This proposal promises a major contribution to the fields of education and social policy by an eminent academic with an excellent track record. There is certainly a 'real need' for this book. As Prof Ball comments, private sector participation in public sector education is a dynamic and highly topical area with fundamental implications for public education both in the UK and abroad. As a recent ESRC-funded seminar series showed, there is a need for conceptual development and clarity in this area, as it is one with which academics in the UK are just beginning to get to grips. Prof Ball is supremely well-placed on three counts to provide this clarity and make a crucial contribution, helping to shape the emerging debate: i) He co-ordinated the
seminar series and is very aware of recent developments here and abroad and the range of different perspectives on the issues concerned. ii) This book will be based on in-depth research by a highly-respected qualitative researcher, and iii) Prof. Ball's history of scholarly analysis around educational policy, and his reputation as an incisive commentator on the recent waves of re-structuring affecting education and social policy. Prof Ball's ability to retain subtleties and complexities in his analyses, and yet still provide hard-hitting critiques will, the proposal suggests, be repeated in this book. For the proposal is particularly strong for being a research-based analysis, and especially (in my view) in the contribution it will make to understanding the roles private sector companies play in new systems of governance of education (throughout the book, but especially ch. 5 focusing on schools) and his critique of 'privatisations' focusing on ethics (ch. 7)
With regard to your remaining questions:
- There is no competition that I know of in the UK, certainly not based on such extensive interviews with private providers, in addition to documentary research. As Prof Ball states, the book will 'break new ground', especially in its indication of alternative futures, over and against a blanket defence of the 'old' public sector.
- As indicated in the proposal, the role of private sector companies in relation to public education is a major issue in the USA and one of growing concern in Australia, but as the blurring of public/private boundaries is an almost global phenomenon, the issues are of concern in very many countries, and therefore there is a wide market for this book.
- The book promises to be of value to undergraduate and graduate students on education, social policy, and political science courses, as well as researchers and academics in these areas.
- With regard to the book dating, although this is an arena of frequent development, the quality and substance of Prof Ball's analysis will ensure that the book retain its value even if specific events change.
I look forward to reading this book, and have no doubt it will make a crucial and lasting contribution to the field.
