This work discusses and analyzes New Labour's emerging policies in the area of 14+ education and training. The authors present an account of developments in the area of post-compulsory education and training in the workplace and outline the challenges to be faced in the next decade.

A sequel to Jim Docking's "National School Policy" which examined the Conservative Government's education reforms from 1979 onwards, this text reviews New Labour's policies to improve pupils' performance. The contributors examine the evidence concerning standards in schools, look at the main directions of government policy, explore particular policies in detail and provide clear expositions of New Labour's education policies and provide critical examinations of controversial issues.

This book brings together contributions from around the world that analyse and reflect on the way curriculum is configuring and reconfiguring that world.

14-19 education and training is a complex, fast changing and contested terrain which has been the focus of enormous controversy. This book will help those involved in the education of young people understand the wider context for 14-19 reform, the main dimensions of government policy and how it is likely to affect practice. It also offers alternative views about the way forward. The authors provide a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the emerging 14-19 phase in England, with a focus on A Levels and GCSEs, the 14-19 Diplomas, vocational learning, apprenticeships and institutional collaboration. Drawing on international and historical analysis, recent research and practice, as well as interviews with key policy actors, they set out the case for a more unified and strongly collaborative approach. The book is intended for education practitioners, policy-makers and researchers. It will also be of particular relevance to post-graduate students on PGCE, Masters and Doctoral programmes. The authors are both Readers of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London, and are co-directors of the Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training in England and Wales.

This text focuses on the political context of lifelong learning. It addresses the background, European and policy elements of lifelong learning, as well as providing a detailed consideration of the linkage of educational and political issues in this subject.

This book supplies the definitive contemporary history of education policy in the late twentieth century. Some of the leading educationalists reflect on the major legislative and structural changes in the field over the last 25 years.

′AT LAST, A BOOK ABOUT THIS MOST VEXED PART OF THE CURRICULUM WHICH IS OBJECTIVE, HONEST AND RESEARCH-BASED. These two well-established authors have done what even supposedly neutral writers of official reports have been unable to do and this is because they emerge as having only one ′axe to grind′, namely what is best for the students and the country. Showing only too clearly the confusions and competitions which have bedevilled provision for this age group, THE AUTHORS′ VIEWS ARE CONVINCING AND CREDIBLE PARTLY BECAUSE-UNUSUALLY- THEY COME FROM NEITHER A ′PRO-SCHOOL′ OR A ′PRO-COLLEGE′ LOBBY.( Read , for example, the chapter on leadership to see how leaders in the two sectors-but providing for the same young people ! - can be seen being encouraged to move in different directions.) They rightly argue that this not the point. Although, like others, they argue that partnerships are the way ahead, they show that these so far have a poor record. Their arguments, all firmly based on clear analysis of the politics and resourcing of 14-19 education, and constantly referenced by the experiences of young people of fourteen to nineteen years, are set in a totally realistic perspective and, as they conclude, the price of future failure in this provision will be calamitous. LEADERS IN BOTH THE SCHOOLS AND THE POST-16 SECTORS SHOULD READ THIS BOOK AND REFLECT ON THE WHOLE PICTURE IT OFFERS OF WHAT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE FOR OUR YOUNG PEOPLE. Policy makers should do the same but whether they have the will and courage to act accordingly is a matter for future debate′ - David Middlewood ′The reform of the 14-19 stage of education and training in England is likely to be on the policy agenda for the next two decades, but until now our understanding of 14-19 education, like the stage itself, has been incoherent and fragmented. Lumby and Foskett provide a comprehensive, authoritative and readable account of the recent history and current state of 14-19 education. They challenge some of the myths and misconceptions that have grown up around it. I recommend this book to all people with an interest in 14-19 education in England and in the current attempts to reform it′ - Professor David Raffe, Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh Schools and colleges are being asked to deal with fundamental changes in 14-19 education. Designed to support policy makers, practitioners and students of education in improving their understanding of this phase of education, the authors present a discussion of the evolution of policy and practice across schools and colleges, and their possible future development. A range of educational institutions are discussed with specific reference to changes in government policy, the curriculum, support services, and the advent of Learning and Skills Councils.