Difference,discourse and democracy: the making and breaking of policy in the market place

This paper examines the struggles between the principles and structures of governance that centre around notions of welfare and inclusion and frequently contradictory aims based on arguments associated with economic rationality, productivity and performativity as dominant criteria for judging ‘success’. The discussion is extended and explored through an analysis of processes and practices involved in policy-making as it relates to the conflicting aims of ‘raising standards’ and reducing the exclusion of some learners from their local community schools on the grounds of disability or learning difficulty. It draws on selected material from a study of consultation and decision-making relating to the proposed closure of an all-age special school and analyses the use of discourse in two meetings to control agendas. There is a particular focus on the relationship between consultation practices and processes of selection which are normally hidden, and the implications of these for principles of democracy and transparency within the social reconstruction project of New Labour.