Dorey, Peter, 'The Legacy of Thatcherism For Education Policies: Markets, Managerialism and Malice (towards Teachers)' , in Stephen Farrall, and Colin Hay (eds) , The Legacy of Thatcherism: Assessing and Exploring Thatcherite Social and Economic Policies , British Academy Original Paperbacks (
, 2014; online edn, British Academy Scholarship Online , 22 Jan. 2015 ), https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197265703.003.0006, accessed 9 Sept. 2024.
Navbar Search Filter Mobile Enter search term Search Navbar Search Filter Enter search term SearchThe Thatcherite approach to secondary education, which has broadly been adhered to by subsequent governments, was characterized not so much by the traditional 3 ‘Rs’, as by 3 ‘Ms’—marketization, managerialism and malice towards many of those working in education. These three themes and associated policies were predicated on a critique which was scornful of post-war secondary education in Britain, particularly the shift to comprehensive education and its professed egalitarianism, coupled with the apparent hegemony of the education ‘establishment’ in shaping education policy. This chapter examines how the Thatcher governments, and their successors, sought to instil market principles and practices into secondary education, with the associated discourse of competition and (parental) choice. Accompanying this process of marketization was the imposition of greater managerial control over teachers, as symbolized by a regime of audit and inspection, coupled with constant populist denigration of the alleged faults and failings of the teaching profession.
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