{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.01971830985915493, 'fraction_numerical': 0.022535211267605635, 'mean_word_length': 5.771428571428571, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The Changing Politics of Primary Education

This article explores the growing interventionism of central government within primary education. Focusing on developments since the middle 1970s, it examines some key events and ‘moral panics’ which have been used to justify the impetus and character of major structural reforms. It considers how political convictions about educational under-performance have fuelled intensive policy proactivity, most particularly by the 1979–1997 Conservative and the post-1997 ‘New’ Labour governments. Some of the consequences of centralisation are discussed. Recent and current national initiatives are reviewed in order to offer some speculation on possible future scenarios.