Turbulence masquerading as change: Exploring 14-19 policy

Jacky Lumby and Nick Foskett

Since Margaret Thatcher's first term in 1979, three waves of policy to develop and reform 14-19 education can be identified. Each has adopted a specific major strategy for change: a first wave focused on the use of agencies and initiatives, a second on adjustments in education structure/organisation, and a third on curriculum change. This has led to the conviction that change has been persistent and significant. This paper explores the generally accepted perceptions of policy change and its effects. It suggests that much of the perception is based on myths and that despite repeated policy change, 14-19 education remains a phase of contradiction, conflict and confusion. It also suggests that the busyness of policy change conceals the steady state of underlying values and calculations of advantage to those groups with most power. Rather than a failure to learn, the most powerful continue to calculate their most advantageous course with acumen.

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