Quasi-Markets and Curriculum Control: Making Sense of Recent Education Reform in England and Wales

Abstract

This final article reviews the whole package of school reforms introduced by the Thatcher and Major governments in Britain. It locates the peculiar combination of policies of centralization and decentralization within the broader political project of the New Right. It concludes from the research evidence so far available that these policies are likely to exacerbate existing inequalities in educational provision rather than overcome them Finally, it suggests that there is an urgent need to find new ways of making education a collective responsibility, rather than a private good.