Education policy in England is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly incoherent and it is therefore becoming harder to keep up with, and make sense of, all the changes. This bestselling book looks at the role of the UK as a social laboratory for global education policy. Covering key concepts, it then examines new areas, including:

• Global education policy mobility

• Edu-business and philanthropy as policy actors

• Marketisation of education

• Increase in performance gap

• Poverty and austerity

• Impact of COVID-19 on schools and in education policy

• New forms of governance

This extensively updated fourth edition by the key author in the field will maintain its place as the most important text on education policy and makes essential reading for all students and anyone interested in education policy more generally.

"Stephen Ball is one of the few academics who can embrace policy, research and learning with a fierce and illuminating critical spirit." Richard Andrews, University of East Anglia
"This must-read book is forensic in its analysis and points to the imperative for new thinking on education." Hugh Lauder, University of Bath
"Informative, wise and angry in equal measure about the continued injustices meted out to students in the guise of 'progress', 'what works' and equity." Pat Thomson, University of Nottingham
"[This] detailed study of all governments since 1976 and of the idiosyncrasies of their respective policies... provides academics but also the general public with tools which help them to fully understand the nuances in evolutions which may first appear inconsequential or inconsistent." Les Cahiers du GRASP
"This invaluable new edition of this powerful and provocative book offers fresh insights into political context and policy narratives." Phillip Brown, Cardiff University

Stephen J. Ball is Distinguished Service Professor of Sociology of Education at the University College London Institute of Education. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2006; and is also Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences; and Society of Educational Studies, and a Laureate of Kappa Delta Phi; he has honorary doctorates from the Universities of Turku (Finland), and Leicester. He is co-founder and Managing Editor of the Journal of Education Policy.

His main areas of interest are in sociologically informed education policy analysis and the relationships between education, education policy and social class. He has written 20 books and had published over 140 journal articles. Recent books: Edu.Net (Routledge 2017) and Foucault as Educator (Springer 2017).