Original article can be found at : http://www.informaworld.com/ Copyright Taylor & Francis [Full text of this article is not available in the UHRA]The academy schools programme in England is presented by Government as the means by which increased diversity and private participation in the provision of public education can be used to solve educational and wider social problems. The entrepreneurial features of academy schools are examined, through a study of the sponsors and the ethos, values and specialisms of academies. Data on 58 academies (open or in development), gathered from secondary sources, are analysed. Four types of entrepreneurialism are used to review the findings and it is found that business entrepreneurialism strongly features as a normalising presence, with forms of cultural and social entrepreneurialism also apparent. Public entrepreneurialism is represented but is less evident than the other forms. The emerging pattern of participation in the academies programme suggests that existing structural advantages in the fields of business and the church are being replicated and strengthened, and so academies are predominantly being constructed as sites intended to enhance the growing influence of private versions of entrepreneurialism. It is also recognised, however, that academies represent an unfolding programme and that how it develops over time is subject to complex national and local factors, including the agency of groups and individuals differently positioned in their fields

This article reports and interprets the findings of a study of headteachers' views and perceptions of continuing professional development (CPD) provision and their ongoing CPD needs and priorities, carried out in 2007 in Scotland, involving headteachers from the primary and secondary sectors. Topic areas in which headteachers generally were most likely to perceive a need for professional development included: dispersing leadership (empowerment, coaching and building leadership capacity); management skills concerning underachieving staff and learning and teaching; time for reflection (encompassing holistic needs). A need for more time and opportunities for reflection is a theme that pervaded the responses of headteachers, with reflection including cognitive and technical, as well as affective, ethical and spiritual aspects. New headteachers emphasised the technical challenges of the post, enhancing knowledge and understanding of leadership, sustaining/ rebuilding confidence, and improved support and information. Established headteachers, whilst also highlighting knowledge and understanding of leadership, particularly emphasised the value of sabbaticals, secondments and time for reflection. In discussing the findings, the article considers the importance of learning through 'disturbance' of taken-for-granted assumptions, of a holistic approach to professional development, and of thinking and acting systemically.

In England a restructured school system has been functioning throughout the 1990s. An integral aspect of this restructuring is the creation of a more competitive public-market school system aimed at enhancing parental opportunities for choice amongst publicly-funded schools. What has been the experience of the restructured system by one particular group of parents with speci c needs and preferences, namely parents of students with special educational needs (SEN)? This article is intended to provide empirically-based insights into the preferences, perceptions and responses of such parents. It draws on analyses of quantitative and qualitative data generated by a large-scale, more general research study on school choice, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ref. no. R000234079) . The ndings reveal the depth and range of problems and dif culties encountered by parents of SEN students as they attempt to exercise choice in a more competitive public-market environment.

This paper undertakes what might be described as an exploratory consideration of Steiner Waldorf education to see what light such an examination might throw upon and contribute to policy debates on spiritual education 1 . The paper seeks, through this, to further dialogue between Steiner Waldorf education and the 'mainstream' approaches to schooling represented in the UK state system, and considers possible research directions and policy strategies.

This article outlines an analytical framework that enables analysis of degrees of democracy in a school or other organizational setting. It is founded in a holistic conception of democracy, which is a model of working together that aspires to truth, goodness, and meaning and the participation of all. We suggest that the analytical framework can be used not only for research purposes but also to help enhance democratic professional participation. It is a resource for collaborative professional development by practitioners, offering a vehicle for school communities to reflect together on where they are as a school and where they would like to be.