MARKETS AND THE ENGLISH - RETHINKING EDUCATIONAL RESTRUCTURING AS INSTITUTIONAL DESIGN

This Paper analyses the concerns, parameters and silences emerging in the field of English research on contemporary educational restructurin g. The research effort oriented to the investigation of Thatcherism an d the marketisation of education is documented Its strong emphasis on markets and processes of marketisation and its neglect of alternatives to Thatcherism is noted. This pattern of emphases and silences in res earch seems to have arisen as a result of changes in the research-poli cy context, and because of the way Thatcherism has been conceptualised in educational research. I argue that these developments have encoura ged a narrowing of both research and political horizons in education. I suggest that a more comprehensive framework for analysing educationa l restructuring can be developed by recontextualising Thatcherism and drawing on recent social science research on institutional design. Suc h a framework would appear to offer a basis for tackling the empirical and normative work of assessing probable futures and the possibilitie s of preferred futures in the practical work of education reform.