Trading in Futures 1st edition

This book is the first to systematically test the key assumptions underlying politicians' faith in educational markets. It links an analysis of parental choice to flows of students between schools and their impact on school effectiveness. The results of this study suggest that the ability to realize choices is dependent on social class, gender and ethnicity and that this can have a negative impact on some schools' performance. Rather than raising standards, the impact of markets is to polarize them, leading to an impoverished education for many students.