Every Child Matters represents the most radical change to education and welfare provision in almost two decades. This book moves beyond a descriptive ‘how to’ framework to examine the underlying political and social aims of this policy agenda.

The authors’ analysis reveals that Every Child Matters represents the Government’s attempt to codify perceived risks in society and to formulate their responses. In doing so, children are made the strategic focus of much wider social policy reform, the effects of which are first felt in education. Does Every Child Matter? explores the ramifications of this along three key lines of analysis:

• the restructuring of the state beyond its welfare functions
• changes in governance and the creation of new binaries
• a redefining of the education sector around the needs of the child.

This book provides a unique and insightful critique of Every Child Matters and its contribution to understandings of New Labour social policy. It locates the genesis of the policy in terms of its social, political and historical contexts and questions the validity of constructing social policy around issues of child welfare. Students, academics and researchers in education studies and education policy will find this book of great interest.