Local Authorities as actors in the emerging ‘school-led’ system in England

Megan Crawford; Bronwen Maxwell; John Coldron; Tim Simkins

doi:10.1080/00131911.2020.1739625

Local Authorities as actors in the emerging ‘school-led’ system in England

Megan Crawford, Bronwen Maxwell, John Coldron, Tim Simkins

Sheffield Hallam University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

155 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Most research to date about the English government’s policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the “macro” level of national policy and at the “micro” level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part explores changes at the “meso” level of the locality. Over a period of six years, 52 semi-structured interviews were carried out with key actors at school, LA and local system levels in three areas. Participants were chosen purposively because of their key positions in the local schooling systems. The article focuses on the role of the LA as an actor in the “school-led” system and explores how LAs are repositioning their role and enacting influence in new ways. The article also discusses how changes in local arenas over time have been affected by the different responses to academisation of primary and secondary schools. The article uses an adaptive theory methodology to bring together theorising set out in earlier articles and theory generated by others, with theory generated from this new analysis.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	788-804
Number of pages	17
Journal	Educational Review
Volume	74
Issue number	4
Early online date	7 Apr 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2020.1739625
Publication status	Published - 7 Jun 2022

Bibliographical note

Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright
owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study,
without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively
from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The
content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium
without the formal permission of the copyright holders.
This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during
the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version
may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from
it.

Keywords

System leadership
educational policy
leadership role
educational improvement
educational change

Access to Document

10.1080/00131911.2020.1739625

Post-PrintAccepted author manuscript, 1.43 MBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

@article{d475b4ea64b04ffbbbf19dbc8dc8f1cc,

title = "Local Authorities as actors in the emerging {\textquoteleft}school-led{\textquoteright} system in England",

abstract = "Most research to date about the English government{\textquoteright}s policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the “macro” level of national policy and at the “micro” level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part explores changes at the “meso” level of the locality. Over a period of six years, 52 semi-structured interviews were carried out with key actors at school, LA and local system levels in three areas. Participants were chosen purposively because of their key positions in the local schooling systems. The article focuses on the role of the LA as an actor in the “school-led” system and explores how LAs are repositioning their role and enacting influence in new ways. The article also discusses how changes in local arenas over time have been affected by the different responses to academisation of primary and secondary schools. The article uses an adaptive theory methodology to bring together theorising set out in earlier articles and theory generated by others, with theory generated from this new analysis.",

keywords = "System leadership, educational policy, leadership role, educational improvement, educational change",

author = "Megan Crawford and Bronwen Maxwell and John Coldron and Tim Simkins",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the author{\textquoteright}s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it. ",

year = "2022",

month = jun,

day = "7",

doi = "10.1080/00131911.2020.1739625",

language = "English",

volume = "74",

pages = "788--804",

journal = "Educational Review",

issn = "0013-1911",

publisher = "Taylor and Francis",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Local Authorities as actors in the emerging ‘school-led’ system in England

AU - Crawford, Megan

AU - Maxwell, Bronwen

AU - Coldron, John

AU - Simkins, Tim

N1 - Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. This document is the author’s post-print version, incorporating any revisions agreed during the peer-review process. Some differences between the published version and this version may remain and you are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.

PY - 2022/6/7

Y1 - 2022/6/7

N2 - Most research to date about the English government’s policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the “macro” level of national policy and at the “micro” level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part explores changes at the “meso” level of the locality. Over a period of six years, 52 semi-structured interviews were carried out with key actors at school, LA and local system levels in three areas. Participants were chosen purposively because of their key positions in the local schooling systems. The article focuses on the role of the LA as an actor in the “school-led” system and explores how LAs are repositioning their role and enacting influence in new ways. The article also discusses how changes in local arenas over time have been affected by the different responses to academisation of primary and secondary schools. The article uses an adaptive theory methodology to bring together theorising set out in earlier articles and theory generated by others, with theory generated from this new analysis.

AB - Most research to date about the English government’s policy to make schools independent of local authorities (LAs) has looked at the “macro” level of national policy and at the “micro” level of the institution. The study of which this article is a part explores changes at the “meso” level of the locality. Over a period of six years, 52 semi-structured interviews were carried out with key actors at school, LA and local system levels in three areas. Participants were chosen purposively because of their key positions in the local schooling systems. The article focuses on the role of the LA as an actor in the “school-led” system and explores how LAs are repositioning their role and enacting influence in new ways. The article also discusses how changes in local arenas over time have been affected by the different responses to academisation of primary and secondary schools. The article uses an adaptive theory methodology to bring together theorising set out in earlier articles and theory generated by others, with theory generated from this new analysis.

KW - System leadership

KW - educational policy

KW - leadership role

KW - educational improvement

KW - educational change

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85083589415&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/00131911.2020.1739625

DO - 10.1080/00131911.2020.1739625

M3 - Article

SN - 0013-1911

VL - 74

SP - 788

EP - 804

JO - Educational Review

JF - Educational Review

IS - 4

ER -

Local Authorities as actors in the emerging ‘school-led’ system in England

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this