ABSTRACT
New Labour education policy can be examined through any number of lenses. Some of the banner headlines for its focus on what happens inside schools and classrooms have included reforms of the curriculum, national teaching initiatives and reforms of the workforce. New Labour’s starting position was that its priority would be to raise standards rather than to reform structures. ‘What works’ was what would be done and the organization and institutional forms of schooling could take a back seat – arguably because the new government did not want to be drawn into a politically debilitating and parliamentary time-consuming battle over the 160 or so remaining grammar schools. Given that starting point, it is remarkable how far New Labour has been drawn into an increasing effort to change the constitutional arrangements for schools and for secondary schools in particular. The central argument in this chapter is that this effort might well be contributing to the gains in educational attainment to which many other initiatives are also adding, but that it still leaves the fundamental problem of the education service untouched – a raft of young people are being left increasingly adrift of the progress and opportunity being created for the majority. This chapter is a reminder of just how much effort has been put into structural reform and raises the question whether the light has been worth the candle.
