Published
Oct 8, 2024Page count
240 pagesISBN
978-1447374961Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Oct 8, 2024Page count
240 pagesISBN
978-1447374985Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Oct 8, 2024Page count
240 pagesISBN
978-1447374985Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy Press
Reframing Education Failure and Aspiration
Education is considered central to social mobility and, following a drive to raise learners’ aspirations, an ‘aspiration industry’ has emerged.
However, the desire to leave school early should not be regarded as evidence of students lacking ambition. This book traces the emergence of the aspiration industry and argues that to have ambitions that do not require qualifications is different, but not wrong.
Reviewing the performance of six schools in England, their Ofsted reports and responses, it evaluates underpinning assumptions of what makes an effective school. This book critically examines neo-liberal education policy developments, including the 1988 Education Reform Act, and the political discourse around changing explanations of education ‘failure’ with the rise in the marketisation of education.
“Best has written an important book that offers a timely critique of current educational policies and key ideas of meritocracy, aspiration and character against the background of the ‘neoliberal turn’.” Michael Thomas, Liverpool John Moores University
Shaun Best is Visiting Lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Health and Social Care at the University of Winchester.
Introduction: the aspiration industry and the meritocratic sort
1. Social mobility and equality of opportunity
2. Social justice, social change, and social engineering: a history of aspiration formation in UK education
3. Border youth and the ‘turn to character’ in neoliberalism
4. The case studies: schools in challenging circumstances
5. The case studies: schools in affluent areas
6. The effective school and the neoliberal project
7. School leadership
8. Conclusion
