Search results for ""Author Stephen J. Ball""

Education is a continuing key political issue for the UK government. It is seen as a crucial factor in ensuring economic productivity and competitiveness, in generating social mobility and tackling social inequality - but are these goals either feasible or compatible? In this fully updated edition of this bestselling book, Stephen J. Ball, a leading author in the field, guides us through the flood of government initiatives and policies of the past 20 years, including the Academies programme, parental choice, Free schools, National Curriculum and teaching standards. He looks at how these policy interventions have changed the landscape and meaning of education, turned children into 'learners' and parents into 'consumers', and played their part in the re-formation of contemporary governance. This authoritative and accessible book uses Ball's sociological approach to the analysis of current policies and ideas around education to address issues of class, choice, globalisation, race and citizenship, as well as the conflicting needs of children and families on the one hand and the economy and the state on the other.

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Tony Blair's 1996 pre-election speech put 'education, education, education' firmly at the centre of the policy stage. Education has since become a key political issue and a major focus of media attention. It is also seen as a crucial factor in ensuring economic productivity and competitiveness. But whose interests are at the centre of this shift in education policy? And how could things be if we thought about education differently? In this enthralling book, Stephen J. Ball guides us through the flood of government initiatives and policies that have been introduced over the past 20 years, including beacon Schools, the academies programme, parental choice, foundation schools, faith schools and teaching standards. He looks at the politics of these policy interventions and how they have changed the face of education, 'joining up' policy within a broader framework of initiatives, turning children into 'learners' and parents into 'consumers'.Ball's sociological approach to analysing and making sense of current policies and ideas around education uncovers issues of class, choice, globalisation, equality and citizenship, as well as the conflicting needs of children and families on the one hand and the economy and the state on the other. This exciting series offers a guide through some of today's most hotly contested policy issues by distinguished leaders in the field. Each book untangles current policy debates, looking behind the rhetoric and spin to discover what is at the core of contemporary political agendas. The authors present their own perspectives and make recommendations for what could - or should - be our priorities for future policy reform.

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Education policy in England is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly incoherent and it is therefore becoming harder to keep up with, and make sense of, all the changes. This bestselling book looks at the role of the UK as a social laboratory for global education policy. Covering key concepts, it then examines new areas, including: • Global education policy mobility • Edu-business and philanthropy as policy actors • Marketisation of education • Increase in performance gap • Poverty and austerity • Impact of COVID-19 on schools and in education policy • New forms of governance This extensively updated fourth edition by the key author in the field will maintain its place as the most important text on education policy and makes essential reading for all students and anyone interested in education policy more generally.

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The public sector is going through a period of fundamental change. Service delivery, policy making and policy processes are being carried out by new actors and organisations with new interests, methods and discourses, related to the emergence of new forms of governance. This timely book from bestselling author Stephen Ball and Carolina Junemann uses network analysis and interviews with key actors to address these changes, with a particular focus on education and the increasingly important role of new philanthropy. Critically engaging with the burgeoning literature on new governance, they present a new method for researching governance - network ethnography- which allows identification of the increasing influence of finance capital and education businesses in policy and public service delivery. In a highly original and very topical analysis of the practical workings of the Third Way and the Big Society, the book will be useful to practicing social and education policy analysts and theorists and ideal supplementary reading for students and researchers of social and education policy.

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