge economy policy has been informed by a techno-economic paradigm, which works to preclude many humanities and creative arts disciplines, and they explore some of the reasons why innovation in the knowledge economy is typically theorized.
Abstract: Policy conceptualizations of the global knowledge economy have led to the channelling of much Higher Education and Research and Development funding into the priority areas of science and technology. Among other things, this diversion of funding calls into question the future of traditional humanities and creative arts faculties. How these faculties, and the disciplines within them, might reconfigure themselves for the knowledge economy is, therefore, a question of great importance, although one that as yet has not been adequately answered. This paper explores some of the reasons for this by looking at how innovation in the knowledge economy is typically theorized. It takes one policy trajectory informing Australia’s key innovation statement as an example. It argues that, insofar as the formation of this knowledge economy policy has been informed by a techno‐economic paradigm, it works to preclude many humanities and creative arts disciplines. This paper, therefore, looks at how an alternative theorization...
96 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the congruence of educational policies in western societies and the international effects of global governance of education by powerful transnational institutions such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union.
Abstract: The tendency in education writing on globalization has been to examine the congruence of educational policies in western societies and the international effects of global governance of education by powerful transnational institutions such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union. The authors tend to identify massive changes in approaches to educational governance, including the establishment of a broadly common policy and management agenda that is characterized by ‘new managerialism’, devolution, and rigid accountability structures, entrepreneurialism, and school effectiveness, that have been imposed largely as a result of globalization. These measures are often seen as being directly related to the ‘hollowing out’ of the state, and the emergence of neo‐liberalism as the informing ideology of both international capitalism and residual nation‐states. There are few studies, however, of the dynamics of educational life and micro‐political activities that enable or c...
90 citations
TL;DR: The term "spin" refers to the process and products of purposively managing information in order to present institutions, individuals, policies, practices and/or ideas in a favorable light and thereby mobilize support for them as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The term ‘spin’ is conventionally used to refer to the process and products of purposively managing information in order to present institutions, individuals, policies, practices and/or ideas in a favourable light and thereby mobilize support for them. Attempts to manage news and political communications are not new. However, the New Labour Government in the UK is frequently presented—by the media and political opponents—as being obsessively concerned with spin to the detriment of both transparency and substantive policy‐making. In the collection and analysis of the data from the ESRC‐funded study of the English Education Action Zones (EAZs) policy upon which this paper draws, spin arose as a prominent theme. For example, spin was often raised explicitly by those interviewed as an activity that they needed to be reflexive about and engage in. It was described as shaping the fortunes of the policy or in some cases as constituting the policy. Frequently overt attempts were made by those being researched to ...
87 citations
TL;DR: However, the charging of fees means that the majority of Brazilians do not have access, and that inequalities are reproduced due to the relation between course costs and the value of the final diploma as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: There has been a dramatic growth in private higher education in Brazil in recent years. The World Bank has promoted this expansion on the basis of the private providers’ ability to ensure a rapid increase in enrolment, to improve quality through competition between institutions and to bring benefits for society at little public cost. However, the charging of fees means that the majority of Brazilians do not have access, and that inequalities are reproduced due to the relation between course costs and the value of the final diploma. Equitable access is, therefore, far from being achieved and is unlikely even with an increase in student loans and government subsidies. The contribution of private universities to the long-term development of society is seen to be limited, due to lack of investment in research and academic staff.
73 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that even those stories intended to critique government policy support paradoxically a notion of the singular importance of the headship and the virtues of heroic leadership and suggest that the simulacrum of the heroic head works as a normative disciplinary device for performative and market practices and is singularly offputting to both serving and aspirant school leaders.
Abstract: Australian and English print media are actively engaged in producing reports that claim to find the ‘best schools’, the ‘real state of education’, and ‘star head teachers’. This article considers the production of knights and dames, maverick heads and struggling schools. It argues that some of these stories are clearly the products of departmental press bureau activities and policy agendas. It shows, however, that even those stories intended to critique government policy support paradoxically a notion of the singular importance of the headship and the virtues of heroic leadership. It is suggested that the simulacrum of the heroic head works as a normative disciplinary device for performative and market practices and is singularly off‐putting to both serving and aspirant school leaders.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider two examples of recent policies affecting teachers' work, Performance Threshold Assessment in England and Chartered Teacher status in Scotland, and explore the extent of the influence of national contexts on developments in the restructuring process.
