Showing papers in "Journal of Education Policy in 2011"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider what has happened to inclusive education by focusing on three educational jurisdictions known to be experiencing different rates of growth in the identification of special educational needs: New South Wales (Australia), Alberta (Canada) and Finland (Europe).
Abstract: Over the last two decades, moves toward ‘inclusion’ have prompted change in the formation of education policies, schooling structures and pedagogical practice. Yet, exclusion through the categorisation and segregation of students with diverse abilities has grown, particularly for students with challenging behaviour. This paper considers what has happened to inclusive education by focusing on three educational jurisdictions known to be experiencing different rates of growth in the identification of special educational needs: New South Wales (Australia), Alberta (Canada) and Finland (Europe). In our analysis, we consider the effects of competing policy forces that appear to thwart the development of inclusive schools in two of our case study regions.
156 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that evidence-based education unknowingly promotes a colonial discourse and material relations of power that continue from the American‐European colonial era, and posit that this colonial discourse is evident in at least three ways: (1) the discourse of civilizing the profession of education, (2) the promotion of colonial hierarchies of knowledge and monocultures of the mind, and (3) the interconnection between neoliberal educational policies and global exploitation of colonized labor.
Abstract: There is a growing body of literature discussing evidence‐based education, practice, policy, and decision‐making from a critical perspective. In this article, drawing on the literature and policy documents related to evidence‐based education in the USA, Britain, and Canada, I join this critique and offer an anticolonial perspective. I argue that proponents of evidence‐based education unknowingly promote a colonial discourse and material relations of power that continue from the American‐European colonial era. I posit that this colonial discourse is evident in at least three ways: (1) the discourse of civilizing the profession of education, (2) the promotion of colonial hierarchies of knowledge and monocultures of the mind, and (3) the interconnection between neoliberal educational policies and global exploitation of colonized labor. I conclude with the decolonizing implications of revealing some of the colonial vestiges in educational policy, research, and neoliberal reform.
126 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the upper secondary (or post-16) school market and found that the market for upper-secondary education as a market is relatively small compared to the general education market.
Abstract: This article explores the upper secondary (or post-16) school market. The study on which it is based, funded by the Swedish Research Council, was entitled 'Upper-secondary education as a market'. E ...
110 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that agility can be seen to be aligned both with the neoliberal concept of the entrepreneurial self and also with the "governance turn" whereby policy aims are achieved through the apparently autonomous actions of agents, but actions which are heavily steered by various control mechanisms.
Abstract: Modern business discourse suggests that a key bulwark against market fluctuation and the threat of failure is for organizations to become ‘agile’, a more dynamic and proactive position than that previously afforded by mere ‘flexibility’. The same idea is also directed at the personal level, it being argued that the ‘agile’ individual is better placed to secure employment and to maintain their economic worth within globalized, rapidly changing markets. Educational discourse, particularly relating to the tertiary sector, is also beginning to appropriate such concepts and in this paper the discourse is probed from the perspective of Foucault’s notion of governmentality. The paper argues that agility can be seen to be aligned both with the neoliberal concept of the entrepreneurial self and also with the ‘governance turn’, whereby policy aims are achieved through the apparently autonomous actions of agents, but actions which are heavily steered by various control mechanisms. The paper suggests, however, that t...
92 citations
TL;DR: In order to enhance the global competitiveness of their higher education systems, the governments of Singapore and Malaysia have made attempts to develop their societies into regional hubs of education; hence transnational education has become increasingly popular in these societies as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: With strong intention to enhance the global competitiveness of their higher education systems, the governments of Singapore and Malaysia have made attempts to develop their societies into regional hubs of education; hence transnational education has become increasingly popular in these societies. In order to attract more students from overseas to study in their countries (or create more educational opportunities for their citizens), these governments have invited foreign universities to set up their campuses to provide more higher education programs. In the last decade, the proliferation of higher education providers and the transnationalization of education have raised the concerns regarding the search for new governance and regulatory frameworks in governing the rapidly expanding transnational education organizations in these Asian societies. Higher education governance has become more complex in Singapore and Malaysia amid the quest for being regional hubs of education as nation states have to deal wit...
81 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors draw attention to some of the major policy documentation influencing thinking on health and school health education in the UK over recent years, especially, every child matters (ECM) and subsequent, related measures, for example the National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP).
