The modernisation project of the New Labour Government, although distinctive, is not entirely new, and builds on previous projects of modernisation. First wave modernisation in the UK took place in the period of post-war reconstruction in the 1940s and 1950s, where the prevailing political rationality was that of a post-war welfare state solving social problems. The government of education was managed through a professional bureaucracy that promoted public service and operated discursively in traditional democratic mode. Consensus was pursued and there was some degree of shared power between a partnership of policy-makers at central and local level, and teachers. On the surface, education policy was broadly progressive, education was understood as a public good and educational opportunities were extended as a form of redistribution. The deeper structure exhibited inequalities in resources, opportunities and choices of provision, and underlying elitism and hierarchies of esteem. There were differences within the UK; for example grammar school education in England was strongly associated with elite occupations and selective (middle class) mobility. In Scotland, geography and demography combined to promote more inclusive patterns of provision. In both Scotland and England, first wave modernisation was not enough to overcome structural inequalities. However Scotland embraced comprehensive provision in 1965, and has maintained that pattern of provision since, with some evidence of impact on social class-related underachievement (McPherson & Wilms, 1987). In England comprehensive provision was not realised, and differentiation remained the hallmark of English provision. After the economic crisis of the late 1970s, even partial consensus on education broke down, and policy was redirected towards economic growth. This laid the basis for second wave modernisation from the late 1970s onwards, as an increasingly radical Conservative government adopted the ideology of the free market as the core principle for system reorganisation.