Partnership, pluralism and education policy: a reassessment

This paper draws on an on‐going research project on ‘Elites in Education Policy‐making’ supported by the Open University's Research Committee. A major aim of the project is to critically evaluate the post‐war ‘partnership’ between LEAs, teachers and the Ministry of Education/Department of Education and Science. A critical re‐assessment of partnership, it is suggested, has implications for the pluralist analysis of policy‐making on which it draws. The paper critically reviews pluralist approaches, and, drawing on evidence from interviews and archive sources, outlines an approach which is historically grounded and state‐centred.