Abstract: This paper documents how health is storied into existence by ‘obesity discourse’ to become part of the ‘natural attitude’ towards the health of individuals or populations. We draw attention to some of the major policy documentation influencing thinking on ‘health’ and school health education in the UK over recent years, especially, every child matters (ECM) and subsequent, related measures, for example the National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP). We suggest that these measures have helped shape and make a ‘totally pedagogised society’ and ‘totally pedagogised schools’ in which ‘health’, reduced to an issue of weight, exercise and diet, becomes everyone’s concern, everywhere. The analyses highlight the socio-political and psychological leanings of such policy documentation and its potential effect on the identities of children and young people when institutionalised and ‘authorised’ through state policies and the body pedagogies of schools and multiple other agencies.
75 citations
TL;DR: David as discussed by the authors brings together the wealth of research undertaken in the widening participati cation of participatio-nation in the last decade and brings together a wide range of approaches.
Abstract: edited by Miriam David, London/New York, Routledge, 2010, 288 pp., £23.74 (paperback), ISBN 978‐0‐415‐49542‐4 This book brings together the wealth of research undertaken in the widening participati...
72 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a case study of primary schools in Turkey has been conducted to examine teacher views on student-centred pedagogy, classroom practices and perceived challenges in implementation process.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to explore recent curricular reforms to advocate student‐centred pedagogy (SCP) in primary schools in Turkey. By using a case study approach, the article examines teacher views on SCP, classroom practices and perceived challenges in implementation process. The study highlights some of the unintended consequences of SCP in Turkey (such as parental over‐involvement in performance and research assignments) and discusses a number of issues that seemed to interfere with teachers’ efforts to implement SCP. In line with similar studies in other parts of the world, teachers in Turkey appeared to be concerned with poor teacher training, large classes, material scarcity, examination system, parental opposition and inadequate student responsiveness. The article suggests that instead of focusing on the ‘problematisation’ of implementation process and, in particular, teachers, efforts should be made to develop and apply more structured alternative approaches. While considering promising ...
64 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors trace how teaching conditions have been understood by decision makers and in educational research over time, focusing first on psychological understandings about the relationship between working conditions and teacher motivation and then on the organizational factors teachers identify as critical to their sense of efficacy and job satisfaction.
Abstract: Teaching conditions have been an enduring concern for North American teachers for over a century. This paper explores this phenomenon by tracing how teaching conditions have been understood by decision makers and in educational research over time. It draws on historical research on the formation of mass public education systems to consider why the conditions teachers identify as critical to their work have been so persistently ignored by policy makers and researchers. Then we review the major ways that teaching conditions have been understood to matter in educational research, focusing first on psychological understandings about the relationship between working conditions and teacher motivation and then on the organizational factors teachers identify as critical to their sense of efficacy and job satisfaction. These two conceptualizations, however, are limited in their explanatory power because they are embedded in a bureaucratic framework where teachers are understood primarily as implementers of policy ...
63 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the political process supporting the introduction of this method in Europe and identify different theoretical understandings and practices which shed light on how we can interpret the spread and role of accreditation in Europe, before discussing current trends in European and US accreditation, which could pave the way for a joint research agenda.
Abstract: Accreditation is fast becoming the dominant method of evaluation used in the European Higher Education Area. This paper traces the political process supporting the introduction of this method in Europe and identifies different theoretical understandings and practices which shed light on how we can interpret the spread and role of accreditation in Europe, before discussing current trends in European and US accreditation, which could pave the way for a joint research agenda. In the conclusion, some possible implications of current developments are briefly presented.
61 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that race and racism are both embedded in and productive of the material processes of production and exploitation that characterize capitalism and propose the framework of economies of racism to make sense of the complex unity that brings white supremacy and capitalist accumulation together in a single dialectic.
Abstract: The intent of this paper is to interrogate the current theoretical discourse in education concerning issues of race and class. The authors maintain that in recent years educational theory and critical policy discourse have unintentionally become splintered in such a way that race and class theories are employed separately, without much analysis of the concomitant ways race and racism are both embedded in and productive of the material processes of production and exploitation that characterize capitalism. The authors propose the framework of economies of racism to make sense of the complex unity that brings white supremacy and capitalist accumulation together in a single dialectic. Drawing from recent work on race and class in critical social theory, the authors first make their case for the theory and formulation of economies of racism in society and education, and follow this with an analysis of current educational policy research via the theoretical lenses posited through this dialectical framework.
