also be argued that such monitoring encourages the continuous development of both individuals and institutions, with the consequence of stagnation being failure in the marketplace (Power and Frandji, 2010). Despite this, the breadth of literature concerning issues of performativity suggests that such professional development is motivated by fear (Ball, 2003), rather than by professional aspirations. This ultimately raises the argument that whilst neoliberal principals remove from the profession those that display an ignorance towards continuous development, it is also plausible that effective practitioners are driven away from the profession through demoralisation by performativity (Blackmore and Sachs, 1997). Furthermore, in settings that are trapped in the previously illustrated spiral of decline (Fig.2), a lack of opportunity to raise standards combined with the pressures of performativity may lead to gaming behaviours, rather than a true improvement in the service provided (Ball, 2017). Evidence of such behaviours can be found in the most recent Ofsted annual report (2018), which identified that 4% of pupils dropped off school rolls between years 10 and 11, prior to high-stakes examination, despite it being unlikely that 4% of parents made the decision to home-school their children. This highlights that the nature of education is not sufficiently aligned with that of neoliberalism, ultimately emphasising the thoughts of Shore and Wright (1999), that whilst performativity has the power to reshape institutions in its own image, this does not mean that the image is wholly desirable.

The Landscape of Education:

To fully recognise the significance of neoliberal influences in education, it is helpful not only to evaluate existing effects but to consider how these may subsequently develop in the future (Hirsch, 2002). As mentioned, a market-based system is grounded in the logic that effective enterprises thrive, whilst ineffective enterprises close. Despite this principal, the nature of universal education necessitates that an appropriate amount of school places must remain open, regardless of an outstanding or inadequate classification (Ball, 2017). To remedy this issue, multi-academy trusts (MATs) have been introduced, in many cases involving the grouping of inadequate with outstanding schools, based on the premise that shared expertise shall halt the previously discussed spiral of decline (Fig.2) (Exley, 2014). Initial eva