This text presents an informative overview of Conservative-led education policy over the last 14 years. The book provides a broad and detailed picture of the developing education landscape in England during this period, highlighting the transformational and sometimes radical reforms that the country has seen.
Crucially, the book draws together contributions from over 40 esteemed education re-searchers working in the UK. The chapters showcase work from a range of experienced and early career researchers, ensuring original, thought-provoking and evidence-informed perspectives as we examine the impact of recent policy and explore how it might develop into the future. Key thematic areas covered include:
- Restructuring and governing the system
- Teaching policy, practice and professionalism
- Confronting the challenges of inclusion and inequality
- Steering and transforming curriculum and assessment
This timely collection will interest students at all levels, researchers, education professionals and policymakers. It sheds important light on this tumultuous era for education policy, and will inform those interested in this area for years to come.
This text presents an informative overview of Conservative-led education policy over the last 14 years. The book provides a broad and detailed picture of the developing education landscape in England during this period, highlighting the transformational and sometimes radical reforms that the country has seen.
1. 20102024: An era of change for education policy in England
Rebecca Morris and Thomas Perry
Section I Restructuring and Governing the System
2. School governance in England from 2010 to 2024: Academies, maintained
schools and the changing roles of central and local government
Anne West, David Wolfe and Basma B. Yaghi
3. Policy gymnastics: The case of multi-academy trusts
Toby Greany, Eleanor Bernardes and Helen Angell
4. Biopolitics and academisation
Helen M. Gunter
5. Free schools in England: Standards, social justice and policy evolution
Rebecca Morris
6. The grammar school system in England and its potential impacts on
educational effectiveness
Binwei Lu and Xin Shao
7. Ofsted inspection policy in England 20102024: Despair and complacency at
both extremes of the school performance distribution
Bernardita Munoz-Chereau
Section II Teaching Policy, Practice and Professionalism
8. Policy enactment theory in ECEC settings: A lens to better understand
professional confidence?
Lewis Fogarty and Kate Hoskins
9. The importance of teaching policy on teaching and pedagogy 20102024
Daniel Muijs
10. The evolution of initial teacher training and education (ITTE) in England
(20102024)
Sarah Emmerson
11. Exploring education policy and reform in England (20102024) and the
early career framework: The unfolding of an education market for teacher
development
Tanya Ovenden-Hope and Holly Kirkpatrick
12. Evidence-informed policy and practice: Where next?
Steve Higgins
Section III Confronting the Challenges of Inclusion and Inequality
13. The pupil premium: A policy that changed the education landscape in
England
Sally Riordan
14. Fifteen years of pupil premium policy in England
Nadia Siddiqui and Stephen Gorard
15. Tolerating the intolerable: Fundamental British values
Ümit Kemal Yldz and Vini Lander
16. Project neutrality: Counter-Extremism, political impartiality and
schooling
Reza Gholami
17. Challenging the absence of race and racism in understanding the black
achievement gap in schools
Uvanney Maylor
18. The complexity of education policy for pupils with special educational
needs and disabilities: Issues and prospects in England
Brahm Norwich
19. Englands education policy response to the disruption of the covid-19
pandemic
Jake Anders
Section IV Steering and Transforming Curriculum and Assessment
20. The ecology of curriculum policy: A tale of two curricula ... and a more
meaningful approach to understanding curriculum
Joseph Smith and Mark Priestley
21. Early childhood education policy in England since 2010: An overview
Michael Jopling, Sally Riordan and Lesleann Whiteman
22. Parity-of-participation? Childrens comments on the primary national
curriculum and assessment in England from 2014 and into the future
Eleanore Hargreaves
23. GCSE reform in England: An overview and critical analysis of policy since
2010
Michelle Meadows and Stuart Cadwallader
24. The English Baccalaureate (EBacc): A critical review of the impact of the
EBacc and associated curriculum and accountability reforms on schools,
students and teachers
Emma Towers, Sharon Gewirtz, Meg Maguire and Eszter Neumann
25. The recurrence of reform in English vocational education: The case of T
levels
Kevin Orr and Rachel Terry
26. Fourteen years of English education policy (20102024)
Thomas Perry and Rebecca Morris
Rebecca Morris is an Associate Professor in the School of Education, Learning and Communication Sciences, University of Warwick. Her research interests include education and social policy, educational disadvantage and inequalities, the teaching workforce, and English/literacy.
Thomas Perry is an Associate Professor in the School of Education, Learning and Communication Sciences, University of Warwick. His research and teaching focuses on advancing and connecting education research, policy and practice. This includes research into current policy and practical questions, along with methodological work.
