Geoff Whitty is Karl Mannheim Professor of Sociology of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London. He specialises in sociology of the curriculum and sociology of education policy and has previously held chairs at Bristol University and Goldsmiths College. He is author of Sociology and School Knowledge and co-author of The State and Private Education and Specialisation and Choice in Urban Education. Sally Power is a lecturer in education in the National Development Centre for Educational Management and Policy in the School of Education at the University of Bristol. Her research interests include the sociology of education and the secondary school curriculum. She is author of The Pastoral and the Academic: Conflict and Contradiction in the Curriculum and co-author of Grant Maintained Schools: Education in the Marketplace. David Halpin is Professor of Education at Goldsmiths College, University of London, where he is responsible for research development. He is a former Deputy Headteacher of a comprehensive school in the north of England and has been a lecturer at the University of Warwick. He is co-author of Grant Maintained Schools: Education in the Marketplace and co-editor of Researching Education Policy: Ethical and Methodological Issues.