ABSTRACT

In 1997 New Labour set out to transform the public sector in general, and education in particular.1 From the outset this involved significant input of resources into schools combined with high-profile targeted interventions aimed at improving educational standards, often in the most socially deprived areas. Early targeted interventions included Education Action Zones (EAZs) and the Excellence in Cities (Office for Standards in Education (OfSTED) 2003a) programme,2 and then the Leadership Incentive Grant (LIG) (DfES 2003a).3 These were followed by a second wave, including national strategies for literacy and numeracy (OfSTED 2003b),4 the introduction of the Every Child Matters (ECM) (DfES 2003b) agenda,5 and then Education Improvement Partnerships (EIPs) (DCSF 2008a).6 These initiatives have tended to be underpinned by attempts at curriculum and leadership development, a broadening of agendas and the promotion of cross-school collaboration such as Federations (DCSF 2008b).7 More recently, the reform has shifted its focus to organizational structures and the workforce, leading to radical systemic changes to the type of schools such as Academies (DCSF 2008c) and Trusts (DCSF 2008d),8 and the composition of the workforce, known as Remodelling (DfES 2003c).9 These policy interventions have been implemented rapidly, with policy-makers arguing for a ‘boldness of reform’ and ‘quality of implementation’. Michael Barber (2007) as an architect of New Labour education policy conceptualized this approach to educational reform as outlined in Figure 1.1.