ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows how a major zone of public activity, the British education service, developed, confirmed and changed its policies between 1960 and 1974, and who were the main agents of change. It utilizes an orthodox model of the policy formation process and follows four main lines of description and analysis. The book discusses first the multiple objectives of education, and analyses the main policies evident in the period and the ways in which they have changed over our period. It also discusses the role of Parliament, which shows how far national political activity affects and is affected by the major educational decisions made and enunciated through ministerial speeches, changes in law and other formal administrative action. In two major areas, higher education and comprehensive secondary schools, continuity was broken.
