Parental choice of secondary schools in the Hutt Valley

Abstract

Parental Choice in education has become a "site of struggle" GRACE,G. "Labour and Education: the Crises and Settlements of Education Policy" in Holland, M. and Boston, J. (eds) The Fourth Labour Government (Auckland, Oxford University Press) Second Edition, 1990. pp.165 -191 for policy-makers in Western countries since the 1980's. Prior to this, state-funded education was traditionally provided in local, neighbourhood schools with students being required to attend their nearest school, the main choice option available for parents being to pay for tuition in private or independent schools. During the last decade there has been much political debate regarding educational standards, with the competition implicit in parental choice of state schools being viewed by some as the required stimulus for improvement in the performance of schools and the outcomes of the educative process. This was one of the themes taken up by President Reagan in his efforts to become the "Education President" of the United States of America.