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This paper considers the consequences of, and tensions within, New Labour's quality agenda for schools. In particular, it draws attention to the way in which official versions of quality, characterised by a narrow, economistic instrumentality, are being promoted in schools by various forms of quality control that are marginalising broader, more humanistic conceptions of quality. It is also argued that, despite New Labour's rhetorical emphasis on education for citizenship, the mechanisms of quality control favoured by the government tend to produce patterns of association which are authoritarian and, therefore, unconducive to giving teachers, students and parents opportunities to participate actively in key decisions in and around schooling. The analysis presented in this paper is underpinned by a concern to bring a consideration of educational politics back into education policy debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1987, U.S. Secretary of State, Kenneth Baker, announced his plan for twenty independent City Technology Colleges (CTCs) to be established and in operation by 1990. These CTCs were intended to provide a 'new choice of school' for 11-18 years olds in inner city areas and to have to a curricular bias towards science and technology. While their recurrent costs were to be met by central government, so that they did not have to charge fees to parents, all or a substantial part of their capital costs were expected to be met by business sponsors.