Education

Abstract

Responsibility for education is highly fragmented in Britain. There is a division between schools, further and higher education and within each sector there is a wide range of institutions delivering the service. Prior to the 1980s, education policy was set down by central government which also largely funded the service. Local education authorities (LEAs) had responsibility for implementing policy, except for the university sector, which consisted of autonomous chartered bodies. Schools and further education (FE) colleges had a great deal of autonomy in delivering the curriculum but LEAs allocated funds and administered them. The teaching professions and national examination boards largely determined the content of the curriculum. This tripartite structure of central government, LEAs and universities, and the teaching professions was accompanied by a largely bipartisan approach to education (McVicar, 1996).