The Myth of School Autonomy: Centralisation as the Determinant of English Educational Politics

Autor/in	Fisher, Trevor
Titel	The Myth of School Autonomy: Centralisation as the Determinant of English Educational Politics
Quelle	In: FORUM: for promoting 3-19 comprehensive education, 54 (2012) 2, S.231-246 (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0963-8253
DOI	10.2304/forum.2012.54.2.231
Schlagwörter	Educational Change; Government School Relationship; Centralization; Politics of Education; Institutional Autonomy; Power Structure; Administrative Policy; Administrative Principles; Educational Administration; Educational Policy; Policy Analysis; Political Attitudes; School Restructuring; Change Strategies; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Bildungsreform; Centralisation; Zentralisierung; Educational policy; Bildungspolitik; Institutionelle Autonomie; Bildungsverwaltung; Schuladministration; Schulverwaltung; Politics of education; Politikfeldanalyse; Political attitude; Politische Einstellung; Schulreformplan; Schulumwandlung; Lösungsstrategie; Großbritannien
Abstract	Following his previous article in this journal on the centralisation of power in English education post the 1988 Education Reform Act ("The Era of Centralisation", "FORUM", 50[2], pp. 255-261), the author considers the apparent turn to school autonomy central to the Conservative Educational Revolution. He argues that the power shift to the centre is accelerated by the Revolution, which is destroying democratically elected local authority provision and enhancing the power of the Secretary of State to arbitrary levels. The rhetoric of the all powerful head teacher in control of the school is contradicted by centrally determined priorities, notably EBac, and the power of the media to represent the school to its community by performance tables. This continues the attempt to manipulate schools which New Labour attempted by its Diploma programme, but in the context of a narrow 1950s grammar school curriculum. The autonomy given to schools is essentially operational, notably over admissions and curriculum, but is constrained by league tables and government control of finance and service delivery contracts. (Contains 12 notes.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10