Imposition of central control Centralized control is imposed differentially, with private education trusted to be self-regulating, subject only to the market. State education is subjected to strict central regulation, to permit market forces to work. This is seen in the imposition of tight conditions of service on teachers, and the imposition of the National Curriculum. The teachers are subject to strictly regulated conditions of service, as befits workers producing goods for the market place, to ensure productivity and the delivery of products of at least minimum standards. This is the ‘proletarianisation of teachers’ (Brown, 1988 , Scott-Hodgetts, 1988). The National Curriculum imposes quality control and consumer labeling of educational products, like manufactured foodstuffs. Traditional school subjects correspond to cognized ingredient. Assessment results in the differential labeling of student and school achievement, allowing customers (parents) to choose schools according to their market value and their own means. This the commodification of education (Chitty, 1987). The purpose is to emphasize and amplify differences between schools. All the new policies erode whatever equality of provision exists, and This hierarchy mirrors the stratification of society, which it serves to reproduce.