Educational politics - Geoffrey Walford

The 1993 Education Act opened the way for new grant-maintained schools to be established which support particular religious or philosophical beliefs. This change marks a fundamental shift in government policy towards religious schools and is the result of sustained activity by a small number of political pressure groups. - - This book gives an account of that political activity, and focuses on the role of the Christian Schools Campaign which was responsible for significant changes in the 1992 and 1993 Education Acts. This particular group, which represented about 65 small private evangelical Christian schools, has acted with other religious groups and politicians on the new Right to sponsor various amendments to government legislation. - - The book presents a case-study of the activities of a particular pressure group, and a theoretical analysis which focuses on the nature of pressure groups and the importance of networking in pressure group activity.