Conservative government policies 1979-1997

The 1988 Education Reform Act, it brought in many significant changes, but the general principle behind the act was the introduction of market forces in education, or marketisation. This means that they applied business ideas to education, creating a marketplace of education.

• League tables, making exam results visible - idea to make schools compete to get the best results and drive up standards. 
• Introduction of Ofsted
• Encouraging schools to 'opt out' of local educational authority control - schools could manage their own finances, spending resources where they felt necessary
• National Curriculum 
• Parents no longer had to send their chldren to their local school but could send them to a school of thei choice. Sending a child to a school further…