ABSTRACT
In the 1990s a new educational phenomenon appeared in Britain. This was the failing school, a demonized institution whose head, teachers and governors were deemed to be personally responsible for the educational underperformance of its pupils. Failing schools were castigated for failing whole communities, particularly in disadvantaged areas where ‘pupils have only a slim chance of receiving challenging and rewarding teaching throughout their educational career’ (OFSTED, 1993, p. 43), and for weakening the whole educational structure (Barber, 1996, p. 132). Failing schools were the subject of negative and derisory media coverage, with journalists competing to discover ‘the worst school in Britain’ (Brace, 1994)— an accolade seemingly handed out to a different school every few months in the mid-1990s. Politicians from major parties competed to demonstrate their ‘zero tolerance of school underperformance’ (Blair, 1996, p. 12), and a culture of shame and blame reached a high point in May 1997 when 18 out of some 300 underperforming schools were singled out for public naming (MacCleod, 1997).
