ABSTRACT
There are some broad similarities in the directions of educational policy in the United States and the United Kingdom over the past two decades in the areas of special education and parental choice of school, but also some key differences. Inspired by economists such as Milton Friedman, the Thatcher and Reagan administrations were both committed to the application of market disciplines and private sector management practices to the public sector. From this perspective:
State intervention is admissible for two purposes: to police the boundaries of the market and to provide where necessary the essential minimum of resources that the market cannot for a variety of reasons secure for those in extreme poverty.
