An analysis of the relationship between labour party values and beliefs and educational ideas since 1900.

This book offers a detailed account of the way that social democracy today makes sense of capitalism. In particular, it challenges the idea that social democracy has gone "neoliberal," arguing that so-called Third Way policies seem to have brought out new aspects of a thoroughgoing social interventionism with roots deep in the history of social democracy. Author Jenny Andersson expertly develops the claim that what distinguishes today's social democracy from the past is the way that it equates cultural and social values with economic values, which in turn places a premium on individuals who are capable of succeeding in the knowledge economy. Offering an insightful study of Britain's New Labour and Sweden's SAP, and of the political cultural transformations that have taken place in those countries, this is the first book that looks seriously into how the economic, social, and cultural policies of contemporary social democracy fit together to form a particular understanding of capitalism and capitalist politics.

Tina Besley has edited this collection which examines and critiques the ways that different countries, particularly Commonwealth and European states, assess the quality of educational research in publicly funded higher education institutions. Such assessment often ranks universities, departments and even individual academics, and plays an important role in determining the allocation of funding to support university research.

This book introduces students to the diversity of theoretical perspectives on welfare, both illuminating the distinctiveness of each ideology and highlighting important continuities in thought. It goes on to illustrate how these theories are reflected in and challenge the development of welfare policy.

Education, Individualization and Neoliberalism questions the individualization process in education in the Anglo-American context and analyses how this process is applied in the everyday life of millennials with tertiary education in Southern Europe. Valerie Visanich explores the close affinity of this concept to neoliberalism in contemporary societies, specifically by focusing on changes in education and employment. Using Beck & Beck-Gernsheim's concept of individualization to refer to increased freedom in one's life choices yet at the same time increased risks, Visanich unpacks the trajectories of life experiences of tertiary educated millennials in the contemporary neoliberal Anglo-American setting in relation to recent cultural and socio-economic changes. She examines how this individualized mode is adopted and adapted in countries across Southern Europe including Italy, Spain, Portugal, Malta and Greece – in locations where cultural conditions habitually cushion-out, often by family networks and patronage, some of the burdens of being young today.

Written by leading international scholars, Twentieth Century Britain investigates key moments, themes and identities in the past century. Engaging with cutting-edge research and debate, the essays in the volume combine discussion of the major issues currently preoccupying historians of the twentieth century with clear guidance on new directions in the theories and methodologies of modern British social, cultural and economic history. Divided into three, the first section of the book addresses key concepts historians use to think about the century, notably, class, gender and national identity. Organised chronologically, the book then explores topical thematic issues, such as multicultural Britain, religion and citizenship. Representing changes in the field, some chapters represent more recent fields of historical inquiry, such as modernity and sexuality.

A key textbook for Education Studies providing an insight into some of the issues and dilemmas faced by education in the UK and internationally.

For fifty years Shirley Williams has been one of Britain's best-known and best-loved politicians, admired for her warmth, sincerity, integrity and compassion. Hailing from an impeccable intellectual background, the young Shirley seemed destined for great things as she rose effortlessly up the political ladder. Yet for all the talk of her becoming the country's first female Prime Minister that accolade passed her by, her feisty independence earning her a career that has been anything but perpetual sunshine. In this first-ever biography, Mark Peel explores the dilemma that has faced Williams throughout the highs and lows of her political life: how to tread the line between firmly held principles and party solidarity. Drawing on his unfettered access to the family archive and conversations with Williams's colleagues, Peel skilfully teases out the contradictions at the heart of this remarkable character. Shirley Williams: The Biography reveals the surprisingly vulnerable figure behind the reassuring public façade. It uncovers the expectations placed on Williams by her highly ambitious parents, her guilt about her privileged background, and her often tumultuous personal relationships. The result is a touching, intimate portrait of one of the most complex and popular politicians of our time, a woman who through good times and bad has retained her essential humanity.

This book explores the development of education in France and England from the French Revolution to the outbreak of World War II. The author uses social equality as a framework to compare and contrast the educational systems of both countries and to emphasise the distinctive ideological legacies at the heart of both systems. The author analyses how the French Revolution prompted the emergence of an egalitarian ideology in education that in turn was crucial for propagating the values of equality, patriotism and unity. In tandem, the volume discusses the equally dramatic consequences of the Industrial Revolution for English society: while England led the world by 1800 in trade, commerce and industry, a strict form of liberalism and minimal state intervention impeded the reduction of educational inequality. This pioneering book will be of interest to students and scholars of educational equality as well as the history of education in France and England.

Before the Second World War, only about 20% of the population went to secondary school and barely 2% to university; today everyone goes to secondary school and half of all young people go to university. How did we get here from there? The Crisis of the Meritocracy answers this question not by looking to politicians and educational reforms, but to the revolution in attitudes and expectations amongst the post-war British public - the rights guaranteed by the welfare state, the hope of a better life for one's children, widespread upward mobility from manual to non-manual occupations, confidence in the importance of education in a 'learning society' and a 'knowledge economy'. As a result of these transformations, 'meritocracy' - the idea that a few should be selected to succeed - has been challenged by democracy and its wider understandings of equal opportunity across the life course. At a time when doubts have arisen about whether we need so many students, and amidst calls for a return to grammar-school selection at 11, the tension between meritocracy and democracy remains vital to understanding why our grandparents, our parents, ourselves and our children have sought and got more and more education - and to what end.