This book analyzes policies in eight European countries that aim to intervene in the reproduction of social and educational inequalities. In order to understand why some policies succeed and others fail, it is necessary to look at education systems through cross-national comparison.

The aim of this book is to track the historical elements of change in educational policy formation and implementation in relation to the specifics of responses to change, the possibilities of change, and attempts to achieve it. Chapter 1 assess whether the future is in past historical change or is simply illuminated by it. The notion of an explicit relationship between history and policy analysis is expounded in chapter 2. The answer for successful policy making in British higher education is looked for in chapter 3. Chapter 4 describes versions of accountability in public sectors of higher education. Chapter 5 delineates the decline in the reputation of British higher education from the mid-1960s to the 1980s. Chapter 6 places vocationalism in the context of further education, describing its intentions and outcomes. Chapter 7 contains a history of periods in British education from 1780 until now. Chapter 8 examines the American zeal for change in education as a historical process beginning in the 1980s. Chapter 9 describes the plight of socially disadvantaged children in school from 1920-80. Chapter 10 reinforces the general thrust of the book as a concern for using "historical policy analysis" as a point of entry into considerations for educational change. Notes at the end of each chapter and an index are provided. (EJS)