In September 2015, the Secretary of State for Education asked for more business involvement in schools, and in particular for business leaders' help to improve failing schools. This article questions the twenty-year campaign by all governments to engage business expertise and values in the governance of schools.

The privatisation of state education in a variety of ways has introduced a range of risks to school governance and management which have not previously existed in the public service. State-funded education is in danger of losing its standing on the moral high ground as a public good delivered almost exclusively by individuals committed to ethics…