This article addresses questions of workplace democracy, particularly in relation to school education. Following Luciano Canfora in treating democracy as "the rule of the many", it traces the post-1945 rise of workplace democracy, and its post-1979 decline. Analysing the constitution of contemporary schooling in England, the article concludes that it has been de-democratised. It suggests, however, that in the increasingly difficult situation in which the neo-liberal project of education finds itself, the efficacy and legitimacy of this system of governance will be increasingly questioned. (Contains 2 notes.)