Based on interviews with key actors in the policy-making process, this book maps the changes in education policy and policy making in the Thatcherite decade. The focus of the book is the 1988 Education Reform Act, its origins, purposes and effects, and it looks behind the scenes at the priorities of the politicians, civil servants and government advisers who were influential in making changes.

List of Figures. Preface. Introduction. 1 Policy Matters! 2 Discipline and Chaos: the New Right and Discourses of Derision 3 The New Right and Education Policy 4 Industrial Training or New Vocationalism? Structures and Discourses 5 Towards the Post-Fordist School? 6 Curriculum plc: the ERA, policy, partnerships and the school curriculum 7 Colouring in the boxes: the struggles over a National Curriculum 8 Endnote. Appendix 1 List of Acronyms and Abbreviations. Appendix 2 List of Interviewees and Comment on Interviews. References. Index.