National curriculum, testing and market ideas reshaped schools.
The Education Reform Act 1988 introduced major changes including the National Curriculum, testing, local management of schools and stronger choice mechanisms.
It reshaped what schools were expected to teach and measure.
Standards can help create entitlement, but standardisation can also increase pressure on children who learn differently.
A common curriculum is not enough if the route through it is inaccessible.
A common mistake is treating standardisation as fairness. Fairness sometimes needs different routes to the same entitlement.
Who had power here, who was left outside, and what would have changed if the human being was seen first?
These deep dives open out from this part of the timeline.