Abstract: This paper considers two examples of recent policies affecting teachers' work, Performance Threshold Assessment in England and Chartered Teacher status in Scotland. Through tracing their origins and motivations, a comparative analysis is offered, which seeks to explore the extent of the influence of national contexts on developments in the restructuring process. Both policies purport to meet the professional needs of teachers who are a few years into their careers, yet the Scottish example is strongly oriented towards professional development, while the English example is oriented towards performativity and teacher assessment.
TL;DR: In this paper, the politics of education and training in the specific context of social partnerships are considered, where a range of interests/partners work together for mutual benefit, for a common goal.
Abstract: This paper considers the politics of neo‐liberal reform of education and training in the specific context of social partnerships. Social partnerships are hybrid social spaces formed when a range of interests/partners work together for mutual benefit. Partnerships are one of a series of hybridized social spaces which have been formed as a consequence of the trend to neo‐liberal governance. The paper begins by situating the study of social partnerships in wider concerns about neo‐liberal reform and politics. It reviews literature on social partnerships as a way of identifying the different approaches to the conceptualization of conflict or practical politics. These are role conflict, interest conflict, and regime conflict. It also draws on a series of empirical research projects on social partnerships in Australia which have identified persistent points of tension within partnership formation and maintenance. Drawing these conceptualizations and persistent points of tension together provides a framework whi...
TL;DR: This article explored the relationship between the education sector and the news media in the UK and found that education news coverage tends to adhere to templates that many educationalists criticize as producing ritualistic and polarized coverage.
Abstract: The publication of A‐level examination results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has become one of the major diary items in the news media’s calendar. This paper is based, in part, upon the findings of an inter‐disciplinary study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). It explores two key questions about the relationship between the education sector and news media in the UK. Firstly, it asks why educationalists appear to have become pessimistic about the possibilities for raising the quality of media debate about education. Secondly, it takes the example of the annual coverage of A‐level results, in order to discuss why education news coverage tends to adhere to templates that many educationalists criticize as producing ritualistic and polarized coverage. The paper concludes by exploring some suggestions for those who are seeking ways to influence the quality of education news coverage.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider the changing forms of governance in projects of educational professionalism emerging in the nested contexts of teaching, teacher training, and academic research within departments of education.
Abstract: Three distinct discourses frame this paper: ‘new public managerialism’, new modes of governmentality, and new masculinities and femininities. This paper considers the changing forms of governance in projects of educational professionalism emerging in the nested contexts of teaching, teacher training, and academic research within departments of education. It takes the production of the subject position of the manager/wo‐manager as central to managerialist regimes theorized as provoking and potentiating modes of recruitment, refusal, and mis/recognition. It illustrates this through a heuristic relational schemata constituted by the dominance of the managerialist—audit gaze. Taking a theoretically similar but methodologically different (i.e. non‐empirical) approach (or liberty?), one understands subject positions like Prichard and Deem, as produced ‘through a series of discursive or communicative practices’ realized in different ‘conditions of possibility’. The notion of ‘communicative practice’ was also put...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that pupils need to be included as stakeholders who shape the implementation of policy and become part of the solution to the difficulties EAZs are charged to address.
Abstract: Education action zones (EAZs) involving local partnerships are one of the government's policies set up to help raise standards in pupils' performance and behaviour in areas of economic and social disadvantage. This article explores the nature of these partnerships and the fact that pupils are excluded. It reviews literature on student voice and describes interviews with 139 Year 8 pupils in two inner city zone schools to gain an insight into their perceptions about their learning. The data highlights some differences by gender and ethnicity and also the steps pupils believe are necessary if improvements are to be made. If zone schools are to live up to the promise of ‘empowering people and communities’, the paper argues pupils need to be included as stakeholders who shape the implementation of policy and become part of the solution to the difficulties EAZs are charged to address. The paper concludes by suggesting this will require a shift in the dominant epistemology to recognize pupils as co‐constructors...
