Review of 'The education debate', by S.J. Ball, Bristol, UK, The Policy Press, 2008, 242 pp., £12.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-86134-920-0

Abstract

In 'The Education Debate', Stephen Ball has written a snapshot of education, and in particular "schooling", policy debates from a uniquely English (not British) perspective, and has also provided a set of conceptual analysis tools which can be used beyond the English setting. The book is very tightly written. By this I mean, that Ball has covered a lot of territory quickly, although not at the expense of detail or clarity. He sets out to keep "sociological jargon" to a minimum (p. 5). There are five chapters in the book following an introduction which contextualises the work in the English schooling setting with a discussion of the ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair's "education education education" policy. This re-centred education as a major area of policy interest, ties education policy development with economic performance and global competitiveness. Ball outlines a policy sociology, reaffirms both the importance of discourse as an underlying concept, and of his treatment of policy not as a product but "a process, something ongoing, interactional and unstable" (p. 7).