Diminishing inequalities? A critical feminist genealogy of education policy and practice in post-World War II England

Education policy is often considered to be something that has developed incrementally over time, building upon previous policy to ensure the continual improvement of opportunities and ‘life chances’ for children and young people in our schools. Successive governments (depending on the political party in power) may have adopted different policy agendas but the rhetoric within those policies has generally remained the same – they all claim that their policy is essential to further improve schools that invariably need ‘fixing’, in order that our children and young people can make more progress and educational standards can be improved.

The literature on policy tends to focus on it in terms of policy conception, development, dissemination and enactment. This thesis aims to examine and critique current education policy in four key areas – school organisation and structure, the curriculum, assessment and performativity, and teacher education – over four post-war time periods, through a feminist genealogy approach. Using this approach, this thesis posits that as opposed to educational policy developing in an incremental way it is characterised by both continuities and discontinuities through time, with tensions inherent in the centralising and decentralising agendas that have emerged. As such, contemporary and historic education policy is problematized with a focus on dominant discourses – those who exerted power in the process and those excluded from it, in particular women – to demonstrate the contingency of current education policy and consider alternative future possibilities.

The study involved analysis of documentation and policy texts and also included semi-structured interviews with seven women who currently play, or have played, a key role in the national commentary about education. The thesis offers new insights and perspectives on the potential possibilities of education policy for the future and has implications for practice in schools and teacher education.