ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates the changes in the educational provision, from early years, through primary, secondary, further and vocational education, to higher education and the training of teachers. It shows the revolutionary shift from minimal central control over what goes on in schools to much greater political control, first, through a national curriculum and national assessments, second, through the decline in local authority powers and responsibilities. The recently arrived academies and free schools are contracted directly to the Secretary of State. In particular, the endemic neglect of technical and vocational education, despite many reports on the crisis since 1851, would be challenged through the establishment of City Technology Colleges, directly funded by government and private sponsors, and in a way resurrected by the more recent University Technology Colleges. Higher education has shifted from a mainly government-funded public service to one dependent on student fees.
