Education Policy

′Everyone who has been to school has a view on education. For a chosen few, that experience can become a vision. Education Policy, via interviews with several Secretaries of State for Education and a supporting analytical commentary, provides a fascinating insight and historical appraisal of English policy rationale. A splendid read′- Dr David Kitchener, Reader in Education, University of Bolton′In charting the history of education policy this book acts as a reminder to all that the education policy of any given era does not exist in a vacuum, but rather that whilst it might promote a particular ideal of education it does so in a context with embedded traditions and beliefs derived from prior generations of policy. I think this book should be compulsory reading, not only for people interested in the history of education policy, but also for policy makers to remind them of this inheritance and of what has gone before′ -Dr Andrew Townsend, University of Nottingham

• INTRODUCTIONPART ONE: 1944-1979: POST-WAR CONSENSUS1944-1960: The Post-War Consensus: Education for All?1960-1969: A Decade of Social and Legislative Innovation1970-1979: The Breakdown of ConsensusPART TWO: 1979-1997: MARKETISATION AND COMPETITION1979-1987: Introduction of Competition into Education1988-1992: Education Reform: A Period of Turbulence1992-1997: Education Practice under the MicroscopePART THREE: 1997-2010: BLAIR AND BEYOND1997-2001: The First Labour Government since 1979 2001-2007: The Second Phase of the Labour Government 2007-2010: The Final Part of the New Labour Project2010 AND BEYOND: INTERESTING TIMESAPPENDIX: TABLE OF MINISTERS/SECRETARIES OF STATE 1945-PRESENT