ABSTRACT
The School Boards, formed by the Act, fulfilled that function and first demonstrated the power of a local body as the practical provider of schooling within a framework of central legislation. But it is the 1944 Act which established the functions of the local education authority largely as people knows it today. As employers, it is the local education authorities who individually decide how many teachers to employ. At the local level, prior to the 1988 Education Reform Act, the local education authority determined the establishment of the individual school or college. Then also in practice delegated the appointment process to school governing bodies. The traditional balance now seems set for a substantial tilt to the centre as the Education Reform Act, 1988. It removes many of the local education authorities powers to appoint and deploy staff, to determine the size and capacity of schools, and to provide higher education.
