Societies globally are increasingly characterised by uncertainty and upheaval, including continuing concerns about inequity and access to quality public education that meets the needs of young people today (Riddle et al., 2023). This symposium takes a nuanced approach to considering uncertainty in education politics and policy by closely examining the national and local policy environments in which schools are operating; recognising that they are set against a wider, turbulent, background.

The symposium brings diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to the question of uncertainty. It illuminates and instantiates the ways in which leaders might respond to uncertainty by trying to “play the game” required by differing, and often competing sets of rules. Theoretical lenses include Bourdieu and Foucault’s concepts, as well as taking a Social Network Analysis approach towards understanding the practices and experiences occurring in public education within different contexts. Further, the symposium explores the politics and policy of public schooling in England and Chile. This deliberately international focus highlights the global trends that exist in contemporary education policy while recognising the nuanced implications of local enactment of global policy trends.

The symposium explores the various ways school leaders navigate uncertainty. Two of the papers in this symposium suggest that leaders might ‘play the game’ as a method of navigating the complex political realities of schooling today in both England and Chile. In doing so, they show the ways school leaders might try to bring some certainty to frequently shifting ground – they might focus on developing relationships or on cultivating networks as a means of solidifying or renegotiating their positions within increasingly uncertain hierarchies or positions within public education.

The final paper brings an alternative viewpoint through its research with former school leaders in England who, rather than playing the game, were removed from the field entirely (either by choice, or by force). The concept of post-panopticism (Courtney, 2016) enables a nuanced analysis of the effects of school inspections in their current form, which are characterised by uncertainty from preparation all the way through to the sometimes-unintended effects of external inspection.

The symposium offers lessons about school leadership and governance, and how individual leaders as well as their school communities have navigated socially and politically turbulent periods. Their negotiation of uncertain policy environments highlights the inequities that persist in public schooling whether it be through ‘disadvantaged’ schools facing heavier scrutiny in school inspections; experiencing differential parental engagement depending on a school community’s socio-economic circumstances; or through the new ways schools are required to navigate and build relationships and networks to survive in an uncertain policy landscape.

Courtney, S. J. (2016). Post-panopticism and school inspection in England. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(4), 623–642. doi:10.1080/01425692.2014.965806 Riddle, S., Mills, M. & McGregor, G. (2023). Curricular justice and contemporary schooling: Towards a rich, common curriculum for all students. Curriculum Perspectives, 43, 137–144. doi:10.1007/s41297-023-00186-y