The education debate

Author/Editor(s):

Stephen J. Ball

Format:

Paperback, 256 pages, 198 x 129 mm

ISBN

9781861349200

Published:

29 Jan 2008

Series:

Policy and Politics in the Twenty-First Century

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North America customers can order this book here from the University of Chicago Press.

"His introduction to key concepts should be required reading both for those engaged in policy making processes and those seeking to influence change in education."
Rob Berkeley, Runnymede Bulletin

"The Education Debate is a tour de force not only for its authority and penetration but also......its accessibility."
Roger Brown in Higher Education Review

"Insightful and wholly accessible and contributes to broader debates about education policy, initiatives and economic imperatives found across public services."
Critical Social Policy

"Stephen Ball provides the intellectual resources for understanding how education policy is produced, what it seeks to do and what its effects are. Theoretically and empirically adroit, it is essential reading for all those needing to understand education policy and politics."
Bob Lingard, Andrew Bell Professor of Education, The University of Edinburgh

About This Book

Education is a key political issue and seen as a crucial factor in ensuring economic productivity and competitiveness. In this enthralling book, Stephen J. Ball offers an analysis of the flood of government initiatives and policies that have been introduced over the past 20 years, including Beacon Schools, the Academies programme, parental choice, Foundation Schools, faith schools and teaching standards. He looks at the politics of these policy interventions and how they have changed the face of education. This bestselling book makes essential reading for student-teachers, other students of politics and social policy courses and for the general reader who wants to get beyond the simplistic analyses of the newspapers.

Author Biography

Stephen J. Ball is Karl Mannheim Professor of the Sociology of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London. His work is in 'policy sociology' and he has conducted a series of ESRC-funded studies which focus on issues of social class and policy. He has an honorary doctorate from Turku University, Finland, is Visiting Professor at the University of San Andrés, Argentina, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Contents

Introduction to key concepts: education policy, economic necessity and public service reform
Class, comprehensives and continuities: a short history of English education policy
Current policy models and "The UK government's approach to public service reform"
Current key issues: forms of policy and forms of equity
A sociology of education policy: past, present and future.

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