ABSTRACT
In Britain, the media profile of education as a policy issue increased considerably in the last two decades of the twentieth century (Baker 1994). In large part, this resulted from its move up the political agenda to become one of the top priorities for government. But the causal relationship probably ran in both directions, with the media playing a key role in raising education’s public profile by mounting various campaigns about failures in the state education system (see Alexander 1997: Part II). Of course, both government and the media usually claim to be speaking on behalf of ‘ordinary people’, but it also seems likely that many people’s views – about the importance of education, about what is wrong with schools, about what should be done, etc. – have been shaped by the mass media’s treatment of educational issues, including their reporting of government statements and policies.1
A predominant theme in this period was an attack on ‘progressivism’ within the teaching profession, and on the ‘educational establishment’ more generally.
