Description: In both an empirical and a theoretical sense, the forms taken by opposition to government education policy tend to have been under-researched. This paper seeks to describe and analyse the opposition to a central feature of educational reform in England, focusing on 4 local areas - 2 in London, one in the north of England, and one in the south-east. 'Academies' are described by government as 'state-funded independent schools ', and - as the White Paper of 2005 makes clear - are intended as a model for the future organisation of English schooling. The setting-up of an Academy entails the closure of an existing school - controlled by an elected municipal authority - and its replacement by a new, rebuilt institution funded largely by central government and sponsored also by business or religious interests. Because the Academies are seen as 'vertical' interventions into complex, locally-connected school systems they have met significant opposition, which has attempted to mobilise a discourse of local democracy and educational professionalism against an 'enemy' presented as undemocratic and business-orientated. Our research explores the social constitution, discourses, identities, knowledge-producing capacities and mobilising strategies of local campaigns against academies, that have involved both teachers and parents. It thus aims to contribute to an analysis of the field of education policy that in terms of its focus does not overly privilege dominant, policy-making interests, and that facilitates understanding of the policy field as one in which different and conflicting kinds of knowledge, identities, discourses and strategies are in circulation. We make particular use of the theoretical framework developed by Eyerman and Jamison (1991), whose social movement theory emphasises the role of social movements in knowledge and identity-construction. Methodology: Methodologically, our-starting point is on the meaning-making capacities of social actors. Through the critical discursive analysis of interview (we have interviewed c.20 individuals, both teachers and parents) and printed material we explore social actors' construction of the values, strategies and purposes of their campaigns. In addition, drawing from the work of McAdam, Tarrow and Tilly (2001) we intend 'to lodge (such) processes firmly in the give-and-take of social interaction rather than treating them as autonomous social forces'. To do this, we present an account of the political processes involved in the implementation of academies policy, and in the development of opposition to it. Conclusions: 1. Despite its decline over the last decades, opposition to government policy, in the name of alternative conceptions of educational value and purpose, remains socially and politically significant;2. Conceptions of 'the local' provide an important reference point for opposition, and are counterposed to government educational strategies seen as undemocratic, indifferent to local interests, and based on a preference for corporate partnerships;3. Parent and teacher discourses of opposition substantially overlap, though outside city areas parents are more likely to assume the leadership of campaigns.