Policy and Politics in Education
Sponsored Grant-maintained Schools and Religious Diversity

This title was first published in 2000: This is an examination of the sponsored grant-maintained schools initiative. These schools were an attempt to increase the diversity of schools within the state-maintained sector so families would have a greater choice when selecting the most desirable school for their children. Thus allowing schools to be run by religious and ethnic minority groups. The book considers and analyzes the political nature of the policy formulation and implementation. It examines the way the 1993 Education Act came to be formulated and follows its path within the changing social, economic and political context of the years 1993 to 1998. The text examines the background to the applications for funding from religious minority and other groups and discusses the implications of such a changes in funding policy in the context of the 1998 School Standard and Framework Act.

Quasi-markets in schooling; towards the 1993 Education Act; developing the Act; failing schools; successful schools; limiting diversity under the Conservatives; schooling for religious minorities; extending diversity under Labour; the Welsh case; readings of policy and theory; conclusion.