This article seeks to clarify the place of policy studies in education in the meta-field that it terms LAMPS. It is argued that this canon of work has undervalued the merits of a humanistic approach and in doing so has tended to minimize the part played by people. To illustrate what might be possible, it reports on aspects of a longitudinal study, the first of its kind, that set out to examine, evaluate and categorize to what extent, and how, permanent secretaries influence policy. Based on recorded interviews with those who held this office at the DES between 1976 and 2002 and others (senior cabinet members, secretaries of state, junior ministers, special advisers) it argues that while the role of such senior civil servants can be described as ‘meta-political’ they do nevertheless influence policy in significant ways. As such it suggests that their praxis may be located on a continuum of ‘centrism’, five forms of which are identified. From this standpoint, much of the text represents a search for the architect/s of the Education Reform Act 1988 and in doing so focuses on the thinking and contribution of Sir David Hancock – its ‘principal project manager’.

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Headship is widely acknowledged to be a crucial variable in determining the nature and quality of schools. As might be expected, there are numerous studies of headship. In this article Peter Ribbins, Reader in Educational Management at the University of Birmingham, and Brian Sherratt, Head of Great Barr Comprehensive School in Birmingham, report on a new approach to the study of headship in which they have been involved together; an approach which they describe as a dialectic of biography and autobiography.

This article summarises some problems currently faced by the Civil Service and considers how the June 2012 Reform Plan would address them. It focuses on what the Plan might mean for permanent secretaries and their future role in policy making. It seeks to supplement the research on which this aspect of the Plan and its recommendations can be reviewed. For this purpose it draws on a longitudinal study of the eight permanent secretaries at the Department for Education between 1975 and 2011. All were interviewed twice along with 35 relevant others involved in the policy process in education nationally. Following a discussion of the limited literature on permanent secretaries, aspects of the background and career of the eight are examined. Given the importance of "dual leadership" to the Plan, the time in office they had with the 16 Secretaries of State they served was often short -8 less than a year. To facilitate scrutiny of such issues an analytical framework of types is proposed varying according to how far a permanent secretary takes an active or passive part in policy. Examples of each type -making, resisting, shaping, sharing and taking -are discussed. The article concludes with suggestions for future research.

The role of Chancellors of the Exchequer in the making of policy is education has attracted the attention of few researchers, and little has been published that seeks systematically and comprehensively to examine this issue. This is remarkable given that, for most of the last 25 years, this office has been filled by four unusually powerful and long-serving figures. In this paper, the authors, drawing on their interview-based studies of the Secretaries of State and of the Permanent Secretaries who have held office at the Department of Education since 1979, consider the influence of Prime Ministers and Chancellors on educational policy over these years. In this context, the bulk of this paper focuses on the role of Nigel Lawson in the making of the 1988 Education Reform Act. In doing so, it draws on face-to-face interviews with Lawson along with other key participants such as Kenneth Baker and David Hancock. It concludes that, although Lawson may not have been, as he had hoped to be, the architect of the Act, he did exercise an important influence in shaping many of its central characteristics. As such, his claim that he was the catalyst of reform may well be justifie