Education is assumed to be a mechanism to achieve greater social equality. There is also a widely held assumption that education is about providing social justice and democracy. However, equality of opportunity and meritocracy are also about the promotion of inequality. In the meritocratic sort, there will be people regarded as winners and others regarded as losers. The aspiration nation agenda is about raising aspirations, but not the individual learner's chosen or preferred aspirations. The agenda confuses low aspirations with different aspirations. It is possible to lead a happy life without high-level qualifications. ‘Unqualified’ and ‘underqualified’ individuals are humans and of equal status, as much conscious agents as ‘qualified’ individuals. It should not be assumed that they have a diminished sense of self-confidence, limited ability to exercise human agency or potential to transform themselves and initiate their chosen projects in the places they inhabit. People who have little or no desire for paper qualifications remain ‘people’, and like all people are motivated to learn what is directly relevant to their personal lives and interests. They can do this without the need for teachers trained in character building, therapeutic techniques, support workers, or peer mentors.

The aspiration industry is an assemblage of organisations tasked with a defined role in bringing about the successful achievement of neoliberal policy objectives. Schools do not operate outside of performance indicators – forms of bureaucratic/administrative audit/surveillance – and school inspections are focused on the degree to which schools perform against benchmarks in relation to learners’ achievement in public examinations and character. School improvement and effectiveness researchers are tasked with finding ways of assisting schools to improve and be more effective in terms of their performance. According to the research in the field there are several key indicators of school effectiveness: school capacity and ability to build capacity; a strong and supportive school culture/climate/ethos; and strong leadership. Through analysing six descriptive case studies of schools, it was found that school policies, mission statements, and Ofsted inspection reports are organised around these key indicators and that the concepts themselves form the focus of research in the field.

Drawing on Foucault and Bourdieu, the role of the school can be seen as focused on policing the social and intimate life of the learner. Consequently, education is political in nature and function.