INTRODUCTION

This book sets out to explore the relationship between government (at both central and local level) and the law in the context of one of the most controversial areas of state activity directly affecting the community at large and individual citizens-the provision of education in maintained schools. This is an area of governmental activity where the policies adopted and the decisions taken inevitably have a significant social and political impact, whether it be at the level of the formulation of the national curriculum, decisions as to expenditure constraints or school closures, or more individualised decisions as to choice of school or individual curricular complaints. It is an area where there is a considerable tension not only between government and opposition, but between different levels of government-between central government and local authorities, LEAs often being of a different political complexion from the central government of the day, often operating under a very different social and educational philosophy and seeking to strike a very different balance between collective and individual interests. There has also been a tendency in recent years across a wide range of governmental functioning-education being but one example, although a very prominent one-for that tension to develop into a marked centralisation of power, with central government seeking to erode many local authority functions. The governance of schools thus offers in many ways an excellent case study of central and local government relations. It is also an area where the community interest is high: there is no doubt that schools are a significant community resource and that there is a strong community interest in the maintenance of the highest attainable standards for all pupils in a given area. That community interest may well at times conflict with the interests of individual parents and children, and the balance between these interests is indeed one of the most important considerations in educational decisionmaking today. The interaction between these several interests-central, local, community and individual-has often given rise to conflict, and this has led to frequent recourse to the courts as a means of resolution, though it has also led to the establishment of more informal means of dispute resolution, as for instance in the case of local

appellate tribunals to determine disputes over choice of school and, very recently, the establishment of local curricular complaints machinery under the Education Reform Act 1988.