Our focus in this article is on the lessons learned about effective change from international experience with large-scale reform over the last 20 years. The central lesson now evident is that sustained improvement in student outcomes requires a sustained effort to change teaching and learning practices in thousands and thousands of classrooms, and…

Schools are currently being asked to collaborate and compete with each other. Britain's 1988 Education Reform Act and the Technical and Vocational Initiative (TVEI) seem to promote conflicting school development models. This paper explores these policies' background and investigates how one TVEI cluster is responding to this challenge. Conclusions…

Reviews the literature on parental choice and suggests implications for the marketing of secondary schools in England. The parameters of parental choice may change as schools become more active at marketing and parents become more sophisticated in their choosing strategies. However, schools may become increasingly disenchanted with the competitive…

Discusses a survey comparing parents' views of four British schools, two grant maintained (GM) and two local education authority (LEA) maintained. LEA school supporters believe these schools assess students more regularly and feature sound homework and uniform policies. GM school advocates believe their children will enjoy a pupil-centered…

Reports on the PASCI (Parental Choice Interaction) Study that is investigating the interaction between school decision making and parental school choice in the United Kingdom. Discusses how schools in a pilot case study area are responding to parental choice and competition among schools. The market and participative education models may be…

A British headteacher ponders a tumultuous decade in school management. The national curriculum was one major problem. There have also been radical, deleterious changes in the ways schools are funded, governed, managed, planned, and inspected; how teachers are educated; and the terms and conditions of teacher employment. Competition for pupils has…

Explores the 1988 Education Reform Act's effects on providing physical education and sports in British schools, and specifically, implementation of the National Curriculum for Physical Education. The ERA and local school management have not only changed interschool and school-government agency relationships, but have fostered potentially damaging…

Analyzes the mass media's role in creating a more competitive environment for schools following England's Education Reform Act. The media were supposed to help increase parental expectations and disseminate consumer information. Commercial motivations proved equally important. Schools received unprecedented attention, and the media became an…

Discusses the change to a choice-based school system in Great Britain under the Education Reform Act of 1988. Compares the British system with proposed changes in the United States. Describes the changes that have placed budgeting and management in the hands of the individual schools that have the power to "opt out" of school district…

Discusses the changes that occurred in the English education system beginning with the Educational Reform Act of 1988 due to the policies of the Conservative government, such as market competition and the National Curriculum. Addresses the policies of the New Labour Party since the reign of the Conservatives has now ended. (CMK)

The emphasis in recent British educational legislation (primarily the 1988 Education Act) has been on the creation of an "internal market" to stimulate improvements in educational outcomes and provide efficiency and accountability. The internal market mechanism allows schools to manage their own budgets and personnel and to create…

Although the driving philosophy underpinning British educational reform since 1988 has emphasized "quality" and "choice," few governmental pronouncements have addressed equity issues. This article defines "equity," focusing on distributional equity as a framework for examining reforms such as formula funding,…