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The English EAZ experience illustrates the difficulties of developing an innovative, responsive and inclusive curriculum within an evaluative state characterized by high stakes testing. Consequently, while government exhortations to 'raise standards', 'innovate' and 'promote social inclusion' clearly serve an important rhetorical function, they may underestimate the challenges involved and overestimate the capacity of schools within disadvantaged areas to 'make a difference'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sheds light on some of the issues around effective schooling. Exploration of the complexities involved in trying to uncover the determinants of the differential `success' of schools; Information on two inner-London secondary schools; Impact of social environment.

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.

Parental choice of school is one of the main platforms of government education policy and is the centre piece of the Parents Charter. But sociological understanding of choice and choice-making is woefully underdeveloped. This paper draws on an ESRC study of market forces in education to explore social class variations in choice of school in one specific locality. The complexity of choice-making is portrayed using data from interviews with parents and it is argued that middle-class parents are taking full advantage of `the market' to sustain or re-assert their class advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]