ABSTRACT
British schools were fed and watered by public funds and their governance was unproblematic, that is they were domesticated and not wild organisations in having to forage for survival in a competitive environment. The new comprehensive schools, regardless of their broad social and educational aims, were trapped by changing priorities, mainly a lack of overall support from within and outside the profession and by the emergence of a small but vociferous band of critics exemplified by the authors of the Black Papers of 1969. It was somewhat ironic that the party of the comprehensive school produced a policy that was to be the foundation for the ideological blizzard which hit the education system little over a decade later. The most significant implication for schools during this period was the spread of managerialism. The self managing school became one in which curriculum development, organisational development and staff development were integrated.
