British Labour Party policy on educational selection 1996-8: a sociological analysis

Webster, David; Parsons, Ken

doi:10.1080/026809399286215

Cited by 10 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Among traditional Labour supporters the end of academic selection was seen by many as the priority for reforms. However, as Webster and Parsons (1999) have argued, the ruling members of the Labour Party were not consistent on this matter.…”

Section: The Early Yearsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Diversity, specialisation and equity in education

Taylor

Fitza

Gorard

2005

Oxford Review of Education

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Section: The Early Yearsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Diversity, specialisation and equity in education

Taylor

Fitza

Gorard

2005

Oxford Review of Education

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“…Walford (2001), therefore, argues that New Labour's position on selection and comprehensive schooling (in England) is ambiguous for the following reasons. First, although government ministers have stated publicly that selection by ability is unfair and divisive, it is clearly not prepared to act positively to end it (see also Webster and Parsons 1999). Pointing to a letter from Stephen Byers to the Campaign for State Education (16 July 1998), Walford argues that in its early years in government, New Labour actually signalled that it favoured partial selection by ability.…”

Section: Towards the Disunited Kingdom: New Labour Education Policy mentioning

confidence: 95%

Education policy, comprehensive schooling and devolution in the disUnited Kingdom: an historical 'home international' analysis

Phillips

2003

Journal of Education Policy

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This paper places educational devolution in the UK within an historical context. It starts from the premise that the differences within the current educational systems of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland stem not only from the changed educational/political context following devolution but also from established contrasting histories and traditions. The paper combines historical and educational policy analysis to explain how this intra-national variation has come about, concentrating upon the period 1944 to the present day. In the process, it argues that a fusion of history and education policy analysis provides an illuminative method for understanding the multitude of factors that have contributed to the complex contemporary structures of education in the UK. It also suggests that both historians of education and policy sociologists have in the main failed to adopt a so-called 'home-international' approach to the analysis of education policy and have (understandably) been pre-occupied with the English context of educational reform, the effect of which has been to under-estimate the complexity of policy recontextualization in the UK. The paper concentrates particular attention upon debates over selection and comprehensive schooling and observes that, at the beginning of the 21st century, England has effectively ended its association with 'the comprehensive ideal', which in a post-devolutionary era, makes it distinctive from certainly two and possibly three of the other constituent parts of the country. The paper uses historical reference points to theorize about how this situation has come about.

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“…This perfectly expresses the New Labour commitment to ‘education, education, education’ through its election manifesto and legislative programme. 17 …”

Section: New Labour Liberty and Equalitymentioning

confidence: 96%

“…This perfectly expresses the New Labour commitment to 'education, education, education' through its election manifesto and legislative programme. 17 However, the message we wish to focus on here is not that emanating from official policy statements, but from the personal statements-in-action of key figures in the Labour Party. Emblematic of the Labour Party's struggle with the problem of educational selection have been the decisions by some senior Party figures to send their children to schools other than the local comprehensive.…”

Section: New Labour Liberty and Equalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Liberty, equality and consumerism in state education: exploring liberal angst under New Labour

Webster

Parsons

2000

Journal of Consumer Studies & Home Economics

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This paper aims to explore aspects of consumerism in state secondary education in England, the dilemmas posed by the educational market‐place for a category we describe as the ‘resourced liberal egalitarians’ and the resolution of these dilemmas offered by the actions of prominent Labour Party parents‐as‐consumers. Having outlined the individual and societal significance of education, the ideological and ‘economic’ dimensions of educational consumption are explored in order to locate the category ‘resourced liberal egalitarians’. This group's dilemmas are then explained in the context of the strengthening of the market principle and the polarizing of the market‐place within education. These together increase the stakes of protecting their own children's interests while simultaneously exacerbating the inegalitarian character of the education system, a situation which they find distasteful. The final section looks at how the actions of prominent Labour Party figures address this angst through their own actions as parent‐consumers of state education.

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British Labour Party policy on educational selection 1996-8: a sociological analysis

Cited by 10 publications

References 8 publications

Diversity, specialisation and equity in education

Diversity, specialisation and equity in education

Education policy, comprehensive schooling and devolution in the disUnited Kingdom: an historical 'home international' analysis

Liberty, equality and consumerism in state education: exploring liberal angst under New Labour

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