United Kingdom

The United Kingdom (UK) comprises the nations of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, each of which has a separate administration with responsibility for education policy. The study of education systems within the UK is therefore effectively comparative in nature, although there are broad similarities between the different systems, given a shared history and the ongoing frameworks for administering schools and general qualifications. England is the largest and most influential of the UK nations, and it has the most liberalized education system of any European country. As Stephen Ball has illustrated, English [Page 822]education has played an important role in the export of policies like privatization, school-based management, and parental choice around the globe. England has also imported policy ideas, perhaps most notably, the general ...