ABSTRACT
Devolved management of schools is a key element in the Conservative government's education policy in Britain. It promises major changes in the structures and processes of educational decision-making, finance and management. It also both presupposes and reinforces an ethos that situates schools more firmly in a competitive market for pupils, resources and public esteem. Further important elements of this ethos are parental choice of school, and the ability of schools to opt out of local education authority control and receive their funding directly from central government. Devolved management thus plays a large part in a reformed education system that has important implications for the roles and relationships of local education authorities, for headteachers and school staff, for parents and pupils, and for central government itself.
