The Grant Maintained Schools Policy: The English Experience of Educational Self-Governance: Sally Power, David Halpin and John Fitz

The devolution of financial and administrative responsibility to schools has been a prominent feature of recent education policy, both in England and elsewhere. In England, the drive towards such independence is most clearly embodied in the grant maintained (GM) schools policy, which enables schools to opt out of their local education authority (LEA) and become autonomously incorporated institutions. 1 The policy has not only become the flagship of government strategies designed to restructure the education system along market lines, it is also heralded in other countries as a shining example of radical innovation (e.g. Chubb and Moe, 1992).