Education Policymaking in the Labour Party Submitted for Th
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The University of Sheffield Colin McCaig Preparing for Government: Education policymaking in the Labour Party Submitted for the degree of Ph.D. September 1999 Defended February 2000 1 Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: The construction of new Labour 39 Chapter Three: The Labour Party and compulsory education 72 Chapter Four: Developments in vocational education and training 100 Chapter Five: Labour and the development of the British university system 127 Chapter Six: Compulsory education; actors, pressure and policy 154 Chapter Seven: Post-compulsory education and training; actors, pressure and policy 219 Chapter Eight: Higher education; actors, pressure and policy 262 Conclusion 294 Bibliography 298 Appendix I: Inter-party consensus tables Appendix II: Persons interviewed for the thesis 2 Preparing for Government: Education policymaking in the Labour Party Colin McCaig Submitted for the degree of Ph.D. Department of Politics September 1999 Summary This thesis sets out to examine changes to the policymaking structure and practice of the Labour Party during the 1994-1997 period, and to link these changes to the adoption of new policies. The leadership of new Labour has used its enhanced autonomy to move closer to the Conservative Party on a number of key education and training policies. The thesis uses manifesto and documentary analysis to illustrate policy movement, and interview evidence with policy actors past and present to trace the changing relationship between the party and the policy community. The thesis concludes that new Labour can best be understood as a synthesis of three elements; changing policymaking practices since the 1980s; the intellectual acceptance of globalisation, flexibility and market forces, which can be dated from the 1987- 1989 policy review; and moral authoritarianism, introduced since the accession of Tony Blair to the leadership and the appointment of David Blunkett as shadow education spokesperson in 1994. The thesis identifies two main currents of thought within the Left‟s educational discourse, egalitarianism and meritocracy, and concludes that new Labour has succeeded in presenting its new policies within the boundaries set by such a broad ideology. In educational terms, the new Labour Government has continued the centralisation of power within the Department for Education and Employment. Other key themes for new Labour include an enthusiasm for employer imperatives in education, institutional diversity in state education and centrally determined pedagogy. In post-compulsory and higher education, the costs and benefits will henceforth be the responsibility of the individual, not the state or employers. The thesis suggests that new Labour is characterised by cultural change rather than structural reform, because its adoption of Conservative positions in education and training has limited the opportunities for radicalism. 3 Chapter One Introduction This thesis sets out to answer two questions about the policymaking practices of both the Labour Party and the education and training polity. Firstly, why is education so high on the political agenda of all parties in the mature democracies, and Britain in particular? and secondly, what is the relationship between the Labour Party and an educational consensus? This initial chapter hopes to set the context for the rest of the thesis by explaining the linkages between education and the labour market and the parallel rise of education as a salient issue among the electorate as measured by opinion polling organisations. The chapter then goes on to explain why this high issues salience to some extent confounds the usual assumptions of policy network theory. The study argues for an educational exceptionalism. The relationship between the Labour Party and educational consensus is treated historically in the first instance, while later chapters detail the policymaking practice of new Labour from 1994 to the present. The thesis contends that changes to the policymaking structure of the Labour Party since 1994 make it easier for the party leadership to make reactive and populist policy changes wherever such opportunities exist, or to stay within the consensus where no populist opportunities existed. In order to establish the existence of consensus on key issues, this chapter breaks the concept down into three areas: inter-party consensus; intra-party consensus; and what can be termed a wider educational consensus. With regard to inter-party consensus, we can measure this quantitatively by examining General Election manifesto pledges for the period 1964 to 1997. This is set out below. The later case study chapters engage in a qualitative assessment of the relationship between Government legislation and Opposition responses. With regard to intra-party consensus, which is crucial to any party that seriously wants to fight an election without internal rancour and open debate, this is traced again throughout the case study chapters. This thesis