ABSTRACT
Coverage of education in the media is much more extensive. Consequently, more parents and their pupils know that education matters. The outlines of Education Reform Act (ERA) appeared in the Conservative manifesto for the 1987 election, which Mrs. Thatcher won with an increased majority. The local education authority (LEA) had a sensible self-evaluation process that encouraged staff and governors to evaluate their own performance and then discuss the evaluation with their local councillors. In 1988 came the Education Reform Act. Insofar as it affected secondary schools like Cherwell, its main elements were the National Curriculum, open enrolment giving greater parental choice of school, the opportunity to create schools independent of the LEA and Local Management of School (LMS), which required LEAs to delegate a substantial part of their education funds to schools on a per capita basis, giving heads, with their governors, new powers to manage the school's budget.