TL;DR: The authors examined the implications of policy fracture and arms length governance within the decision-making processes currently shaping curriculum design within the English education system, arguing that an unresolved "ideological fracture" at the government level has been passed down to school leaders whose response to the dilemma is distorted by the target-driven agenda of arms length agencies.
Abstract: This paper examines the implications of policy fracture and arms length governance within the decision‐making processes currently shaping curriculum design within the English education system. In particular, it argues that an unresolved ‘ideological fracture’ at the government level has been passed down to school leaders whose response to the dilemma is distorted by the target‐driven agenda of arms length agencies. Drawing upon the findings of a large‐scale online survey of history teaching in English secondary schools, this paper illustrates the problems that occur when policy‐making is divorced from curriculum theory, and in particular from any consideration of the nature of knowledge. Drawing on the social realist theory of knowledge, we argue that the rapid spread of alternative curricular arrangements, implemented in the absence of an understanding of curriculum theory, undermines the value of disciplined thinking to the detriment of many young people, particularly those in areas of social and econom...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse Australian federal and Victorian state education policies to argue that social capitalist politics has significant implications for the ways schools are being imagined and governed, and argue that schools are re-imagined as "learning communities" through which excellence and equity are seen to operate harmoniously amidst a marketising system of educational services.
Abstract: In Australia, a distinct political–educational imagination drives contemporary policy and praxis. This imagination finds root in the social governance models of British Third Way policy and can be considered social capitalist. Central to such politics is a view that social governance is capable of pursuing and achieving the social democratic ideals of equity and social justice, within the architecture of a globalising and competitive capitalist economy. In this paper, I analyse Australian federal and Victorian state education policies to argue that social capitalist politics has significant implications for the ways schools are being imagined and governed. Specifically, I argue that schools are re‐imagined as ‘learning communities’ through which excellence and equity are seen to operate harmoniously amidst a marketising system of educational services. In doing so, I feature empirical data from an ethnographic project conducted in two socially disparate Victorian government secondary schools, to highlight ...
TL;DR: The authors explored the different meanings community participation had for school community stakeholders and argued that the extent of community participation appears to be shaped by a social contract based on the principle of reciprocity of roles between the community and schools, and that increasingly teachers feel accountable to the traditional hierarchical educational structure, and not to the community.
Abstract: In 1987, the government of Ghana embarked on a process to decentralise education management to districts as part of wider social and democratic governance reforms. A central part of this reform was the prescription of active community participation in the affairs of schools within their locality. This paper explores the different meanings community participation had for school community stakeholders. It examines the multiple understandings of how community and school relations work and the factors which influence this relationship. Drawing on case study data, it argues that much of the theoretical and policy expectations on representation and participation in education by community members are only evident in form, but not as intended in practice. In poor rural contexts, it is often the local elite and relatively more educated members of the community, who become the new brokers of decision-making and, through their actions, close up the spaces for representation and participation by community members in the affairs of schools. Furthermore, the extent of community participation appears to be shaped by a 'social contract' based on the principle of reciprocity of roles between the community and schools, and that increasingly teachers feel accountable to the traditional hierarchical educational structure, and not to the community. The paper argues that the realisation of decentralisation policy in education has to contend with the realities of local politics of influence in the community, and tap into the positive side of this influence to improve education service delivery
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report on research from a small-scale project investigating the vocational training of students in early childhood education and care (ECECEC) in England, and conclude that the version of professionalism offered to students training at this level is highly constrained, and discuss the implications of this.
Abstract: This paper reports on research from a small-scale project investigating the vocational training of students in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in England. We draw on data from interviews with 42 students and five tutors in order to explore the students’ understandings of professionalism in early years. In the paper, we discuss first, the then Labour Government’s drive to ‘professionalise’ the workforce and second, critically analyse the concept of professionalism, drawing on sociological literature. We then turn to the data, and argue that students’ understandings of professionalism are limited to generic understandings of ‘professional’ behaviour (reliability, politeness, punctuality and so on). The idea of their occupation being a repository of a particular knowledge and skills set is undercut by the students’ emphasis on work with young children being largely a matter of ‘common sense’. Our fourth point is to highlight the processes by which students are inducted into a respectable and responsible carer identity, as illustrated by an emphasis on clothes and appearance. We conclude that the version of professionalism offered to students training at this level is highly constrained, and discuss the implications of this.
