Although education, as an activity mandated, sponsored, and supervised by the capitalist state, is as much an apparatus of the state as any other state agency, it is far more democratic, open to change and innovation, and subject to potential community control than any other state apparatus. To understand education's function in a capitalist…

This publication contains two papers on the implications of school decentralization for teacher education, student achievement, and democracy. The first paper, "Devolution in Education Systems: Implications for Teacher Professional Development and Pupil Performance" (Geoff Whitty), explores the way education reform movements for…