The marketisation of English School Leadership?

Author(s):

Linda Hammersley-Fletcher(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

23 SES 04 A, Policy Reforms and the Regulation of Teachers’ Work

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-09

09:00-10:30

Room:

417.Oktatóterem [C]

Chair:

Peter Kelly

Contribution

The goal for the European Union is explicitly to develop the “most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world” (Moutsios, 2007, p. 19). The marketisation and privatisation of English schools is part of a wider European drive to dismantle centralised educational bureaucracy in an effort to bring educational policy closer to economic requirements, largely influenced by non-European states such as Australia, Canada and the United States of America (Helgøy et al, 2007; Moutsios, 2007). Moreover the process of data comparison has enabled success or failure to be highlighted at an international level (Nóvoa and Yariv-Mashal, 2003). The decentralisation of educational bureaucracy runs alongside a form of re-regulation where quality, performance and targets are measured (Helgøy et al, 2007). This is a tension faced by schools and their leaders where political narratives stress new levels of autonomy whilst at the same time act to constrain this autonomy through the operation of accountability systems. As a consequence teachers face pressures to focus on students that perform better thus protecting the reputation and attractiveness of particular schools but with implications for issues of social justice (Braga et al, 2011).

The degree of autonomy in English schools could be argued to have been far greater than in the rest of Europe (Glatter, 2012) and as Helgøy and Homme (2007) posit, the kind of autonomy held influences the ability of the profession to influence practice. For example, Sleegers and Wesselingh (2006) discuss autonomy in relation to Dutch schools where roles for schools in terms of establishing social order, work against the ability to be autonomous. They go on to assert that in Sweden where individual autonomy is emphasized then the ability to influence national policy is weakened together with a reduction in the authority of the profession. However, Helgøy and Homme argue that in Norway a sense of teacher’s holding not individual but collective autonomy, allows these teachers to influence policy. In England systems of educational ‘deliverology’ (Barber et.al., 2010) have challenged educational leaders’ sense of autonomy, acting to engender a sense of division and isolation making the role of educational leaders at best stressful and at worst untenable (Cribb and Ball, 2010).

This paper considers the position that English school leaders adopt in relation to questions of autonomy and the ways in which they may protect or relinquish it. Moreover the paper investigates whether particular values influence particular leaders in particular ways through exploring the life-histories of a small sample of head teachers in relation to what drove them to choose the teaching profession and then to become educational leaders. Leaders develop their professional abilities against a backdrop of their particular experiences, moral values and attributes, all of which develop throughout their life (Inman, 2011). The society and culture within which leaders are situated will influence their assumptions and values (Gronn, 1999). School leaders thus act on the basis of their perceptions of the situation, their perspectives of the contextual conditions within which they are operating and the ways in which these perspectives are acted upon (Ribbins, 1995).

Method

Qualitative enquiry provides focus and boundaries for comparing and developing theoretical or conceptual outcomes (Morse,1994). This research looks at the lived experiences of English school head teachers utilising their own interpretations and perspectives (Schwandt, 1994). As a consequence account is taken of the multiple and contingent realities and the additional complexities of these being an interpretation at a particular time and for a particular purpose (Woods, 1983). Data are gathered through both interview and written accounts from 15 school head teachers in the North-West Region of England. Written responses gave broad base-line data whilst the interviews enriched and added greater clarity and depth to the initial data collected. As Schostak (2006) argues, the interview is a means for gaining a greater insight into the experiences, interests, ways of understanding and being of the other person through paying attention to what is being said. The researcher can moreover control and guide the interview to explore areas of interest more fully (Denscombe, 2007). Further one-to-one interviews conducted as a conversation are a useful strategy for gathering life-histories (Goodson and Sikes, 2001) Data were derived from an opportunity sample comprising 10 primary school leaders (schools taking children from age 4 to 11years) and 5 from high schools (schools taking children from 11 to 16 or 18 years). Respondents commented upon what drew them into teaching and school leadership and where they saw the tensions in their working lives in relation to educational values. Head teachers were identified through teacher contacts who asked whether they would be willing to engage in this research. The schools they represented included a mix of those in areas of social and economic deprivation to those located in ‘leafy suburbs’. Written responses varied from between 2 to 4 pages in length and interviews lasted for approximately an hour. Analysis was conducted through reading and re-reading responses so that emerging themes could be identified and initial codings recorded. These codings were checked and re-checked adding to the detail and complexity of the themes (Charmaz, 2006). Through this approach it was possible to begin to see the world through the eyes of the research participant (Charmaz). In this way the interpretations were ordered and a scaffold of interpretations developed (Spencer et.al., 2003). Moreover the perceptions of the respondents were exposed through their descriptions of their own views and practices (Sfard and Prusak, 2005).

