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Consultants and ‘Consultocracy’: Knowledge Politics

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Consultants and Consultancy: the Case of Education

Part of the book series: Educational Governance Research ((EGTU,volume 4))

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the relationships between consultancy and public policy based on studies of ‘hired in’ expertise and the reform of public education. We focus attention on (i) the reforming by New Labour of school leadership in England in the period post 1997 and (ii) the reforms in primary school literacy, also a totemic reflection of New Labour’s drive towards educational reform, modelled on New Public Management. Locating key agents of ‘specialised expertise’ within each of these reform movements, we identify the involvement of consultants in decision-making. Our extended case study of primary school literacy identifies the important roles of key agents and businesses in ‘reforming’ the modalities and the knowledge. Our focus in this chapter on what we term as ‘the politics of depoliticisation’ assists us in revealing how central areas of a keystone policy can be ‘outsourced’ to private consultants when policy and politics are separated, as was brought about in England post 2010.

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  1. The Manchester Institute of Education, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Helen M. Gunter & Colin Mills

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  1. Helen M. Gunter
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  2. Colin Mills
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Gunter, H.M., Mills, C. (2017). Consultants and ‘Consultocracy’: Knowledge Politics. In: Consultants and Consultancy: the Case of Education. Educational Governance Research, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48879-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48879-0_8

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