Abstract
The focus of this chapter is the UK government’s academies programme in England and the contending forces that characterise this key policy aimed at bringing about transformational change in education.1 First, a brief outline is provided of the programme’s policy context, where the concern is to create more enterprising public institutions exposed to and involving new private players in education. Second, the academies programme is discussed, with particular attention being given to the developing pattern of sponsorship. Third, in the context of an emergent governance system of ‘plural controlled schooling’, two competing hypotheses are put forward: one suggesting that, despite an emphasis on innovation and diversity, academies tend to converge around an instrumentally driven, business-orientated model of entrepreneurialism and educational priorities; the second suggesting diversification, where meanings and practice show significant variations, including opportunities for progressive change. This second hypothesis looks for the degree to which new openings emerge in the programme, creating spaces for educational alternatives nurturing broader understandings of human potentiality and personal capacities for self-determination. The chapter concludes by drawing attention to the deficit in democratic accountability and the importance of the system’s underlying philosophy.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Antonio, R. J. (1998) Mapping Postmodern Social Theory, in Sica, A. (ed) What Is Social Theory? The Philosophical Debates, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 46–49.
Armstrong, D., Bunting, V. and Larsen, J. (2009) Academies: A Model for School Improvement? Key Findings from a Five-Year Longitudinal Evaluation, Management in Education, 23 (3): 118–124.
Ball, S. J. (1994) Education Reform: A Critical and Post-Structural Approach, Buckingham: Open University Press.
Ball, S. J. (2008) The Legacy of ERA, Privatization and the Policy Ratchet, Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 36 (2): 185–199.
Barker, A. and Turner, D. (2007) Academies Restored to the Local Field, Financial Times, 27th September.
Beckett, F. (2007) The Great City Academy Fraud, London: Continuum.
Blair, T. (1998). The Third Way: New Politics for the New Century, London: The Fabian Society.
Burnett, J. (2009) Authentic Assessment in the First Steiner Academy, Management in Education, 23 (3): 118–124.
Castle View Enterprise Academy. (2009) Prospectus 2009, Sunderland: Castle View Enterprise Academy.
Clarke, J. and Newman, J. (1997) The Managerial State, London: SAGE.
The Co-operative Group/Manchester City Council. (2007) Financial and Professional Services Academy in Manchester City Council: Expression of Interest for an Academy, http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/_documents/DfES_FoI_371.pdf, accessed 18th February 2009.
Courpasson, D. and Clegg, S. (2006) Dissolving the Iron Cages? Tocqueville, Michels, Bureaucracy and the Perpetuation of Elite Power, Organization 13 (3): 319–343.
Curtis, A. (2009) Academies and School Diversity, Management in Education, 23 (3): 113–117.
Curtis, A., Exley, S., Sasia, A., Tough, S. and Whitty, G. (2008) The Academies Programme: Progress, Problems and Possibilities: A Report for the Sutton Trust, London: The Sutton Trust and Institute of Education, University of London.
Department for Children, Schools and Families. (2007) The Children’s Plan, Cm 7280, London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.
Department for Education and Skills. (DfES) (2005) What Are Academies? Available online at: http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/academies/.
DiMaggio, P. D. and Powell, W. (1983). The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields, American Sociological Review, 48 (2): 147–160.
Du Gay, P. (2004) Against ‘Enterprise’, Organization, 11 (1): 37–57.
Egan, P. (2006) This Week in the Media—City Academies: Innovation or Just Education? 20/01/2006, press release, London: Royal Society for the Arts.
Fielding, M. (2008) Beyond Student Voice to Democratic Community: An Exploratory Paper, paper presented at ‘New Developments in Student Voice: Shaping Schools for the Future’, Birkbeck College, University of London, 12th June, http://www.ioe.ac.uk/schools/efps/Beyond_Student_Voice_to_Democratic_Community.pdf, accessed 18th February 2009.
Fielding, M. (2009) Public Space and Educational Leadership: Reclaiming and Renewing Our Radical Traditions, in Woods, P. A. and O’Hair, M. J. (eds) special issue on Democracy and School Leadership, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 37 (4): 497–521.
Glatter, R. (2003) Governance and Educational Innovation, in B. Davies and J. West-Burnham (eds) Handbook of Educational Leadership and Management, London: Pearson.
Glatter, R. and Woods, P. A. (1995) Parental Choice and School Decision Making: Operating in a Market-Like Environment, in K-C Wong and K-M Cheung (eds) Educational Leadership and Change: An International Perspective, Hong Kong: Hong.
Gleeson, D. and Knights, D. (2006) ‘Challenging Dualism: Public Professionalism in “Troubled” Times’, Sociology 40 (2): 277–295.
Goldring, E. and Cravens, X. (2008) Teachers’ Academic Focus on Learning in Charter and Traditional Schools, in M. Bereneds, M. G. Springer and H. J. Walberg (eds) Charter School Outcomes, New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gorard, S. (2009) What Are Academies the Answer To? Journal of Education Policy, 24 (1): 101–113.
Hatcher, R. (2009) Setting up Academies, Campaigning Against Them: An Analysis of a Contested Policy Process, Management in Education, 23 (3): 108–112.
Hereford Steiner School. (2006) Academy update, October 16, http://www.herefordwaldorfschool.org/Joomla/content/view/92/151/, accessed January 19, 2008.
House of Commons Select Committee on Education and Skills. (2005) Secondary Education: Fifth Report of Session 2004–05, London: The Stationery Office.
Hill, D., Sanders, M. and Hankin, T. Marxism, Class Analysis and Postmodernism, in D. Hill, P. McLaren, M. Cole and G. Rikowski (eds) Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational Theory, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Jeffrey, R. and Woods, P. E. (2003) The Creative School, London: Routledge-Falmer.