TL;DR: The authors argue that changes at all levels of education and training (i.e., learning) policy exemplify a new capitalist state formation, which is referred to as the new market state.
Abstract: This paper argues that changes at all levels of education and training (i.e., learning) policy exemplify a new capitalist state formation. This has been aptly named by US political scientist Philip Bobbitt (2002) ‘the new market‐state’, particularly with reference to its administration or ‘governance’. It can be seen especially in the governance of education and training where a new centralized system of contracting or devolving provision to ‘non‐governmental agencies’ has all but replaced the previous ‘national system locally administered’ (Ainley, 2001). The latter typified the administration of the classic post‐war welfare state, which Bobbitt calls the ‘nation‐state’. Like the former welfare state, the new ‘market‐state’ is also a capitalist state and, therefore, also the means to rule for a persisting capitalist ruling class (Roberts, 2001, pp. 169–192). The new state formation is, however, as different as the former welfare state was in turn from pre‐war capitalist state forms in England. This is pa...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors raise theoretical insights against central premises underlying the policy of parental choice and educational market from the standpoint of the institutional theory of organization and discuss how the institutional theories may explain the barriers to diversity, responsiveness, and improvement, all of which are assumed to be driven by the implementation of parent choice reform at the school level.
Abstract: The paper raises theoretical insights against central premises underlying the policy of parental choice and educational market from the standpoint of the institutional theory of organization. It discusses how the institutional theory may explain the barriers to diversity, responsiveness, and improvement, all of which are assumed to be driven by the implementation of parental choice reform at the school level, and it looks at what this perspective says about rational decision‐making. In general, institutional elements such as conformity to institutional rules, isomorphism, decoupling, and loose coupling argued to prevail in schools seem to be obstacles for many educational processes and outcomes ‘promised’ by advocates of parental choice and market in education. Implications for the study of parental choice and educational marketing are suggested.
TL;DR: In management theory, attention to the emotions is increasing, mainly for economic reasons as discussed by the authors, and it is argued that transformational leadership is not about the transformation of the individual: it is mainly about the translation of corporate and government policy into practice.
Abstract: In management theory, attention to the emotions is increasing, mainly for economic reasons. Within the management of education, so‐called transformational leadership is becoming the new orthodoxy, and a central aspect of it is emotional intelligence. This can be interpreted sociologically, from both Durkheimian and Weberian perspectives. It is argued that transformational leadership is not about the transformation of the individual: it is mainly about the translation of corporate and government policy into practice. This is because emotional management and leadership is framed by—and is expected to accord with—the discourse of centralized target‐setting and the auditing of performance. Emotional management seems set to be a technical endeavour, born of modernity, set for standardization, to be rendered as objective and measurable, and made ready for audit.
TL;DR: The authors argue against the notion that policy can be dismissed as'spin' and explore further the work of rhetoric within the UK government's policy texts of lifelong learning, which helps to point to the politics of discourse that is at play in policy making processes.
Abstract: This paper seeks to extend work previously published that points to the importance of rhetorical analysis to policy studies. It argues against the notion that policy can be dismissed as ‘spin’ and explores further the work of rhetoric within the UK government’s policy texts of lifelong learning. For the authors, rhetorical analysis helps to point to the politics of discourse that is at play in policy‐making processes. This paper points to some of the conceptual resources upon which one can draw in undertaking rhetorical deconstructions of policy texts and discourses, in this case, of lifelong learning, and one’s own role, as analysts and sultans of spin.
TL;DR: The authors describes the ways that governments try to deal with the media and discusses three of the main complaints about media coverage: its tendency to simplify, to assign blame, and to be primarily focused on the short term.
Abstract: Government and the media are intimately connected in many ways though each distrusts the other. This paper, based on the author’s experience in government, describes the ways that governments try to deal with the media and discusses three of the main complaints about media coverage—its tendency to simplify, to assign blame, and to be primarily focused on the short term. It concludes with some suggestions for possible improvements.
