Place-based governance and leadership in decentralised school systems: evidence from England

Abstract

Relatively few studies have explored the ways in which 'middle tier' institutional arrangements in education, such as school districts and local authorities, are responding to New Public Management reforms characterized by centralization, decentralization, marketization and disintermediation. This paper analyses these issues, drawing on governance and path dependency theories, together with evidence from five locality case studies in England. It finds that the process and impact of 'middle tier' disintermediation is uneven and often fraught, with significant implications for place-based coherence, equity and legitimacy. It shows how national hierarchical mechanisms work in concert to require and/or incentivise change across local school systems, most obviously by reducing the remit and capacity of traditional Local Authorities. This process can open up new opportunities for emerging and existing actors to work together through network and community forms of governance to counteract the negative impact of fragmentation, a process dub 'middle out' change. However, responses and outcomes vary widely across the five localities and productive 'middle out' change is by no means a given, so the article analyses the processes at work and their impact across different contexts. It concludes by assessing implications for research, policy and practice in contemporary education systems.

Governing education in times of crisis: State interventions and school accountabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…A recent aim has been the promotion of a self-improving school-led system based around 'families' of schools, a local solutions approach, and system leadership (Hargreaves, 2010(Hargreaves, , 2012. This has transformed the middle tier of government from local democratic state institutions to a heterarchical governance environment shaped by systems of new public management and a neoliberal ideological priority where marketisation and competition stand central (Greany, 2020). While 'reluctant' towards state management of schools, however, UK governments have retained considerable control over the content of education.…”

Michael Gove’s Heritage: School Governance Reform

“…Some LAs still did not have them in 2019 (Riddell, ibid), despite pressure from RSCs. This could form the sort of 'glue' role for LAs described in Greany (2020) in the future, beyond the scope of this article.…”

“…Beginning as voluntary associations in the early years after the 2010 reform, as the new circumstances were adjusted to, primary schools -hitherto largely 'loyal' to LAs -also began to associate and convert in larger numbers, joining or opening MATs as LAs were forced to offer less and less by way of effective services or support. A third of primaries had converted by the start of the pandemic (Greany, 2020). However, the phase of voluntary association and MAT consolidation and expansion is largely over.…”

“…Accordingly, school improvement work was to be undertaken by a range of participants, including MAT staff, supported by TSC officials. The agreement and allocation of time and support would be take place through a new network of regional, sub-regional and local authority level boards (TSC, ibid), building on both previously established committees to oversee the agreement and implementation of the 'Strategic School Improvement Fund' (another time limited central allocated development budget) and the school partnerships investigated by Hatcher (2014), Riddell (2019) and Greany (2020). These LA level boards are all largely professional-dominated, include all the above listed organisations, MAT CEOs as well as maintained headteachers, and again meet behind closed doors.…”

Structural integration and knowledge exchange in multi-academy trusts: comparing approaches with evidence and theory from non-educational sectors

“…Since their initial development before 2010, the growth of MATs has been rapid and sometimes chaotic, representing a fundamental shift in the organisation, structure and operation of England's school system (Greany and Higham 2018;Courtney and McGinity 2020;Thomson 2020). England's 152 Local Authorities (LAs), which previously had responsibility for overseeing almost all state-funded schools, have been largely hollowed out, while the emergence of MATs and academies has created a more fragmented and less clearly place-based middle tier, with a stronger role for central government in educational delivery (Crawford et al 2020;Greany 2020).…”