Sonia Exley
Biographic Data
| ID | 4238374 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sonia Exley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sonia |
| FAMILY NAME | Exley |
| SIGNATURE | EXLEY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | London School of Economics and Political Science |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4240-3070 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 17 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 90 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Beyond narrow definitions
The OECD reported that the proportions of students enrolled in ‘private schools’ have remained stable since 2000. Drawing on the concepts of endogenous and exogenous privatisation, we question this statement, arguing that school privatisation can be disaggregated into four dimensions: private provision, restricted access, school competition and school autonomy. We operationalise these dimensions using indicators from the PISA school questionnaire…
Levelling up’ access to private tutoring in England
Governments across the world have responded in different ways, and with different types of policy reforms, to the phenomenon of rising private spending on supplementary tutoring. Underlying such differences are diverse discourses surrounding the tutoring industry, giving rise to differing constructions of problems that expanding tutoring may create. In this paper, I draw on Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be’ framework to scrutinise h…
Exploring students' experiences of technical and vocational learning in University Technical Colleges during the pandemic
University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are newly established (since 2010–11) technical and vocational secondary schools in England, catering for young people aged 14–19. The schools focus strongly on delivering vocational, alongside Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)‐focused academic, qualifications. The colleges have been introduced as a new means of improving technical and vocational education and training—a sector which in E…
Locked in
Private supplementary tutoring (PST) is a phenomenon growing throughout the world. Looking at regions such as East Asia where it is already vast and comparing with regions where it remains modest but is rising, some authors have argued that countries must act quickly to discourage negative societal implications which arise when PST grows. One underpinning suggestion here is the notion that addressing PST may be time-critical. Drawing on insights …
Opening up’ Education Policy Making in England – Space for Ordinary Citizens’ Participation
This article explores UK attempts to boost ordinary citizens’ participation in government policy formulation through ‘open policy making’. Drawing primarily on an analysis of government documents dating from 2012–2018 and focusing on the case of the Department for Education in England, the article highlights elite network control of policy making which works to depress ordinary citizens’ democratic input. Groups who do not fit with depoliticised,…
Open Policy Making in the UK - to Whom Might Policy Formulation be 'Opening Up
This article explores recent UK government aspirations towards 'open policy making' (OPM). Against a backdrop of scholarly literatures on power inequalities in policy making, I consider to whom processes of policy formulation under a banner of OPM are expected to be 'opening up'. The article draws on an analysis of government documents from 2012-2018 plus some supplementary data from expert interviews. It notes aspirations towards 'opening up' po…
Selective schooling and its relationship to private tutoring
The notion of selecting students based on academic achievement into different schools at certain points in their educational careers is one that has long been contested in education. In this paper I consider the role selective schooling may play in driving families’ demand for private tutoring – a phenomenon currently growing in many regions of the world. The paper explores the ‘extreme case’ of South Korea – a country with some of the highest sp…
Social administration revisited
This article revisits traditions of observational fieldwork inside welfare institutions which formed a core part of past social administration teaching and research in the United Kingdom. Drawing on archive materials, a historical exploration of journal contents and some supplementary interview data, it is argued that such approaches—though carried out in a less theoretically pluralist, more vocationally‐oriented time for the subject of social po…
Research and Policy in Education
Critical friends’
Discussions charting the changing role of local government in education have often focused extensively on ‘concrete’ policy changes over time, but have provided less detail on the contribution to changing power relations of less tangible shifts. Drawing on Foucauldian notions of discourse and governmentality, in this paper, detailed rationalities of local third-sector and other ‘arm’s length’ actors in English education are explored, with a focus…
Are Quasi‐markets in Education what the B ritish Public Wants