TL;DR: In this article, a three-year ethnographic analysis of school engagement issues in the north of Australia is presented, where the authors find that Indigenous people are content with the schools' engagement efforts and with their interactions with schools, accepting that how their lives are lived are not within the provenance of the school system to amend.
Abstract: ‘Engagement’ is the second of six top priorities in Australia's most recent Indigenous education strategy to ‘close the gap’ in schooling outcomes. Drawing on findings from a three‐year ethnographic analysis of school engagement issues in the north of Australia, this article situates engagement within the history of Indigenous education policy, followed by considerations of how many of the issues faced by Indigenous families both match and can be distinguished from those experienced among poor and underemployed social groups throughout the western world. We find that Indigenous people are content with the schools' engagement efforts and with their interactions with schools, accepting that how their lives are lived are not within the provenance of the school system to amend. In its homogenisation of Indigenous issues, reification of cultural distinction and foregrounding of disengagement as an issue, Australian education policy is also about non‐engagement, in that it excludes key issues from policy consid...
TL;DR: The first 100 pages or so of this book paint a convincing, well-documented picture of a public education system which, at every stage from secondary schooling through FE to HE and Adult Education, is tearing itself apart, as the people and institutions within it struggle to satisfy the conflicting demands which the powersthat-be, in the form of the government, the media and private employers, keep placing upon it as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The first 100 pages or so of this book paint a convincing, well-documented picture of a public education ‘system’ which, at every stage from secondary schooling through FE to HE and Adult Education, is tearing itself apart, as the people and institutions within it struggle to satisfy the conflicting demands which the powersthat-be, in the form of the government, the media and private employers, keep placing upon it. Much of the ‘system’ either is – or looks set shortly to become – dysfunctional for most of those involved. This picture is especially convincing because, along with an investigation of education policy, the authors include in their analysis areas like employment and housing which both are affected by and themselves affect what goes on in schools, colleges and universities. I disagree with a few specific points made by the authors. On p. 22, for example, they imply that the Industrial Training Boards effectively ceased to exist in 1972 (too early). On p. 36 they appear to have overlooked the New Labour decision to set up the Institute for Learning (IFL). On p. 144, they cite Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed as an example of ‘studies that looked at the world from a working-class perspective’ (not necessarily true), and on p. 148 they describe the polytechnics as ‘originating in the FE sector’ (over-simple). As regards what they think should be done, the authors’ starting point (133) is that: ‘schools, colleges and universities need to be reclaimed as a community resource’, such that they could then ‘serve as a means of emancipation rather than as an instrument of social control’. Their account of how this might be achieved begins by focusing on (especially youth) unemployment, concluding (136) that ‘... there is no real alternative except for reflating a greened economy that is more labour – and learning – intensive than the part-time, insecure, low skill, low wage, service sector McJobs that for many are virtually all that are currently available’. They go on to argue that: ‘Using education to promote economic reconstruction and democracy would empower people to take an active part in a broader democratic discussion about the best policies for sustainability, economy and employment’ (138). For this to happen (160) ‘a social movement for education’ needs to be brought into being, in which unions organising teachers ‘work closely with parents as well as with students’. (They explain that an approach focused purely on ‘radical pedagogy’ would be insufficient because moves in such fields as curriculum design, assessment and qualifications reform would also be necessary.) On the NUT’s possible role in such a movement, Ainley and Allen argue that, although ‘different from other English “sectionalist” classroom teacher unions in continuing to focus on high quality non-selective state education’, ‘[t]his is still a Journal of Education Policy Vol. 26, No. 5, September 2011, 729–733
TL;DR: The authors examined 10 Canadian federal government training and employment policies in relation to the government's espoused priorities of innovation and developing a high skills society and economy, highlighting three areas of contradiction: a tension between high skills and low skills policy, a contradictory focus on the socially and economically excluded and included, and the paradox of both an active and passive federal government.
