ERIC Number: EJ741975
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Mar
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1363-6820
EISSN: N/A
State Control of the English Education and Training System--Playing with the Biggest Train Set in the World
Keep, Ewart
Journal of Vocational Education and Training, v58 n1 p47-64 Mar 2006
This article examines the causes and consequences of the increasing control of English education and training (E&T) by central government and its agencies. It poses three questions--what are the reasons for national government becoming the dominant player in this area of policy, why is the English system so statist in design and operation, and what factors underlie the continuity of this trend in policy over the last quarter of a century? In seeking answers, it argues that policy has become caught up in a cycle of intervention that is heavily path-dependent, and that this is the result of the interplay between a set of paradoxes about what the state believes it can and cannot do within the labour and product market. E&T has come to act as a substitute for regulation in both these areas. The article concludes that unless and until the state "lets go" of some element of control it will be trapped into having to do more and more, as other actors take a passive role and fail to develop their capacity to act as strong partners in the E&T system.
Descriptors: English Curriculum, English Instruction, Foreign Countries, Educational Policy, Educational Trends, Politics of Education, Public Agencies, Governance, Government Role, Educational History
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street, Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940. Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/default.html.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A