ABSTRACT
It is clear that the Coalition government has continued with the market-based approach started since the 1980s. With regard to the ways in which market forces can be said to be part of the educational landscape, it seems that matters such as private finance have taken on a renewed emphasis since 2010. It is certainly the case that more schools now enjoy more autonomy than under New Labour. Even though school choice has supposedly been extended it is still the case that for many parents the options are limited due to financial and/or geographical reasons. Whilst some argue that this forces local authority schools to improve, many are unconvinced by the Coalition policy. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) is against the move to create extra school places in this way. In particular the ideology of teaching as craft and the primacy of prior academic qualifications as an indicator of teaching quality highlighted by Gove and others were challenged.