Abstract: Government reports and documents claim that building a knowledge economy and innovative society are key goals in Canada. In this paper, we draw on critical policy analysis to examine 10 Canadian federal government training and employment policies in relation to the government's espoused priorities of innovation and developing a high skills society and economy. Our findings highlight three areas of contradiction: a tension between high skills and low skills policy, a contradictory focus on the socially and economically excluded and included, and the paradox of both an active and passive federal government. Drawing on state theories such as inclusive liberalism and the social investment state, we argue that while a ‘highly skilled knowledge economy’ may form part of the overall skills discourse, these contradictions raise doubts that it is to become a reality in Canada in the near future.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors demonstrate how Canadian articulation of educational accountability intended to develop governmentality constellations to control the university and regulate its knowledge output and demonstrate how power in education is evolving from a disciplinary form, as expressed in the term governmentality, and toward a form of networked power in the form of societies of control.
Abstract: Campus 2020: Thinking ahead is a policy in British Columbia (BC), Canada, that attempted to hold universities accountable to performance. Within, I demonstrate how this Canadian articulation of educational accountability intended to develop governmentality constellations to control the university and regulate its knowledge output. This research illustrates how power in education is evolving from a disciplinary form, as expressed in the term governmentality, and toward a form of networked power in the form of societies of control. I pursue my analysis by juxtaposing sections of the government report with sections from Gilles Deleuze’s Postscript on the Societies of Control. The synthesis from these two texts demonstrates how BC’s provincial government intended to develop a network of governmentality constellations which would have maintained and exercised power through macro- and micro-surveillance technologies. In conclusion, I argue that BC wanted to assemble its new accountability machine and finally pa...
TL;DR: In this paper, a deliberative conception of democracy has gained influence in policy debates throughout Europe and individuals are here seen to be fostered into responsible, mature - democratic - citizens by...
Abstract: Lately, a deliberative conception of democracy has gained influence in policy debates throughout Europe. Individuals are here seen to be fostered into responsible, mature - democratic – citizens by ...
TL;DR: The Building Schools for the Future (BSF) as mentioned in this paper project aims to refurbish or rebuild all secondary schools in England over a 15-year period, with an anticipated budget of £45 billion.
Abstract: The Labour Government launched the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme (BSF) in February 2003 with the aim of refurbishing or rebuilding all secondary schools in England over a 15‐year period, with an anticipated budget of £45 billion. In this article, we locate BSF in a wider public policy context which has already had important implications in other sectors of public provision. The local improvement finance trusts (LIFTs) initiative within the National Health Service (NHS) is of particular relevance to this discussion both because it reflects contemporary developments within New Public Management and because it also reveals new ways of extending and developing the private finance initiative (PFI) approach to public provision. We shall also consider the purposes and ‘delivery’ mechanisms of BSF and identify some of the key commentaries which have been provided by parliamentary reports and other evaluations. Although still in the early stages of its implementation, the BSF is of such significance ...
TL;DR: Smyth, Smyth, Down, and McInerney as mentioned in this paper underlined the seriousness, pervasiveness and unprecedented extent to the problem of sexual harassment in pornography.
Abstract: by John Smyth, Barry Down, and Peter McInerney, New York, Peter Lang, 2010, US$32.95, 258 pp., ISBN 978-1-4331-0673-6 This book underlines the seriousness, pervasiveness and unprecedented extent to...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the ways in which No Child Left Behind (NCLB) links local practices to the centralized processing of data through its narrowing of procedures and measurements aimed at accountability.
Abstract: This article ethnographically examines the ways in which No Child Left Behind (NCLB) links local practices to the centralized processing of data through its narrowing of procedures and measurements aimed at accountability. Framed by actor-network theory, it draws upon data consistently collected between June 2005 and October 2008, and then intermittently through October 2010, to consider the ways in which policy technologies, such as standardized testing, bring together New York City (NYC) public schools, district administrators, for-profit educational support businesses, and government officials to address the accountability requirements of NCLB. This article reveals how, through a range of sophisticated mechanisms that support the generation and comparison of data, NYC schools become reduced to data calculation and management centers. NCLB’s standardization, privatization, and marketization encourage local policy actors to become complicit in standardizing and quantifying academic assessment through the...
TL;DR: The authors assess whether the changes implemented by the 2004 Higher Education Act have indeed made access to English higher education wider and fairer in relation to young people progressing from state schools and colleges and from lower socio-economic groups.