In the context of inconclusive evidence on the extrinsic successes of quasi‐markets, policy defences of school choice and competition in education have often discussed the intrinsic, empowering value of choice for consumers, arguing that school choice for parents is ‘what people want’. Discourses often imply that choice is desired for its own sake rather than merely as a means by which families can escape what are deemed to be poor quality school…
Making working-class parents think more like middle-class parents
In this paper, one policy response to the problem of classed school choice experiences in England is examined. ‘Choice Advisers’ are employed by government to provide advice and information to working class and disadvantaged parents with the aim of ‘empowering’ them to exercise school choice and aspire to ‘better’ schools for their children. However, Advisers have been subjectified by contradictions inherent in policy, expected to solve the probl…
Private Schools, Choice And The Ethical Environment
In this paper, we consider the relationship between the existence of private schools and public attitudes towards questions about educational provision. Data from the 2010 British Social Attitudes survey suggest that parents who choose to send children to private schools may become more entrenched in their support for more extensive forms of parental partiality, with potential ramifications for the future supporting of progressive education polic…
The politics of educational policy making under New Labour
This article draws on data from a study carried out on the evolution of specialist schools under New Labour in England in order to illustrate changes in educational governance. Shifts in policy-making power are highlighted, away from increasingly marginalised traditional corporatist partners, towards ‘denocracy’ (Seldon, 2004) or greater political centralisation. ‘Presidentialisation’ under Prime Minister Tony Blair was accompanied by fast-growin…
Global education policy
Literature on the globalisation of education policy has been prolific in recent years. Discussion, both in academic and policy circles, about the spread and ‘borrowing’ of ideas and policies betwee
Making policy with ‘good ideas’
The proliferation of policy think tanks and more broadly the rise of ‘policy networks’ can be viewed as indicative of important global transformations in the nature of the state. That is, the emergence of new state modalities, with a shift away from government towards forms of polycentric governance, where policy is produced through multiple agencies and multiple sites of discourse generation. This paper addresses some particular aspects of this …
Dimensions of British Identity
Making policy with ‘good ideas’
The proliferation of policy think tanks and more broadly the rise of ‘policy networks’ can be viewed as indicative of important global transformations in the nature of the state. That is, the emergence of new state modalities, with a shift away from government towards forms of polycentric governance, where policy is produced through multiple agencies and multiple sites of discourse generation. This paper addresses some particular aspects of this …
Making working-class parents think more like middle-class parents
In this paper, one policy response to the problem of classed school choice experiences in England is examined. ‘Choice Advisers’ are employed by government to provide advice and information to working class and disadvantaged parents with the aim of ‘empowering’ them to exercise school choice and aspire to ‘better’ schools for their children. However, Advisers have been subjectified by contradictions inherent in policy, expected to solve the probl…
Are Quasi‐markets in Education what the B ritish Public Wants
In the context of inconclusive evidence on the extrinsic successes of quasi‐markets, policy defences of school choice and competition in education have often discussed the intrinsic, empowering value of choice for consumers, arguing that school choice for parents is ‘what people want’. Discourses often imply that choice is desired for its own sake rather than merely as a means by which families can escape what are deemed to be poor quality school…
The politics of educational policy making under New Labour
This article draws on data from a study carried out on the evolution of specialist schools under New Labour in England in order to illustrate changes in educational governance. Shifts in policy-making power are highlighted, away from increasingly marginalised traditional corporatist partners, towards ‘denocracy’ (Seldon, 2004) or greater political centralisation. ‘Presidentialisation’ under Prime Minister Tony Blair was accompanied by fast-growin…
Opening up’ Education Policy Making in England – Space for Ordinary Citizens’ Participation
This article explores UK attempts to boost ordinary citizens’ participation in government policy formulation through ‘open policy making’. Drawing primarily on an analysis of government documents dating from 2012–2018 and focusing on the case of the Department for Education in England, the article highlights elite network control of policy making which works to depress ordinary citizens’ democratic input. Groups who do not fit with depoliticised,…
Social administration revisited
