Partnerships in a “Cold Climate”: The Case of Britain

Abstract

Probably no issue has been more central to the educational debates occurring in the United Kingdom during the last 20 or so years than that of the relative roles of the public and private sectors in the provision of education. Preoccupied with the question of how schooling could enhance national economic performance, both Conservative politicians during the 1980s and 1990s and the current New Labour government have sought ways to enlist the energies of private organizations, particularly business, in enhancing what they believe was the academic underperformance of English youth. Making in effect what was a human capital argument, policy makers from both parties claimed that the economic success of the nation hinged on the existence of a well-educated citizenry who could function in a globalized economy. Government’s task, they believed, was to ensure an increase in educational standards so that British youth would possess the skills and knowledge required to improve the country’s competitive economic advantage over other developed nations (Docking, 2000; Hatcher, 1998, 2001; Jenkins, 1988; Riddell, 1991; Whitty et al., 1993).