ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the architects of reform give their accounts of the origins and development of Academies and Free Schools; the policy of schools detaching themselves from local authorities in pursuance of greater institutional diversity and parental choice, with a view to raising standards in academic attainment, which some term ‘Thatcherite’ or ‘neo-liberal education’. The narrative begins with William Forster (Elementary Education Act 1870), with its focus on voluntarism and social mission; and then to R.A. Butler (Education Act 1944), and concerns about educational bureaucracy and falling standards; and then to Kenneth Baker (Education Reform Act 1988) who introduced the National Curriculum and enhanced institutional diversification; and then to David Blunkett and Andrew Adonis (Learning and Skills Act 2000; Education Act 2002), and themes of tackling chronically failing schools through further institutional diversification and enhanced freedoms. There are then accounts of Michael Gove’s preparations for further reform during the Conservatives’ years in Opposition, which led to the Gove Act (Academies Act 2010), representing policy continuity for some, and market divergence for others.