TL;DR: This article explored how recent Labour governments have tried systematically to package educational and other social policies for media presentation and public consumption, concluding that governments' increasing reliance on advertising may cross the line which should separate the provision of public information from any attempt to persuade the public to support particular policy choices.
Abstract: This paper explores how recent Labour governments have tried systematically to package educational and other social policies for media presentation and public consumption. This concern has resulted in the criticism that Labour is concerned with policy presentation above content: strong on policy spin but weak on policy delivery. The first section explores Labour’s attempts to set a favourable agenda in news media for its educational policies by implementing a rigorous news management strategy: the subsequent section analyses Labour’s unprecedented use of advertising to promote key areas of government policy. There is a particular focus on government advertising in the run up to the 2001 general election. The paper concludes that governments’ increasing reliance on advertising may cross the line which should separate the provision of public information from any attempt to persuade the public to support particular policy choices.
TL;DR: This article explored the role of meso-level actors and their ongoing mediating roles in educational policy processes situated between policy makers and central government, and teachers and schools, on the one hand (the macro level), and the micro level (the micro level).
Abstract: This paper explores the role of meso‐level actors and their ongoing mediating roles in educational policy processes situated, as they are, between policy‐makers and central government, on the one hand (the macro level), and teachers and schools, on the other hand (the micro level). Although the example given here is in the role of a group of meso‐level actors engaged in the shaping of economics education it seeks to serve two wider purposes. First, by focusing on a particular subject it uses it as a lens through which to view the construction of the curriculum to discern the ways in which school and subject curricula are defined and the ways in which different definitions and prescriptions construct and distribute knowledge. Secondly, it explores the roles and motives of those who intervene by promoting or opposing change to illustrate the relationships and linkages between them. More broadly, it offers some insight into the relatively neglected area of the workings of micro‐political processes at the meso level, that is into the workings and processes of policy‐making, mediation and implementation, and how actors contributed to the conditions for dispute through the deployment of ideological and material resources.
TL;DR: The UK government rhetoric, using a lexicon borrowed from Business and Economics, suggests a willingness to move to new systems of reportage; centred on improvement rather than blame, on critical friendship more than on confrontation as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Ideology without competence is a dangerous vice. But competence without ideology is a limited virtue. (D. Miliband, Minister of State for School Standards, DfES) Opportunistic attempts have been made by successive governments to establish—some would say impose—sets of criteria against which the effectiveness of not‐for‐profit organizations like schools can be gauged. Most have been subjective: the extent of staff involvement in decision‐making, the appropriateness of the leadership shown by senior managers, the percentage of inspected classes regarded as ‘good’, and so on. Lately, UK government rhetoric, using a lexicon borrowed from Business and Economics, suggests a willingness to move to new systems of reportage; centred on improvement rather than blame, on critical friendship more than on confrontation. There appears no longer to be the puritanical tendency among policy‐makers to adopt measures that cause pain in the belief that they alone can be right, but do they constitute (as critics like Thrupp s...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors attempted to recover the experiences and views of professionals concerned with the delivery and implementation of a multi-agency programme tackling the social exclusion of these young children and their families known as Sure Start.
Abstract: Social policy‐making in the UK under the Labour government has galvanized around the issue of social exclusion, identifying young children (0–4 years) and their families living in areas of high social disadvantage to be particularly at risk. This paper attempts to recover the experiences and views of professionals concerned with the delivery and implementation of a multi‐agency programme tackling the social exclusion of these young children and their families known as Sure Start. The data are based on the analysis of documentation, attendance and observation at meetings, and 32 semi‐structured interviews with members of the inter‐disciplinary team responsible for the Sure Start programme's delivery. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using open coding from grounded theorizing. The paper, in reflecting on the problems and dilemmas of multi‐agency approaches and reported in other research, considers how the preliminary findings from this study suggest the team have managed to accommodate...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore evidence of modernizing leadership, as well as the extent to which a traditional public ethos is sustained or reinterpreted within modernization, using interviews with senior management.
