This research focuses on how members of the UK Parliament engaged with evidence in relation to the policy decision leading to the Selective Schools Expansion Fund, a policy designed to enable the existing 163 English grammar schools to apply for additional funds to expand their intake. Although a small case study, the narrow focus provides a…

We have used a role-play exercise to help students understand the role of the whips in British parliamentary politics, a subject with which students often struggle. In itself, this proved a valuable learning and teaching tool, but we found it became even more useful when we incorporated a practitioner into the exercise. This overcame some of the…

This article examines education policy and the policy process in the light of two key concepts. The first is the concept of "governmentality" from the work of Michel Foucault (1991). The second is the concept of "political spectacle" from the work of Murray Edelman (1985, 1988). Taking note, further, of recent work by…

This article explores the relationships between educational research and the state. However, the aim is not to construct idealised versions of what the relationship between research and educational policy ought to be, but rather to examine the ways in which the state is able to influence the priorities of educational research through its role as…

This article outlines some themes that have emerged from research investigating the European dimension in education at three European Schools. It focuses on pupils' perceptions of the conditions in place at these schools that make a significant contribution to the European dimension. Findings are presented on the school environment and community,…