This article revisits traditions of observational fieldwork inside welfare institutions which formed a core part of past social administration teaching and research in the United Kingdom. Drawing on archive materials, a historical exploration of journal contents and some supplementary interview data, it is argued that such approaches—though carried out in a less theoretically pluralist, more vocationally‐oriented time for the subject of social po…
Global education policy
Literature on the globalisation of education policy has been prolific in recent years. Discussion, both in academic and policy circles, about the spread and ‘borrowing’ of ideas and policies betwee
Open Policy Making in the UK - to Whom Might Policy Formulation be 'Opening Up
This article explores recent UK government aspirations towards 'open policy making' (OPM). Against a backdrop of scholarly literatures on power inequalities in policy making, I consider to whom processes of policy formulation under a banner of OPM are expected to be 'opening up'. The article draws on an analysis of government documents from 2012-2018 plus some supplementary data from expert interviews. It notes aspirations towards 'opening up' po…
Selective schooling and its relationship to private tutoring
The notion of selecting students based on academic achievement into different schools at certain points in their educational careers is one that has long been contested in education. In this paper I consider the role selective schooling may play in driving families’ demand for private tutoring – a phenomenon currently growing in many regions of the world. The paper explores the ‘extreme case’ of South Korea – a country with some of the highest sp…
Private Schools, Choice And The Ethical Environment
In this paper, we consider the relationship between the existence of private schools and public attitudes towards questions about educational provision. Data from the 2010 British Social Attitudes survey suggest that parents who choose to send children to private schools may become more entrenched in their support for more extensive forms of parental partiality, with potential ramifications for the future supporting of progressive education polic…
Critical friends’
Discussions charting the changing role of local government in education have often focused extensively on ‘concrete’ policy changes over time, but have provided less detail on the contribution to changing power relations of less tangible shifts. Drawing on Foucauldian notions of discourse and governmentality, in this paper, detailed rationalities of local third-sector and other ‘arm’s length’ actors in English education are explored, with a focus…
Levelling up’ access to private tutoring in England
Governments across the world have responded in different ways, and with different types of policy reforms, to the phenomenon of rising private spending on supplementary tutoring. Underlying such differences are diverse discourses surrounding the tutoring industry, giving rise to differing constructions of problems that expanding tutoring may create. In this paper, I draw on Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be’ framework to scrutinise h…
Dimensions of British Identity
Making policy with ‘good ideas’
The proliferation of policy think tanks and more broadly the rise of ‘policy networks’ can be viewed as indicative of important global transformations in the nature of the state. That is, the emergence of new state modalities, with a shift away from government towards forms of polycentric governance, where policy is produced through multiple agencies and multiple sites of discourse generation. This paper addresses some particular aspects of this …
Global education policy
Literature on the globalisation of education policy has been prolific in recent years. Discussion, both in academic and policy circles, about the spread and ‘borrowing’ of ideas and policies betwee
The politics of educational policy making under New Labour
This article draws on data from a study carried out on the evolution of specialist schools under New Labour in England in order to illustrate changes in educational governance. Shifts in policy-making power are highlighted, away from increasingly marginalised traditional corporatist partners, towards ‘denocracy’ (Seldon, 2004) or greater political centralisation. ‘Presidentialisation’ under Prime Minister Tony Blair was accompanied by fast-growin…
Making working-class parents think more like middle-class parents
In this paper, one policy response to the problem of classed school choice experiences in England is examined. ‘Choice Advisers’ are employed by government to provide advice and information to working class and disadvantaged parents with the aim of ‘empowering’ them to exercise school choice and aspire to ‘better’ schools for their children. However, Advisers have been subjectified by contradictions inherent in policy, expected to solve the probl…
Private Schools, Choice And The Ethical Environment
In this paper, we consider the relationship between the existence of private schools and public attitudes towards questions about educational provision. Data from the 2010 British Social Attitudes survey suggest that parents who choose to send children to private schools may become more entrenched in their support for more extensive forms of parental partiality, with potential ramifications for the future supporting of progressive education polic…
