Refers to the process of introducing market forces of consumer choice and competition between suppliers into areas run by the state, such as education.
Marketisation has created an 'education market' by:
Reducing direct state control over education
Increasing both competition between schools and parental choice of school
Marketisation has become a central theme of government education policy since 1988 Education Reform Act, introduced by Margret Thatcher
Policies to promote marketisation
Business sponsorships of schools | Open enrolment, allowing successful schools to recruit more pupils | Schools having to compete to attract pupils
Despite the claimed benefits of marketisation, critics argue that it has increased inequalities e.g.
Stephen Ball & Geoff Whitty (1998) note how marketisation policies such as exam league tables and the funding formula reproduce class inequalities by creating inequalities between schools
