Since February 2009 , this blog and Huib's 3 other Euroblogs are together at:

AT HOME IN EUROPE [EU] (at EURACTIV)
- In Europa Zu Hause [DE]
- L'Europe Chez Soi [FR]
- At Home in Europe [EN]
- In Europa Thuis [NL]

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

UK Education Reform

Wednesday, the UK Parliament is to vote on the Government's proposals for a vast education overhaul. Like Philip Stephens in the Financial Times (13 March) does, I am not to dwell on interesting but superficial and annoying considerations on consequences for Labour, Blair, or the Conservatives.
I have questions, questions questions.
Questions on what all this would mean for the necessary boost in quality of British education.Questions on equality of chances and of access to education.Questions on what is meant by 'diversity' to be introduced - Is it a consecration of social class differences in education?And, how does introduction of market-driven concurrence, privatisation and further elimination of democratically elected local authorities from the school-boards, fit into the historical trend that seems to indicate, that marginalised communities and categories from within the population are more and more left alone? (Look here, on my French Blog).
Or is it a modernisation, that accounts for 'diversities' that were inexistent, when generally obligatory school attendance at Government financed schools was introduced?From what I saw in publications about this subject in the press, I get an impression, that the British ways are more cautious, than the Dutch school reforms of recent years.
In Holland, the organisation of education and the management of privatised, or independent entities, that are burdened with an enormous and growing bureaucracy, lies at the centre of Government measures. The Dutch try to solve the problems, generated by that growing bureaucracy, by reorganising educational institutions into ever bigger regional mergers, so as to produce economy of scale on the top levels. The educational problems that are generated by that oversizing are not being met.
Is the British approach more cautious? Does it better meet the Lisbon benchmarks?
I crave for your comments.

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