ABSTRACT
The advantages of being a self-managing school centre around the general attributes of self-management and those that focus on the particular nature of obtaining the status of and operating as a grant-maintained school. The former can be considered as the fundamental arguments for self-management, while the latter are concerned with the particular financial inducements and benefits associated with the move to grant-maintained status provided by a government seeking to encourage schools to opt out. This chapter seeks to outline both these sets of advantages and then reflect on the evidence of the six case studies to assess whether, at this early stage, they have become apparent in practice.
The advantages of becoming a grant-maintained school can be seen in the following areas:
freedom for the school to make its own decisions
targeting resources to educational goals
the opportunity to restructure and rethink
more effective decision-making
increased accountability
increased resources
increased parental and pupil commitment
