Education Markets, Choice and Social Class: the market as a class strategy in the UK and the USA

TLDR

The market alternative in education is increasingly promoted in policy circles in the UK and the USA, with parental choice and school competition touted as means to raise standards and reduce state intervention. This paper interrogates the arguments for market-based schooling versus public monopoly, concluding that advocates’ claims are partial and flawed. The analysis focuses on how the market fails to address the underlying bases and effects of educational inequalities. The study argues that market mechanisms enable the pursuit of class advantage, producing a differentiated and stratified schooling system.

Abstract

The market alternative in education is gaining ground in policy‐making circles on both sides of the Atlantic. Parental choice and school competition are seen as ways of achieving reform and raising standards while at the same time reducing State intervention into education planning. This paper interrogates the arguments made for markets and against public monopoly schooling; and it is argued that on both counts the claims of advocates are partial and flawed. The failure to address the bases and effects of inequalities of the market are given particular attention. It is argued that markets in education provide the possibility for the pursuit of class advantage and generate a differentiated and stratified system of schooling.