The goal of equity in education in England is damaged by regional disparities in outcomes and a marked social gradient in school exclusion. The most vulnerable groups are disproportionately represented in in-year transfers. Drawing on 24 interviews with school leaders and education decision-makers in a socioeconomically deprived area, this study…

The article explores the governance, leadership and management of complementary schools through the case of Greek Cypriot complementary schools in England with a view to developing a research agenda for this under-researched yet significant sector of education for children and young people. Drawing on stakeholder and bottom-up theories of…

Policy reform around the globe has increased the autonomy that schools enjoy in spending on resources. This reform assumes that schools face strong incentives to use their resources to maximise pupil attainment and that they know best how to spend their money to achieve this aim. This study provides evidence of the relationship between governance…

There is little conclusive evidence linking academies reform in England with school improvement. While this reform has been effective in improving educational outcomes in some contexts, it has been resoundingly unsuccessful in others. Nevertheless, political faith in autonomous schooling as key to a world-class education remains strong. This paper…

Drawing on empirical data from case study research exploring the working lives and practices of school business leaders in the English school system, this article explores the notion of professional development among this relatively under acknowledged cohort of the school workforce. I adopt the position that professional development must be…

A major concern for policymakers around the world is how to design an entire system of education that provides high quality teaching and learning outcomes. This paper aims to make a significant contribution to this debate by looking closely at the middle part of education systems -- the regional, district, and sub-district level -- as a critical…

As policy makers call for the dramatic expansion of school choice and voucher programs across the U.S., it becomes all the more important for educators and advocates to consider lessons learned in countries--such as the Netherlands, New Zealand, and England--that have already gone down this path. Efforts to promote choice and school…

This paper aims to study the comparative comparison of implementing school-based management in developed countries in the historical context: from theory to practice. School-based management is not by itself and objective but a valuable tool in order to reach sagacity, capabilities and the enthusiasm from most people having shares in school.…

Education policy worldwide has sought to incentivize school improvement and facilitate pupil-school matching by introducing reforms that promote autonomy and choice. Understanding the way in which families form preferences during these periods of reform is crucial for evaluating the impact of such policies. We study the effects on choice of a…

This article reviews the development of "teaching schools" in England, exploring some of the reasons for their development and their potential to transform professional learning.

This paper, written by strategic partner of the Center on School Turnaround (CST), Julie Corbett, provides research and examples on England's approach to turning around its lowest performing schools. The English education system utilizes private vendors to support chronically low-performing schools and districts. The introduction is followed by…

The English education system has undergone a large restructuring programme through the introduction of academy schools. The most salient feature of these schools is that, despite remaining part of the state sector, they operate with more autonomy than the predecessor schools they replace. Two distinct time periods of academy school introduction…

We study the origins of what has become one of the most radical and encompassing programmes of school reform seen in the recent past amongst advanced countries--the introduction of academy schools to English secondary education. Academies are state schools that are allowed to run in an autonomous manner which is free from local authority control.…

Sometimes an educational idea is inexplicably adopted around the world with remarkable speed and consistency and in the absence of a proper evidence base or with little regard or respect for teachers, students or learning. This paper examines what has arguably been the most contentious and virulent educational reform of the past half-century.…

The Anglo-Saxon countries have implemented Management by Objectives (MBO) complemented with school-based management (SBM) fairly rapidly. Although these countries are considered something of a benchmark of stability, research on principals reveals that they experience high levels of stress and that this is associated with poorer job performance.…