ABSTRACT

Michael Fielding looks at what the Labour Government has achieved in the last four years with its policy of 'education, education, education'.
There has been widespread disappointment in New Labour's education policies, which on the whole have not steered too far wide of those put in place by Margaret Thatcher, including issues of marketisation, testing and performativity. Michael Fielding has called on the key policy thinkers in education to offer their opinions on what has happened in education over the first three to four years of the New Labour Government.
Education policy is a controversial subject and with a General Election expected within the next few months, this book will be read widely by people within education, politicians and journalists and by others anxious to get to facts and avoid the spin. The subject matter and the presence of so many high profile educationalists make this an essential read.

chapter 1|15 pages

Taking education really seriously

Four years' hard labour

part I|28 pages

The modernising agenda

chapter 2|27 pages

High expectations and standards for all, no matter what

Creating a world class education service in England

part II|30 pages

Alternative perspectives, particular values

chapter 3|14 pages

Labour, learning and the economy

A ‘policy sociology’ perspective

chapter 4|15 pages

The good, the bad andthe ugly

On four years' Labour education policy

part III|70 pages

Feeling policy realities on the pulses

chapter 5|11 pages

Renewed hopes and lost opportunities

Early childhood in the early years of the Labour government

chapter 8|12 pages

Further education under New Labour

Translating the language of aspiration into a springboard for achievement

chapter 9|11 pages

‘It lifted my sights’

Revaluing higher education in an age of new technology

chapter 10|11 pages

The creative society

Reuniting schools and lifelong learning

part IV|55 pages

Levers of change

chapter 11|12 pages

Target setting, policy pathology and student perspectives

Learning to labour in new times

chapter 12|15 pages

Modernising headteachers as leaders

An analysis of the NPQH

chapter 13|15 pages

Reforming teachers' pay

Crossing the threshold

chapter 14|12 pages

‘Modernising’ LEAs

A changing framework of values

part V|28 pages

Rethinking the roles and realities of educationalresearch

part VI|32 pages

International perspectives

chapter 17|14 pages

The two solitudes

Policy makers and policy implementers