Includes bibliographical references (p. [132]-139) and index.

1 Researching education policy: some arguments 1 -- Introduction: policy research as contestation 1 -- Arguments for policy research in education 5 -- Purposes of education 8 -- Policy for teachers: direct and indirect rule 10 -- 2 Teachers as a policy case 13 -- Policy stories about teachers 13 -- Professionalism as control 14 -- Reasserting control 18 -- Current state of policy for teachers 20 -- Professional work and flexibility 25 -- Teachers and research 26 -- Redefining education research: key policy texts 29 -- 3 Theory, values and policy research in education 38 -- Defining policy: projects in the study of education policy 38 -- Theory and its uses 42 -- Values in policy research 44 -- Critical theory and social justice 46 -- Principle of choice 49 -- Dealing with complexity 50 -- 4 Context of policy research 56 -- New policy formations 56 -- Post-Fordist pedagogy 57 -- Market principles 59 -- Markets and social justice 60 -- Controversial research on markets in education 62 -- 5 Resources for policy research 68 -- Impact of the policy context on research work in education policy 68 -- Research as labour process 69 -- Researcher as entrepreneur 71 -- Field as a war zone 74 -- Policy-controlled and self-controlled research 76 -- Some methodological resources 81 -- Linking theory and methodology 82 -- Feminist research on policy 83 -- Using women to manage the unmanageable: is this policy? 85 -- Methodological controversies 90 -- Another example of theory-led research: textual analysis 94 -- Policy texts and social exclusion/inclusion 95 -- Exclusion and inclusion: some further investigations 107 -- Researching policy in process 110 -- 6 History and education policy research 114 -- Importance of historical context 114 -- History as progress 117 -- An example: the 1944 Education Act 118 -- Elites in policy 121 -- Interviewing policy makers 125 -- 7 Conclusions: contesting the future? 129.

This text argues for independent, critical research on education policy in the context of attacks on the quality and usefulness of educational research in general.