Are Quasi‐markets in Education what the B ritish Public Wants
In the context of inconclusive evidence on the extrinsic successes of quasi‐markets, policy defences of school choice and competition in education have often discussed the intrinsic, empowering value of choice for consumers, arguing that school choice for parents is ‘what people want’. Discourses often imply that choice is desired for its own sake rather than merely as a means by which families can escape what are deemed to be poor quality school…
Critical friends’
Discussions charting the changing role of local government in education have often focused extensively on ‘concrete’ policy changes over time, but have provided less detail on the contribution to changing power relations of less tangible shifts. Drawing on Foucauldian notions of discourse and governmentality, in this paper, detailed rationalities of local third-sector and other ‘arm’s length’ actors in English education are explored, with a focus…
Research and Policy in Education
Selective schooling and its relationship to private tutoring
The notion of selecting students based on academic achievement into different schools at certain points in their educational careers is one that has long been contested in education. In this paper I consider the role selective schooling may play in driving families’ demand for private tutoring – a phenomenon currently growing in many regions of the world. The paper explores the ‘extreme case’ of South Korea – a country with some of the highest sp…
Social administration revisited
This article revisits traditions of observational fieldwork inside welfare institutions which formed a core part of past social administration teaching and research in the United Kingdom. Drawing on archive materials, a historical exploration of journal contents and some supplementary interview data, it is argued that such approaches—though carried out in a less theoretically pluralist, more vocationally‐oriented time for the subject of social po…
Opening up’ Education Policy Making in England – Space for Ordinary Citizens’ Participation
This article explores UK attempts to boost ordinary citizens’ participation in government policy formulation through ‘open policy making’. Drawing primarily on an analysis of government documents dating from 2012–2018 and focusing on the case of the Department for Education in England, the article highlights elite network control of policy making which works to depress ordinary citizens’ democratic input. Groups who do not fit with depoliticised,…
Open Policy Making in the UK - to Whom Might Policy Formulation be 'Opening Up
This article explores recent UK government aspirations towards 'open policy making' (OPM). Against a backdrop of scholarly literatures on power inequalities in policy making, I consider to whom processes of policy formulation under a banner of OPM are expected to be 'opening up'. The article draws on an analysis of government documents from 2012-2018 plus some supplementary data from expert interviews. It notes aspirations towards 'opening up' po…
Locked in
Private supplementary tutoring (PST) is a phenomenon growing throughout the world. Looking at regions such as East Asia where it is already vast and comparing with regions where it remains modest but is rising, some authors have argued that countries must act quickly to discourage negative societal implications which arise when PST grows. One underpinning suggestion here is the notion that addressing PST may be time-critical. Drawing on insights …
Exploring students' experiences of technical and vocational learning in University Technical Colleges during the pandemic
University Technical Colleges (UTCs) are newly established (since 2010–11) technical and vocational secondary schools in England, catering for young people aged 14–19. The schools focus strongly on delivering vocational, alongside Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)‐focused academic, qualifications. The colleges have been introduced as a new means of improving technical and vocational education and training—a sector which in E…
Beyond narrow definitions
The OECD reported that the proportions of students enrolled in ‘private schools’ have remained stable since 2000. Drawing on the concepts of endogenous and exogenous privatisation, we question this statement, arguing that school privatisation can be disaggregated into four dimensions: private provision, restricted access, school competition and school autonomy. We operationalise these dimensions using indicators from the PISA school questionnaire…
Levelling up’ access to private tutoring in England
Governments across the world have responded in different ways, and with different types of policy reforms, to the phenomenon of rising private spending on supplementary tutoring. Underlying such differences are diverse discourses surrounding the tutoring industry, giving rise to differing constructions of problems that expanding tutoring may create. In this paper, I draw on Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be’ framework to scrutinise h…
Sociology (17 works) · Political science (16 works) · Economics (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Politics (9 works) · Public Administration (9 works) · Public Administration (8 works) · Public relations (8 works) · Law (7 works) · Psychology (7 works)