Market Forces, Choice and Diversity in Education: The Early Impact

This paper provides an overview of some of the findings of a recently completedstudy of school choice in 33 local schools which may be indicative of the effectof an increase in the marketisation of schools. Since it is unlikely that debateover parental choice can be settled by theoretical argument alone and it mayalso be too early to understand the full implications of the relevant recentgovernmental reforms in the UK, results from research in other sectors ofeducation can be used in the interim. The research presented here is partlybased upon a limited market model of cheap fee-paying schools. This market hasbeen established for a long time, and so some of the benefits or damage causedby markets in education may already be observable in operation.