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The December 2008 special issue of the Oxford Review of Education provided a review of education policy during Tony Blair's tenure as Prime Minister. This paper forms a response to the ten contributions to that special issue and discusses some of the issues raised in them. While a few positive aspects of education under New Labour were identified in the special edition, it focused more on the failures of New Labour than its achievements. A common theme to emerge from the papers included the government's pursuit of neo-liberal market policies at the expense of its professed commitment to social justice. While accepting that the government's failure to tackle the differences in educational outcomes between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils constitutes a major failing, the present author argues that significant achievements, such as early years provision, were neglected in the special issue. He also discusses the electoral considerations facing New Labour and the personal role of Tony Blair in determining policy. The paper goes on to consider whether New Labour's education policy has changed since the departure of Blair and identifies some hints of a potentially more progressive approach developing under Brown. It concludes by suggesting that contributing towards a debate about alternatives to Blairite policies should now become a priority for the 'educational establishment'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From his very earliest days in office, Tony Blair believed that if he was to achieve his broader educational reforms then the teaching profession itself needed modernising—it had to become a '21st century profession'. This paper charts the background to this aspiration and the complex range of interrelated policies used to achieve that reform. They included: a changed role for initial teacher education; a more differentiated workforce; strategies to 'focus' professionalism (appraisal, standards and CPD); and a redefinition of professional knowledge. Through these policies, the Government hoped to harness teacher professionalism to their broader reform agenda. The paper concludes with a discussion of Tony Blair's legacy in this field both in England and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to explore the design and implementation of early years educational policy in England in the period 1997-2004. First to be described are the innovations in policy (i.e. the promise), followed by the 'evidence base' for new policy (i.e. the research), the delivery of new services (i.e. the achievement), and finally the tensions and gaps which remain (i.e. the shortfall). The paper will focus on evidence concerning expansion of services and on the benefit of early years education on children's development. It is argued that early years education in England has been transformed through the following: integration of education and care at local and national level, the introduction of the Foundation Stage Curriculum 3-6 years and its birth-3 years supplement, and the firm focus on families as well as children in the delivery of services. There are, however, gaps and tensions to be resolved before the overall vision can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the post-compulsory education and training (PCET) systems of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, using cohort survey data for the early 1990s. It compares these systems with respect to four issues of current policy concern: participation, inclusiveness, academic drift and parity of esteem. It asks how a system's performance on these four criteria varied according to the degree of 'unification' of PCET, that is, the extent to which academic and vocational tracks were linked or combined within a unified system. In the early 1990s Scotland was the most unified system (with the weakest divisions between tracks) and Northern Ireland the least unified (with the strongest divisions between tracks). The paper finds no clear link between unification and participation in PCET. The two systems with the highest levels of participation were Northern Ireland and Scotland, respectively the least unified and the most unified systems. However the Scottish system was slightly less inclusive than the other three systems, as indicated by a slightly stronger association between participation and prior attainment and/or social class. Academic drift - measured by participation in academic rather than vocational tracks - was more pronounced in Scotland than elsewhere. There was no clear association between unification and parity of esteem, as indicated by the relative educational backgrounds of entrants to vocational and academic tracks: entry to academic rather than vocational courses was more skewed towards high attainers in both Scotland and Northern Ireland than in England and Wales. Participation in the academic track was also relatively skewed towards males in England compared with elsewhere. The paper concludes that there is unlikely to be a simple causal connection between unification and participation, inclusion, academic drift or parity. However it suggests that a strong work-based sector is more important for participation and inclusiveness, while a strong full-time vocational sector is more important for parity and for avoiding academic drift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the changing relationship between research and inspection under both HMI and OFSTED, from the early 1980s to 1996. Drawing on a mix of internal and external sources it describes the changes within HMI to make traditional inspection methods more transparent and consistent and to make more use of quantitative data and performance indicators in the 1980s. However, changes within HMI were overtaken by events as education moved rapidly up the political agenda from the mid-1980s. With the demise of HMI in 1992, research within OFSTED took on a more prominent role and a modest but innovative research programme was established. However, the shift by OFSTED in the mid-1990s to take on a more explicit campaigning role to raise educational standards, rather than simply be a regulatory organisation, put the research under pressure to fit in with this new style. The paper draws on examples of the way these pressures worked out in both externally commissioned and internal research exercises. The result was that some studies were sidelined, while others were given excessive prominence that could not be justified by the scale and nature of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Realising the potential of new technology' was one of the central educational themes of New Labour's 1997 election manifesto, with 'information and communications technology' (ICT) established subsequently as a prominent feature of the Blair administration policy portfolio. As such New Labour can claim rightly to have made an unprecedented and sustained political commitment to technology in education, directing over £5 billion of funding towards educational ICT during the 1997 to 2007 period. Yet the fact remains that the New Labour ICT agenda has failed to achieve the much promised technological 'transformation' of the UK education system. With this in mind the present paper develops the argument that New Labour's concern with educational ICT was driven primarily by concerns over enhancing competitiveness in a globalising economy, creating a lifelong learning system fit for a successful knowledge economy and modernising the formal education sector. Thus whilst New Labour's ICT agenda may well have had the short term impact of increasing the physical presence of ICT resources in all education institutions, its longer-term educational legacy was compromised by the wider macro-level issues it purported to address. As such the legacy of this high-profile segment of policy-making should be seen