ABSTRACT
In the late 1980s and early 1990s many countries enacted mechanisms to enable school choice in an effort to move control from provider to consumer. Initial moves were designed to reduce producer capture and enhance customer choice; competition was key. Notably, at this time and until 1994, Labour attacked the Conservative policies of selection and privatisation. Conservative policies of the time pandered to a particular ideological and political belief that the market was the best way to solve educational problems. For example, the 1992 Education White Paper Choice and Diversity promoted the idea that good schools would and should attract students whilst poor schools would and should perish. It also proposed that every school up to standard was to become specialist by 2008 with 3000 separate secondary schools each admitting pupils they chose but nationalised under central control with funding for each school determined by central government.
