Education policy in England is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly incoherent and it is therefore becoming harder to keep up with, and make sense of, all the changes. This bestselling book looks at the role of the UK as a social laboratory for global education policy. Covering key concepts, it then examines new areas, including: * Global education policy mobility * Edu-business and philanthropy as policy actors * Marketisation of education * Increase in performance gap * Poverty and austerity * Impact of COVID-19 on schools and in education policy * New forms of governance This extensively updated fourth edition by the key author in the field will maintain its place as the most important text on education policy and makes essential reading for all students and anyone interested in education policy more generally.