Education

• As with healthcare the most radical reforms to education came after 1987
• Thatcher wanted to raise educational standards and deliver more value for money
• Thatcher felt that the teaching profession and Local Education Authorities were hostile to the measures required to fulfil these aims; she thought that they were engaged in a conspiracy to protect inadequate teachers and promote 'soft', 'child-centred' learning rather than measurable academic success
• Keith Joseph, Education Minister 1981-86, began the process of raising standards and creating a national curriculum by merging the old CSE and O-Levels into a single GCSE
• Keith Joseph was hugely interested in education and insisted on personally approving the new syllabuses before they could be taught in schools
• The plans for GCSE were announced in 1984 and the new courses were first taught in 1986 and examined in 1988
• The 1988 Education Act of his successor, Kenneth Baker, built on Joseph's legacy by imposing a National Curriculum, compulsory for all apart from private schools, and new methods of assessment at several 'Key Stages', including the GCSE exams at the end of Key Stage 4
• Exam results formed the basis for league tables, which aimed to empower parents to select better schools for their children and drive up standards
• 'Better' schools were quickly oversubscribed and, as demand for housing within such schools' catchment areas increased, poorer families were priced out and their children forced to attend 'worse' schools
• The Act also allowed schools to become grant-maintained schools, directly funded by the central government, this meant head teachers and governors could control budget and spending rather than the LEA
• Although this aspect of the Act increased the independence of the 1,200 schools that became grant-maintained, the introduction of a National Curriculum meant that, overall, Thatcher's preferred educational reforms led to an increase in central government interference in this area