argues that Labour Party ideology includes two major educational themes which usually have to be reconciled in policymaking and presentation- meritocracy and egalitarianism. The often subtle merging of these major themes is an underlying theme of this thesis which only emerges from a careful study of party documents and public statements which go further than manifesto statements. With regard to an „educational consensus‟, this is taken to mean the positions that key pressure group actors take in relation to educational issues. Often there develops a consensus among practitioners and academic researchers, and again the later case study chapters attempt to trace new Labour‟s relationship with such policy actors. Establishing this relationship between new Labour and the consensus allows us 4 to draw conclusions about new Labour‟s radicalism or caution in relation to the policy community. Examination and analysis of consensus as expressed in party manifestos will follow later in the chapter. For now it is important to establish exactly why education is political. 5 A changing labour market This thesis suggests that new Labour are reactive to changes in demand for labour in the economy. The nature of such changes can be seen in Table 1. Table 1: Employment change, 1978-98 (thousands) Year Ag. & Energ Manu- Constr Total Transport Public Fishi y & facturin -uction services Storage & admin, ng Wate g Communi education r -cation , health 1978 407 713 6773 1254 13878 1474 4968 1979 400 719 6677 1281 14125 1493 4991 1980 393 705 6065 1222 13992 1459 4980 1981 381 673 5617 1098 13798 1399 4952 1982 387 640 5262 1085 13714 1359 4962 1983 372 604 5070 1080 14033 1342 5039 1984 365 576 5018 1074 14322 1336 5077 1985 358 534 4965 1041 14516 1315 5173 1986 348 485 4815 1031 14707 1287 5316 1987 343 462 4832 1074 15237 1304 5508 1988 332 438 4862 1096 15763 1340 5563 1989 322 415 4816 1133 16153 1384 5593 1990 311 392 4572 1117 16319 1395 5656 1991 312 358 4185 1003 16145 1366 5702 1992 313 324 3923 912 16049 1323 5721 1993 310 282 3899 860 16307 1305 5748 1994 279 247 3977 858 16510 1301 5756 1995 277 238 4126 893 17038 1313 5762 1996 328 225 4147 897 17358 1335 5809 1997 328 218 4156 1067 17801 1354 5757 1998 293 217 4064 1117 18189 1418 5803 Source: www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase As we can see there are large falls in the numbers employed in agriculture and fishing, energy and water supply and manufacturing. The construction industry has fluctuated. The big growth areas are in services and public administration, education and health. Looking more closely at the figures, the flexibility of the new labour market can be demonstrated by the changing role of women and the numbers of self-employed. The Labour Force Surveys for 1990 and 1991 shows rises in the numbers of women employed (Table 2): 6 Table 2: Labour Force Survey, Spring 1984- Spring 1991 Category 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 All married 6433 6060 6755 6961 7250 7460 7728 7798 women in employment (thousands) Full-time % 45 45 45 46 47 48 49 50 Part-time % 55 55 55 54 53 52 49 50 Unmarried 3197 2997 3140 3159 3228 3549 3425 3236 (thousands) Full-time % 77 76 75 75 74 74 73 71 Part-time % 23 24 25 25 26 26 27 29 Here we can see the growth in women‟s employment and also the rising proportion of women who work full-time. Self-employment is another indicator of a changing labour market as former large employers down-size and out-source services to previous employees, and new technologies provide new opportunities for small business start-ups: Table 3: Proportion who are self-employed, Spring 1984- Spring 1991 Category 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 Ag & Fishing 48 47 48 49 51 51 52 53 Energy & Water 1 1 - - - - 3 2 Non-fuel Mining 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 Engineering 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 Manufacturing 6 6 6 8 8 9 8 10 Construction 30 32 33 35 38 41 40 40 Distribution 17 17 17 17 17 16 16 15 Transport and 9 8 8 11 10 11 11 10 Communications Banking, finance 12 13 13 14 13 14 15 15 & insurance 7 Other services 6 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 Source: Labour Force Survey 1991 Why education is politically important Education is politically important on the most basic level because it affects everyone. This thesis demonstrates that education has become progressively more important both for the economy and for individuals. Changes in the economy dictate that individuals acquire new skills, that of new ways of delivering education and training are introduced, and that new standards and credentials are provided by the system. Individuals recognise the need to acquaint themselves with these new standards and credentials. Existing qualifications such as A levels and single honours degrees maintain their status and social value as education has become more socially and economically important, but new qualifications emerge Education is also politically important because the education service is the third largest area of public spending in Britain.