Educational Accountability and Market Ideology: some socio-legal considerations

Sociology of education, particularly in Britain and to a limited extent the USA, is examined in its relations to law and socio-legal discourse. It is argued that in order to develop our understanding of educational accountability a fuller exploration of the institutional interface between law and education will be required. Several lines of scholarship and empirical inquiry are suggested, particularly with respect to the functions of law professionals and legal institutions in the contexts of 'public choice', 'juridification' and the institutionalisation of irresponsibility in education.