Abstract: What distinctive leadership changes does the private sector bring to the running of public sector educational services? This paper contributes to an understanding of the issues raised by this question by studying the senior management of a private company running services for an English local education authority. The paper explores evidence of modernizing leadership, as well as the extent to which a traditional public ethos is sustained or re‐interpreted within modernization. Analysis is based principally on interviews with senior management, but is also informed by the larger data set collected as part of the case study of this public‐private partnership. The paper suggests that modernizing leadership, as understood in terms of the dominant policy discourse, is not found in its pure form, but is modified by a continuing orientation to an older public ethos. A model is proposed—an adaptive public service model of leadership—which reflects the style of leadership forged by senior management. Issues, danger...
TL;DR: In 2002, in a country region of the Australian State of Queensland, this concern was evident in a debate on the merits of single sex schooling that took place in a small local newspaper as discussed by the authors, fuelled by the inclusion in this newspaper of an advertising brochure for an elite private girls' school.
Abstract: The Australian media’s interest in education, as in many Anglophone countries, is frequently dominated by concerns about boys in schools. In 2002, in a country region of the Australian State of Queensland, this concern was evident in a debate on the merits of single sex schooling that took place in a small local newspaper. The debate was fuelled by the inclusion in this newspaper of an advertising brochure for an elite private girls’ school. The advertisement utilized the current concerns about boys in schools to advocate the benefits of girls’ only schools. Drawing on research that suggests that boys are a problem in school, and utilising a peculiar mix of liberal feminism alongside a neo‐liberal class politics, it implicitly denigrated the education provided by government co‐educational schools. The local government high and primary school principals, incensed at this advertisement, contacted the paper to refute many of its claims and assumptions and to assert the benefits, to both boys and girls, of th...
TL;DR: In the Spring of 2002, The SCRE Centre at the University of Glasgow was commissioned to conduct focus group research on behalf of the Education, Culture, and Sport Committee at the Scottish Parliament as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In the Spring of 2002, The SCRE Centre at the University of Glasgow was commissioned to conduct focus group research on behalf of the the Education, Culture, and Sport Committee at the Scottish Parliament. The study, which was conducted over a 3 month period, was intended to inform the Committee's inquiry into the purposes of education. Inquiries of this type are a common feature of the working practices of the Scottish Parliament. The aim of this particular one was to promote ‘an in‐depth discussion on key issues on the future direction of education’. The main theme of this paper is the dissonance between those who framed the inquiry and those who participated in the focus group study. The meanings of that dissonance are explored—as, briefly, are the conditions under which the research was conducted. The factors that contribute to mismatch in intention or meaning are also discussed. This study also comments on the continuing dominance of academic education in Scotland, and the consequences for those who ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the flow of teachers between schools of different socio-economic statuses and examined the teacher age and salary structures in schools from high and low socioeconomic intakes.
Abstract: This paper examines the flow of teachers between schools of different socio‐economic statuses. New Zealand Ministry of Education data is examined with regard to teacher age and salary structures in schools from high and low socio‐economic intakes. Teacher mobility data is examined and a model of the mobility life cycle of a ‘typical’ teacher reveals causes of the staffing discrepancies between schools with differing socio‐economic intakes. The model accounts for the tendency for low socio‐economic intake schools to have staff who are older and at lower salary levels than those from high socio‐economic intake schools A theoretical interpretation of the situation in New Zealand is provided. It is argued that there is competition between schools for teachers’ labour, and this has had the effect of exacerbating the social stratification flowing from market oriented reforms promoting consumer choice in New Zealand education.
TL;DR: In this article, the areas of agreement and disagreement between us are explored and this exploration reveals that we are in favour of radically different routes out of the low skills equilibrium, which is not a routine argument between academics, but a genuine dispute about how the UK could become a high skills society.
Abstract: In 2002, I wrote a critical account in this journal of the Performance and Innovation Unit’s analysis of workforce development and the policy which has since emanated from it. Lloyd and Payne, again in this journal, criticized that account for both claiming too much in terms of progress made and for saying too little about what policies are needed to usher in a demand‐led system. In this rejoinder, the areas of agreement and disagreement between us are explored and this exploration reveals that we are in favour of radically different routes out of the low skills equilibrium. What is at stake is not a routine argument between academics, but a genuine dispute about how the UK could become a high skills society.