In the "World Library of Educationalists," international experts themselves compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces - extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and/practical contributions - so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands of their work and see their contribution to the development of a field.
Stephen Ball has spent the last 20 years researching, thinking and writing about some of the key and enduring issues in Education Policy and Sociology of education. He has contributed over 12 books and 200 articles to the field.
In "Education Policy and Social Class," he brings together 16 of his key writings in one place. Starting with a specially written Introduction, which gives an overview of Stephen's career and contextualises his selection within the development of the field, the chapters are divided into three sections:
* Perspectives on Policy Research
* Policy Technologies and Policy Analysis
* Social Class and Education Policy
This book not only shows how Stephen's thinking has developed during his long and distinguished career; it also gives an insight into the development of the fields to which he contributed.

Bringing together twenty years of research and writing, this book provides an overview of Stephen Balla (TM)s career and shows not only the development of his most important ideas but also the long-lasting contributions he has made to the field of educational policy analysis. This volume contains sixteen key essays divided into three sections:

• perspectives on policy research
• policy technologies and policy analysis
• social class and education policy.

Each chapter presents innovative ways of thinking about public policy, asking probing questions about what policy is, how policy is influenced and what effects intentional and unintentional policies have. As a body of work, this collection raises issues of ethics and social justice which are often neglected in the mass of policies that now affect every aspect of our education systems.