The United Kingdom's 2010 Academies Act further widened the school and State relationship with free schools, in particular, becoming a model separately identified as endorsing and celebrating the neoliberal ideology of competition informed by market principles. The main features of the model are described and complemented with illustrative…

Many countries are struggling to reconcile greater flexibility in school choice with the need to ensure quality, equity and coherence in their school systems. This report provides an international perspective on issues related to school choice, especially how certain aspects of school-choice policies may be associated with sorting students into…

The entrenching of competitive values within the public-market field of secondary education has led to the formation of academically focused institutions whose budgets and reputations are based on gaining large numbers of students who have the best chance of attaining highly in public examinations. Although parents have become savvier about their…

A review of American charter schools and Swedish free-school research is outlined, providing strong evidence that both free-market models are flawed in their claims of enhancing young people's educational experience. A substantial body of work is included that strongly indicates charter and free schools increase social segregation and lower…

Background: Political devolution occurred in the UK in 1998-99, following many years in which some degree of policy administration had been devolved to the four nations. Since devolution, all four countries of the UK have pursued increasingly divergent education policies. This is true in England in particular, where diversity, choice and…

There has been a great deal of research into school choice and the education quasi-market that has dominated compulsory school provision in the United Kingdom since the early 1980s. Much of this research fails to address the context in which processes of choice exist alongside the patterns and outcomes of choice and competition, leading to…

Schools in England and Wales now operate within paraphernalia of a market system. Universalist, collectivist orientation of comprehensive education is being eroded by the development of a diverse, selective, competitive, and atomistic school system. This article summarizes results of interviews with 15 secondary headteachers concerning the market…

The Parental and School Choice Interaction (PASCI) study is investigating how English secondary schools are responding to an environment characterized by heightened competition and increased parental choice and how school decisions affect parental choice decisions. Plans to study four consumer empowerment models (competitive market, personal…

Reports on the PASCI (Parental Choice Interaction) Study that is investigating the interaction between school decision making and parental school choice in the United Kingdom. Discusses how schools in a pilot case study area are responding to parental choice and competition among schools. The market and participative education models may be…

Reports on aspects of the Parental and School Choice Interaction (PASCI) Study that investigate the relationship between school decision making and parental choice. Identifies factors inhibiting British schools' capacity to change policy and practice in response to choice and competition. Barriers to responsiveness vary and significantly influence…

Evaluates the voucher scheme for 4-year olds introduced during 1996 to 1997 in England and Wales. Overall findings suggest that the scheme encouraged unfair competition and "voucher maximizing behavior" in the maintained sector. The scheme failed because the Conservative government attempted to introduce too many market mechanisms into…

The United Kingdom's educational reforms promote parental choice and school competition. This paper examines social-class differences among parents and their relationship to choice, using PASCI (Parental and School Choice Interaction) study data. Schools are concentrating on middle-class, academically oriented parents. However, market forces…

Based on conventional economic analysis, increasing competitive pressures on schools should promote greater curricular innovation and diversity. The United Kingdom's experience suggests that market-based reforms can initially create pressures to increase curriculum conformity in local schooling markets. Innovation incentives are greatest for…

Summarizes a study examining the dynamics of a set of (British) education markets over a 39-month period. Secondary schools in three adjacent local education authorities served as laboratories for researching choice and competition. The market's disciplinary effects are clear. The education market reinforces opportunity advantages of middle-class…

Five reviewers of "School Choice and Competition: Markets in the Public Interest?" (Routledge, 1998), by Philip Woods, Carl Bagley, and Ron Glatter, critique this comprehensive study of three educational quasi-markets in Great Britain. Areas such as social stratification, overall student achievement, diversity, and innovation appear to…