One policy introduced by the government was the 1988 Education reform act which had many features. One of the features was that it introduced national compulsory testing for ages 7, 11 and 14 which are also known as SATs. The results from these tests would be published in league tables so that it could enable parents to compare the results of different schools in their local area. Because of this parents could then choose the “best” school in terms of results which would create competition between schools for pupils.
Another feature of the act was the introduction of OFSTED which involved rigorous school inspections every 6 years. The inspectors would examine the quality of teaching and facilities at the school and then grade the school on a scale of poor to excellent. Some sociologists would argue that OFSTED created naming and shaming of schools and often this impacted the type of pupils that would attend the school. For example middle class parents would find out that a school near them had satisfactory from OFSTED so would only send their child to a school which had excellent. This then resulted in the “excellent” schools having the middle class children that were more likely to have better grades which resulted in better funding for the school. On the other hand working class children would be left with the satisfactory schools and not improve as these schools receive less funding and notice.
Other policies include the introduction of academy schools which are schools that are sponsored and funded by businesses. Some sociologists such as the new right would believe that this type of school is good as it enables a school to improve on meritocratic principles. However it left less power for the governments in terms of funding for the schools.