Third way values and post-school education policy

Analyses of emerging New Labour policy and practice in the post-compulsory education and training sector have been centrally concerned with the role of 'third way' values and politics in the formulation and development of projects and initiatives. Alternative interpretations of the 'third way' conception are examined and located against the background of some flagship schemes, particularly the New Deal Welfare to Work and the University for Industry learndirect initiatives. It is concluded that policies influenced by third way notions involve more rather than less state involvement and centralism than neo-liberal strategies of the past. This New Labour statism - arguably different from both Old Left and New Right centralism - could, conceivably, be justified in terms of achieving the socio-ethical strands of current policy concerned with social inclusion and communitarian approaches to the distribution of educational goods and services in the face of the forces of globalization