Expected Outcomes

Through exploring the accounts given of the pathways into teaching and leadership of 15 English head teachers, I argue that these School leaders are finding it increasingly challenging to match the values that they brought to their profession, with the policy initiatives and imperatives around particular forms of accountability which give at best only a partial story about the effectiveness of the education taking place within their schools. I posit that these head teachers are increasingly having to develop a marketised view of education in order to survive, which leads to an increased risk to agendas around social justice. This tension causes these heads to suffer sleepless nights as they attempt to mediate between their personal educational values and the demands of frequent educational policy shifts and overbearing accountability agendas. This tension appears to be acting to threaten the levels of autonomy that some of these English head teachers had ‘taken for granted’ at earlier points in their careers. Whilst a few of these heads point out that they still have the ability to manoeuvre, their commentary appears to indicate a more market orientated approach to education has been accepted. Thus the conclusion of the paper grapples with how English understandings of educational autonomy compare with other European nations, the implications that this has for the extent to which autonomy is important in a democratic society and I unpack the ways in which autonomy is constrained to support market-based economies.

References

Braga, M., Checchi, D. and Meschi, E. (2011) : Institutional reforms and educational attainment in Europe: A long run perspective, Discussion Paper series, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit, No. 6190, http://nbn-resolving.de/ urn:nbn:de:101:1-201201104019 Charmaz K (2006) Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis. London: SAGE. Cribb, A. and S. Ball. (2005) “Towards an ethical audit of the privatisation of education”. British Journal of Education Studies, 53, 2: 115-128. Glatter, R. (2012) “Persistent Preoccupations: The Rise and Rise of School Autonomy and Accountability in England” Educational Management, Administration and Leadership 40(5) 559-575 Goodson, Ivor F., and Patricia J. Sikes. Life history research in educational settings: Learning from lives. Open University Press, 2001. Gronn P (1999) The Making of Educational Leaders. London: Cassell Helgøy, I., Homme, A. and Gewirtz, S. (2007) Introduction to Special Issue Local Autonomy or State Control? Exploring the Effects of New Forms of Regulation in Education, European Educational Research Journal, 6(3), 198-202. Inman, M. (2011) “The Journey to Leadership for Leader Academics in Higher Education” Educational Management, Administration and Leadership 39(2) p228-241 Moutsios, S. (2007) “The European Union and its Education Policy” in Kothoff, H-G. and Moutsios, S. (eds) (2007) Education Policies in Europe: Economy, Citizenship, Dniversity, New York: Waxmann pp 15-26 Nóvoa, A., and T. Yariv-Mashal. 2003. Comparative research in education: A mode of governance or a historical journey. Comparative Education 39, no. 4: 423–39. Ribbins, P. (1999) ‘On Redefining Educational Management and Leadership’, Educational Management & Administration 27(3): 227–38 Sleegers, P. and Wesselingh, A. (1995) Dutch Dilemmas: decentralisation, school autonomy and professionalisation of teachers, Educational Review, 47:2, 199-207, DOI: 10.1080/0013191950470207 Schostak, J. (2006) Interviewing and Representation in Qualitative Research Maidenhead: Open University Press Sfard A and Prusak A (2005) Telling identities: In search of an analytical tool for investigating learning as a culturally shaped activity. Educational Researcher 34(4): 14–22. Schwandt, T. A. “Constructivist, interpretivist approaches to human inquiry”. In Denzin, N. K. (Ed); Lincoln, Y. S. (Ed), (1994). Handbook of qualitative research. , (pp. 118-137). Thousand Oaks, CA, US: Sage Publications, Inc, xii, 643 pp. Spencer L, R. J, and O’Connor W. (2003) Analysis: Practices, principles and processes. In: Ritchie J and Lewis J (eds) Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers. London: Sage, pp. 199–218

Author Information

Linda Hammersley-Fletcher (presenting / submitting)

Manchester Metropolitan University

Faculty of Education

Crewe

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