Educational Policy, 1979-1997

The Conservatives and the New Right:

- New Right believe that state-run services tend to be inefficient in that a free market, in which companies compete for business provides incentives for improvement in the quantity of services over time. Expenditure by the state that they see as unnecessary or excessive is a drain on the economy, since it must be paid for out of taxes that ultimately come from the profits of companies.

-They were not in favour of making all pupils attend comprehensives since marketization, restricted competition and, in their view, lowered standards and undermined academic education. They were in favour of a greater emphasis on vocational education for those who were not academic so that they would leave education with the skills required by employers.

Stephen Ball conduected studies on the effects of the educational reforms introdcued by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, finding that some groups took more advantage of the introduction of markets than others:

-Middle-class parents were usually privileged/skilled choosers who has the tme and social contacts to make informed choices…