This article opens with two contrasting accounts of the provenance of Oak National Academy before tracing Oak's controversial development as a non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Education as a means (it is argued) of extending control not only over what teachers teach but over how they may teach it.

In this slightly amended version of the talk with which the author opened the "Caught in the Act" Conference on 19 November 2011, he talks about fighting the most vicious right-wing government that England has known since the end of the Second World War--and one that is determined to destroy what's left of "a national system of…

In this article, the author argues that the provisions in the White Paper and the Education and Inspections Bill mean the end of a coherent system of state education, locally administered. The education proposals are clearly part of the Government's ongoing transformation of the public sector. It is argued that the Government's education agenda is…

The UK Government's commitment to Full-Service or Extended Schools is now firmly established in the Every Child Matters legislation. Here David Limond examines these developments, largely inspired and dominated by North American models, and in the light of older English and Scottish traditions argues for a more radical approach that exemplifies…

This article examines the rationale and debate of the "Fresh Start" schools policy introduced by the New Labour Government in 1997 as a vehicle for improvement in schools that historically had been classified as "failing". Underpinning the policy is the assumption that Fresh Start can act as a catalytic agent of positive change…

Both New Labour and the Conservatives are keen to emphasise choice and diversity in crucial areas of public provision--and particularly with regard to education and health. In this article, "FORUM" co-Editor Clyde Chitty concentrates on recent proposals by the two main parties for promoting greater choice in secondary schooling in…