Contrary to ‘Old Labour’ inclinations to end academic selection, and diminish the privileges of private schooling, both traditional features of the English secondary education have been untouched by the ‘New Labour’ Government. More significantly, traditional egalitarian objectives have been rejected as incompatible with a modernised system offering diversity and choice. This paper examines some effects on educational opportunity of policies which have both preserved old forms of relative advantage and created new ones. In the context of the Labour Government's declared commitment to evidence-based policy, the paper focuses more on research than on competing arguments.
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