primarily in terms of establishing ICT as an ideological presence in the UK education system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the leadership of Tony Blair New Labour committed itself to raise standards, tackle educational failure and use education to combat disadvantage. This paper examines New Labour's approaches to school improvement, particularly the origins and enactment of 'zero tolerance' strategies, the different groups of schools identified as needing remedial action, different intervention strategies for poorly performing and failing schools including inspection, Fresh Start, Academies and the London Challenge. It explores evidence of their impact on school improvement, educational standards and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented extent of privatisation of provision in the school system on a for-profit basis is clearly one of the most significant transformations accomplished by the Blair government. However, another aspect of private sector involvement has proved much more problematic: the direct involvement of employers in the formation of the future workforce, in two forms: employer-led vocationally-oriented diplomas and state schools—Academies—run by business interests. Both strategies remain key policies of the Brown government and have been endorsed by the Conservative opposition. However, whether these two strategies can provide the basis of a stable policy settlement depends upon the extent to which they prove capable of delivering the 'human capital' the economy is claimed to require. This paper assesses the evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper, first, outlines the official policy regarding education and training 14-19, second, picks out five areas within which that policy might be assessed, and, finally, raises questions about the educational thinking which underlies the policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School diversity in the UK is not a new phenomenon. However, recent reforms to 'modernise' the secondary school system towards greater diversity of provision, primarily in England, needs to be explored in more detail. The article begins by proposing three phases in the development of state-funded school diversity and provision between 1944 and 1997. It then goes on to consider such reforms with the introduction of a Labour government in 1997. We argue that school diversity under New Labour represents a distinct fourth phase within this broad policy agenda. While there is some continuity in the expansion of school diversity this most recent phase is characterised by greater governmental intervention and a stronger commitment to provide greater resources for schools in disadvantaged communities. However, the paper then critically analyses the relationship between recent programmes of education diversity and equity. In particular, we go on to discuss the extent to which critics' fears about the emergence of a two-tier system are justified. We conclude that while the fourth phase in the UK school diversity agenda may aim to be more equitable, complementary and collaborative it perhaps fails to recognise that the education system today is more competitive and consumer-led. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The policy of encouraging schools to compete has been justified on the basis of raising measured levels of attainment and widening choice. In this paper we review the basis for this policy, utilising the economic analysis of markets with a small number of providers. We note that in such markets, typical of local schooling markets, increased competition may generate diverse market behaviour and identify factors likely to produce rivalry and co-operation. We then present evidence of two apparently similar local schooling markets that exhibit very different levels and types of competition. We show how an assessment of the intensity of competition in a local schooling market depends on the particular indicators chosen. We review alternative interpretations for these differences in the nature of competition and relate to recent policy initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many education systems continue to express concerns about an apparently inexorable increase in the number of pupils displaying difficult behaviour in schools and classrooms. Within the English context the government has tried to address and respond to these concerns by undertaking a variety of initiatives and offering guidance and training to schools on the management of behaviour problems. However, we argue that there is a significant danger that by focusing too narrowly on the needs of those pupils with the most obvious and pressing behavioural difficulties the needs of those with emotional problems are overlooked. We highlight the existence of a 'gap' in much of the policy and guidance in England regarding pupils with emotional problems and offer explanations of why this situation has occurred. In support of this we draw from the extensive literature that already exists and also from a recent large-scale survey undertaken in Greece. This survey of teachers' attitudes provides an important comparative dimension in understanding the dangers that exist for policy makers, professionals and teachers in both 'developing' and developed contexts in the face of increasing disruption in schools. The paper concludes with suggestions for policy makers on how this gap might be avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After years of being criticised in Britain as irrelevant to the task of raising educational standards, educational researchers have been invited to join in the improvement of policy and practice. Welcome though the invitation is, some views of how they should deserve influence reflect unrealistic or narrow definitions of really useful research. This paper argues against exaggerating the prospects for a science of teaching; against tying the national research agenda tightly to what are currently identified as 'central issues'; and for a broader approach to relevance than direct applicability to improving educational practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that educational policy and practice has much to gain from systematic reviews and other methods of research synthesis. Different types of reviews are considered, including narrative reviews, vote-counting reviews, meta-analyses, best evidence synthesis, and meta-ethnography. It is argued that systematic reviews allow researchers, and users of research, to go beyond the limitations of single studies and to discover the consistencies and variability in seemingly similar studies. This, in turn, allows for some degree of cumulative knowledge of educational research that is often missing in the absence of systematic reviews. Some limitations of systematic reviews and research synthesis for educational policy and practice are also discussed. The work of the Campbell Collaboration as an international organisation that promotes the use of systematic reviews in educational policy and practice is outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper discusses current trends in government policy for special educational needs. It reviews both the legacy of previous reforms and key elements of current approaches, namely raising educational standards and increasing inclusion. It is suggested that although the incorporation of SEN into mainstream policymaking is to be welcomed, there are a number of features of policy and practice which may undermine intentions to enhance provision and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argues that the 1997 White Paper, Excellence in Education policy reflects the continuing dominance of the School Effectiveness Research (SER) Paradigm in Great Britain. Origins of the SER Paradigm; Overview on the concept and consequences of a `value-added' methodology; Context of school performance.