Abstract: ‘Widening participation’ and ‘fair access’ have been contested policy areas in English higher education since at least the early 1990s. They were key facets of the 2003 White Paper – The Future of Higher Education – and the subsequent 2004 Higher Education Act, with stated objectives that the reach of higher education should be wider and fairer. In particular, there has been considerable concern about admissions to ‘top universities’, which have remained socially as well as academically exclusive. The principal policy tools used by the Act were the introduction of variable tuition fees, expanded student grants, discretionary bursaries and the new Office for Fair Access (OFFA). This paper draws on publicly available statistics to assess whether the changes implemented by the 2004 Act have indeed made access to English higher education wider and fairer in relation to young people progressing from state schools and colleges and from lower socio‐economic groups. It concludes that, while there is some evidence...
TL;DR: Woodhouse, Howard Woodhouse, Montreal, McGill andQueen's University Press, 2009, 350 pp., $39.95 (hardback), ISBN 978•07735•3580•0 During the last half-century, higher education around the world has been tran...
Abstract: by Howard Woodhouse, Montreal, McGill‐Queen's University Press, 2009, 350 pp., $39.95 (hardback), ISBN 978‐07735‐3580‐0 During the last half‐century, higher education around the world has been tran...
TL;DR: This article argued that the formation of particular questions as "policy issues" bears limited relation to what happens on the ground, yet is contingent on societal contexts and argued that a reflexive approach to equality matters in educational policy making.
Abstract: Through the example of what is now known in a large part of the Anglo‐saxon world as the boys’ underachievement debate, this paper explores the construction of gender issues, which underpins educational policies in England and France. It argues that the formation of particular questions as ‘policy issues’ bears limited relation to what happens on the ground, yet is contingent on societal contexts. For example, while England and France share similar patterns in terms of the differential achievement of boys and girls, in the former the boys’ underachievement debate is prominent, but in the latter it is non‐existent. This supports the view that the emergence of the boys’ underachievement debate is not related to a ‘grounded reality’. Rather, the debate appears embedded in the discursive construction of gender and education and, more generally, of notions of citizenship and equality/difference. These findings provide a strong case in favour of a reflexive approach to equality matters in educational policy mak...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors deconstruct the relationship between assessment results and inequality by questioning the assumption that results only record inequality, rather than being implicated in its production, and show how assessment results may be influenced by pressure from external advisors, who only recognise certain patterns of results as intelligible.
Abstract: Despite decades of research and debate, the issue of unequal outcomes continues to be a concern in educational systems worldwide. In England, published data relating to pupils’ attainment across ethnic groups and by class indicators has been used to demonstrate continued inequalities in schools. This article attempts to deconstruct the relationship between assessment results and inequality by questioning the assumption that results only record inequality, rather than being implicated in its production. Interview data related to the case of a statutory teacher assessment system in early years education are used to show how assessment results may be influenced by pressure from external advisors, who only recognise certain patterns of results as intelligible. These recognisable patterns, it is argued, relate to wider discourses of class, race and the ‘inner city’, through which the pupils in these schools are constituted as inevitably low attaining. In addition, monitoring systems based on ‘value added’ meth...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine recent privatisation practices in New Zealand public schooling and consider some possible consequences of increased privatisation of policy advice and service provision for understandings of and commitments to public schooling.
Abstract: This paper examines recent privatisation practices in New Zealand public schooling. The standard political rhetoric is that free publicly provided schooling is guaranteed by statute. This position may be challenged by reference to two apparently insignificant practical examples of the way in which policy gives effect to privatisation in public schooling: (1) the commissioning of national assessment strategy policy advice, and (2) the award of contestable funding for the provision of support services to schools. It is argued that such practices advance neoliberal theories of schooling at the expense of the previous social democratic liberal settlement. The paper considers some possible consequences of increased privatisation of policy advice and service provision for understandings of and commitments to public schooling.
TL;DR: In this article, the complexities of policy and policymaking in the UK have been discussed, and a discussion of the role of policy in policy making is presented. But the authors do not discuss the impact of policy on policy.
Abstract: edited by Harry Daniels, Hugh Lauder and Jill Porter, London/New York, Routledge, 2009, 310 pp., £93.00 (hardback), ISBN 978‐0‐415‐49119‐8 Those seeking to understand the complexities of policy and...