ABSTRACT
Academies and Free Schools have grown rapidly in number since they were introduced: the former by New Labour in 2002 (by David Blunkett with Andrew Adonis); the latter by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition in 2010 (by Michael Gove with Sarah Teather and Nick Gibb). This chapter provides an account of the broad context of how a policy originally aimed at a few hundred chronically failing inner-city schools (sponsored Academies) morphed into one embracing many thousands of good and outstanding schools (converter Academies), complemented by new start-up Free Schools to provide more school places in order that parents might have more choice. The objective of both initiatives was to effect transformation to raise standards in attainment, and there were political and academic proponents and detractors on each side. The narrative was polarised: one of ‘neo-liberals’ and ‘Thatcherites’ advocating the ‘marketisation’ of state education versus the ‘educational establishment’ or ‘the Blob’, as the guardians of educational social morality.
