ABSTRACT
In Chapters 1 and 2 we reviewed theoretical arguments and the policy contexts that have influenced the implementation of market reforms in many OECD countries. We also noted in Chapter 3 that long-standing systems of allocating school places, such as zonal systems, incorporate some kind of choice mechanism and that any system for allocating school places might most usefully be evaluated against a best available alternative as opposed to an idealised market or idealised state provision of education. This leads us to ask what alternative methods of allocating school places might a policy maker choose between? In the next five chapters we seek to answer this question by surveying the range of policies that have been employed. In so doing we focus on the ‘market’ element within each: the scope for parents to choose between schools, the scope for schools to choose outputs and methods, and the interactions between these choices. In this chapter we focus on funding and enrolment. In Chapter 5 we review the operation of open enrolment in practice, relying principally on data from studies carried out in England and Wales. In Chapter 6 we examine teacher licensing, training and remuneration, and in Chapter 7 we consider issues of governance and monitoring. Accounts of the political processes that have established these policies may be found elsewhere (e.g. Carl 1994; Lauder et al. 1999; Karsten 2000).
