New Labour and education

This article documents some of New Labour's education policies which, despite a rhetoric of inclusion, have largely ensured that education remains divided and divisive. Continuing faith in market choice and competition; continuing selection by private, grammar and specialist schools; a ‘diversity’ of schools with unequal intakes and resources; a standards agenda that requires more testing, assessment and centralised control of teachers and the curriculum; and a retention of an academic‐vocational divide has sharpened divisions and insecurities rather than working for the common good. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.