ABSTRACT
Parents were accorded a passive role and were kept away from the 'secret garden' not only of the curriculum, but also of admissions and school governance. The policy of parental preference was always presented as 'choice', but this was often a cruel charade as Local Education Authorities directed pupils across boroughs to schools which had empty places, while the school round the corner from their homes was oversubscribed. Entirely consistent with Conservative ideas about parents as 'stakeholders' in schools was the place created for them in school governance. The 1986 Education Act fundamentally altered the role of governing bodies in maintained schools. Schools have rightly become much more alert to the possible interpretations of their duty of care and the work of the health and safety officer has assumed major importance. The empowerment of parents ran through the Conservative years after 1979 as a consistent theme.
