ERIC Number: EJ1159380
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0268-0939
EISSN: N/A
Theorising Systemic Change: Learning from the Academisation Project in England
Rayner, Stephen M.; Courtney, Steven J.; Gunter, Helen M.
Journal of Education Policy, v33 n1 p143-162 2018
The research reported in this article contributes new understandings of systemic change by studying the form of system redesign known in England as "academisation." The data illuminate tensions within the neoliberal policy complex that are surfaced in a single secondary school. Although several studies have described academy conversions retrospectively, there has been little research that both analyses the complex month-by-month realities of decision-making and investigates the changing views of policy actors. Drawing on data from documents, observations and interviews, we argue for "academisation" to be understood, not as a policy or a complex of policies, but as system redesign. "Academisation" is not simply a legal process: a school can be "academised" without officially becoming an academy. The new knowledge from this research speaks to a global audience, because the political, economic and cultural processes on which it reports are under scrutiny in other systems with experiments in school autonomy as a form of publicly funded but "independent" schooling.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Educational Change, Neoliberalism, Politics of Education, Educational Policy, Secondary Schools, Decision Making, Observation, Interviews, Institutional Autonomy, Policy Formation, Systems Approach
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom (England)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A