Taking Education Really Seriously

'This is an in-depth and balanced overview of the impact Tony Blair's government is having upon education.' - Human Scale Education News
'This is one of the most thought-provoking evaluations of New Labour educational policies. It should be read by everyone engaged in school improvement ... This collection makes a crucial contribution to the present policy debate, and deserves to become essential reading for serious local authority and university courses in school leadership at the present time.' - Improving Schools

1. Labour, Learning and the Economy: A 'Policy Sociology' Perspective: Stephen Ball; 2. High Expectations and Standards for All, No Matter What: Creating a World Class Education Service: Michael Barber; 3. Creative Society: Reuniting Schools & Lifelong Learning; 4. Will the Curriculum Caterpillar Ever Learn to Fly? Mike Davies and Gwyn Edwards; 5. Restructuring Educational Research for the 'Third Way': John Elliott and Paul Doherty; 6. Target Setting, Policy Pathology and Student Perspectives: Learning to Labour in New Times: Michael Fielding; 7. Taking Education Really Seriously: Four Years Hard Labour (Editorial): Michael Fielding; 8. The Two Solitudes: Policy Makers and Policy Implementers: Dean Fink; 9. Modernising Headteachers as Leaders: An Analysis of the NPQH: Helen Gunter; 10. 'Modernising' LEAs: A Changing Framework of Values: Valerie Hannon; 11. Revitalizing Educational Research: Past Lessons and Future Prospects: David Hargreaves; 12. Further Education Under New Labour: Translating the Language of Aspiration into a Springboard for Achievement: Ann Limb; 13, Renewed Hopes and Lost Opportunities: Early Childhood in the Early Years of the Labour Government: Peter Moss; 14. 'It Lifted My Sights': Re-valuing Higher Education in an Age of New Technology: Richard Smith and Paul Standish; 15. Managing the Myth of the Self-Managing School as an International Education Reform: John Smyth; 16. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: On Three Years' Labour Education Policy: James Tooley; 17. Reforming Teachers' Pay: Crossing the Threshold: Mel West; 18. The Impact of New Labour's Educational Policy on Primary Schools: Peter Woods, Bob Jeffrey and Geoff Troman