Kingston, P. (2006) Picking Up the Pieces, Education Guardian, 11th April, p. 1.
Kratochwil, F. (2007) Looking Back from Somewhere: Reflections on What Remains ‘Critcial’ in Critical Theory, Review of International Studies, 33: 25–45.
Lochrie, M. (2006) The Learning We Live By: Introduction, in The Learning We Live By: Education Policies for Children, Families and Communities, London: Capacity.
Machin, S. and Wilson, J. (2009) Academy Schools and Pupils Performance, CentrePiece, Spring, 7–8.
Maguire, M. (2005) ‘Textures of Class in the Context of Schooling: The Perceptions of a “Class-crossing” Teacher’, Sociology 39 (3): 427–43.
Manchester Academies Consultation. (2007a) Business & Enterprise Academy, Manchester: Manchester Academies Consultation; downloaded from http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/business_entind.pdf, accessed February 11, 2009.
Manchester Academies Consultation. (2007b) Finance & Business Academy, Manchester: Manchester Academies Consultation; downloaded from http://www.manchester.gov.uk/downloads/finance_businessind.pdf, accessed February 9, 2009.
Manchester City Council. (2006) Manchester’s Education Partnership Launch Building Tomorrow’s Workforce, Developing Tomorrow’s Citizen, Manchester: Manchester City Council.
Marley, D. (2007a) Spreading the Faith at the Double, Times Educational Supplement, 23 March, p. 12.
Marley, D. (2007b) ‘Stand-off Over Academy Push’, Times Educational Supplement, 5 October 2007, p. 7.
Marx, K. (1973) Grundrisse: Introduction to the Critique of Political Economy, Middlesex: Penguin.
Marx, K. and Engels, F. (1967) The Communist Manifesto, Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Meszaros, I. (1970) Marx’s Theory of Alienation, London: The Merlin Press.
National Union of Teachers. (NUT) (2007) Academies—Looking Beyond the Spin: Why the NUT Calls for a Different Approach (London, NUT).
Needham, C. and Gleeson, D. (2006) Academy Schools: Case Unproven, London: Catalyst and Public World collaborative report for the NASUWT.
Newman, J. (2005) Enter the Transformational Leader: Network Governance and the Micro-politics of Modernization, Sociology, 39 (4): 717–734.
Osborne, D. and Gaebler, T. (1992) Reinventing Government, New York: Penguin.
PricewaterhouseCoopers. (2008) Academies Evaluation: Fifth Annual Report, London: Department for Children, Schools and Families.
RSA. (2006) RSA Impact Report 2006, London: Royal Society for the Arts.
RSA Academy. (2009) Prospectus 2009, Tipton: RSA Academy.
School Coop. (2008) Co-op News Article—Trust Schools, downloaded from http://www.beecoop.co.uk/cms/sites/trusts.beecoop.co.uk/files/news-article.pdf, accessed January 29, 2009.
Titcombe, R. (2008) How Academies Threaten the Comprehensive Curriculum, Forum, 50 (1): 49–59.
Tomlinson, M. (2006) Will Academies Make the Grade?, RSA Journal, June, pp. 32–35.
Whitty, G., Edwards, T. and Gewirtz, S. (1993) Specialisation and Choice in Urban Education: the City Technology College Experiment (London, Routledge).
Williams, L., Cate, J. and O’Hair, M. J. (2009) The Boundary-spanning Role of Democratic Learning Communities: Implementing the IDEALS, in Woods, P. A. and O’Hair, M. J. (eds), special issue on Democracy and School Leadership, Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 37 (4): 452–472.
Wilson, M. and Mills, C. (2008) Co-operative Values Make a Difference in the Curriculum and Governance of Schools, Manchester: The Co-operative College.
Woods, G. J., Woods, P. A. and Ashley, M. (2005) Building Bridges Conference: Summary of Outcomes—’Towards a Wider Sense of Community?, Bristol: Faculty of Education, University of the West of England.
Woods, P. A. (2003) ‘Building on Weber to Understand Governance: Exploring the Links Between Identity, Democracy and “Inner Distance”’, Sociology 37 (1): 143–163.
Woods, P. A. (2004) Democratic Leadership: Drawing Distinctions with Distributed Leadership, International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice 7 (1): 3–26.
Woods, P. A. (2005) Democratic Leadership in Education, London: Sage.
Woods, P. A. (2007) Enterprise in Education: All Things to All People?, Keynote, Co-operate to Succeed: Scottish Teachers’ Conference, Co-operative Education Trust Scotland, 1st November.
Woods, P. A. (2009) Rationalisation, Disenchantment and Re-Enchantment: Engaging with Weber’s Sociology of Modernity, in M. Apple, S. J. Ball and L. A. Gandin (eds), International Handbook of the Sociology of Education, London: Routledge.
Woods, P. A. and Broadfoot, P. (2008) Vers le controle pluriel de l’Ecole? La nature chageante du pouvoir dans le système educatif anglais [Towards Plural Controlled Schooling? The Shifting Nature of Power in the English Education System], Revue Internationale de Sevres, 48: 83–95.
Woods, P. A. and Woods, G. J. (2009) Testing a Typology of Entrepreneurialism: Emerging Findings from an Academy with an Enterprise Specialism, Management in Education, 23 (3): 125–129.
Woods, P. A., Woods, G. J. and Gunter, H. (2007) ‘Academy Schools and Entrepreneurialism in Education’, Journal of Education Policy, 22 (2): 263–285.
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2010 Anthony Green
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Woods, P.A. (2010). Academies: Diversity, Economism, and Contending Forces for Change. In: Green, A. (eds) Blair’s Educational Legacy. Marxism and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230115330_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230115330_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-38350-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-11533-0
eBook Packages: Palgrave Education CollectionEducation (R0)