Local Education Authorities and the Organisation of Secondary Education, 1943-1950

This article explores the attitudes adopted by local education authorities in England and Wales towards the reorganisation of secondary education in the new era of secondary education for all that was introduced through the Education Act of 1944. In general the Ministry of Education and the post-war Labour government actively encouraged Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to introduce a tripartite system of grammar, technical and modern schools in their areas. However, in many cases it is difficult to attribute LEA support for a bipartite or tripartite system to supine acquiescence; the LEAs involved were also making a principled choice to define the nature of educational provision in their own areas. The article discusses in particular depth the views of LEAs that preferred a bipartite arrangement, and those that promoted tripartism, in order to identify the character of the issues as they appeared to LEAs in this period.     

Surviving,not Thriving: Leas since the Education Reform Act of 1988

Local Education Authorities (LEAs) have been features of the administrative landscape of England and Wales for a century. For most of this period, their role, as central government's key partners in the operation of the national education system, expanded. However, intense criticisms of educational organisation and standards, during the 1970s, led to re-assessment of, and ultimately to major reductions in, their responsibilities, during the 1980s and 1990s. This article surveys the changed and changing role of LEAs, and the debate that has surrounded it, during their hundred years of existence, with particular reference to the period since the 1988 Education Reform Act. The concluding part of the article focuses on current developments under the New Labour government, which has assigned a definite but limited range of functions to LEAs. It is argued in this article that, as the 'intermediate level' of LEA administration has been relegated to a marginal role, little purpose would be served by implementing recent proposals for a radical restructuring of the local educational administration.     

Patterns of Provision for Pupils with Behavioural Difficulties in England: A study of government statistics and behaviour support plan data

This paper gives as full an overview of the patterns of provision made in England for disaffected and excluded pupils and those said to have emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) in England as the available data allow. It draws upon government statistics, local education authorities' (LEAs') first 'Behaviour Support Plans' and related literature. The BSPs were intended by the English government, but sometimes failed to give, comprehensive accounts of current local provision and future inter-agency plans. However, when analysed alongside government figures, certain features become clear. While in 1998 local education authorities were attempting to move towards prevention and on-mainstream-school site interventions, the need for off-site special units ('Pupil Referral Units') continued to increase and the numbers of pupils in EBD special schools remained roughly constant. Despite national pressure to move towards the inclusion of all pupils, LEAs continued to find it impossible to educate a small percentage of pupils with behavioural difficulties on mainstream sites.     

School Admissions after the School Standards and Framework Act: Bringing the LEAs back in?

Historically, LEAs were responsible for the local planning and provision of schools. They 'mattered' because their organisational strategies and admissions policies contributed to the structure and equality of opportunities for families and children in their administrative areas. Some moved ahead with comprehensive schools earlier and faster than others, and some retained selection. Alongside admissions policies, these activites in turn shaped and reproduced the extent to which local schools were socially segregated. LEA capacity to shape the local school system was always constrained by the existence of the faith-based 'voluntary' schools sector and was further diminished, post-1988, by self-governing grant-maintained (GM) schools. The 1998 Schools Standards and Framework Act brought LEAs back into the admissions arena. In this paper we examine LEAs' admissions policies and the extent to which these regulate local patterns of socio-economic segregation between schools. In this study we draw on a sample of 74 LEAs to explore these issues. Our findings point to some interesting paradoxes, most notably the fact that the most commonly used criterion in the allocation of students to places, catchment areas, is likely to create and sustain socio-economically segregated patterns of secondary schooling because these are linked in complex ways to residential segregation. We also show that selective education is strongly associated with high levels of stratified schooling and that voluntary and specialist schools also contribute to local patterns of school segregation.     

School Inspection: who hath measured the ground?

Concern about the quality of inspection voiced in the late 1980s was justifiable. However, the message to Government (for example, from the Audit Commission) was not to marginalise local education authorities (LEAs) and scrap local inspection but to involve itself to improve it. What Government did in setting up OFSTED was to establish a monopoly of one inspection approach under effectively a single inspectorate. This was undesirable, since it not only confuses the purposes of inspection, but also fails to produce the kind of information that parents and others involved with schools really need. The paper argues for a more flexible approach in which comprehensive OFSTED‐style inspections need only be used sparingly. The future role of OFSTED should be as a small regulating body assuring the quality of local inspections, whether carried out by LEA or independent teams     

Secondary modern schools: are their pupils disadvantaged?

There are still 10 English local educational authorities (LEAs) that are wholly selective and a further 10 with some grammar and secondary modern schools. This article examines the academic performance of pupils in secondary modern schools and the funding of these schools using national data sets matching pupils' performance at Key Stage 2 and General Certificate of Education (GCSE) as well as data on funding from Section 52 statements. Students in secondary modern schools gained one less grade on average than equivalent students in comprehensive schools while grammar school pupils obtained five grades more. After taking account of the cost factors and grant entitlements that influence funding per pupil, secondary modern schools in the years 2000/01–2002/03 were funded around £80 less per pupil while grammar school pupils received over £100 more per pupil compared to comprehensive schools. Secondary modern schools were more likely to be in financial deficit than comprehensive and particularly grammar schools. Thus, students are academically disadvantaged by attending secondary modern schools, which in most selective LEAs do not receive sufficient additional funding to offset the depressing effects on attainment of the increased social segregation arising from a selective system.     

'All the Names': Leas and the making of pupil and community identities

The coming of LEAs in 20th-century England presented an administrative challenge and an information explosion as the local state worked to meet both local and national educational policy demands. This paper will analyse the ways in which the organisation of knowledge was enlisted into the service of local education policy-making. It will argue that the collection of data by the local state involved both the construction of knowledge and its ordering. These processes in turn involved the creation of an 'education archive', an archive in which ideas about pupils and communities were embedded and genealogies of identity created. The paper will be illustrated through a case study of Birmingham LEA. In particular, use will be made of the Education Census, 1907-1970.     

Further education outside the jurisdiction of local education authorities in post-war England

This article revisits the three decades following the end of World War Two – a time when, following the 1944 Education Act, local education authorities (LEAs) were the key agencies responsible for running the education system across England. For the first time, there was a statutory requirement for LEAs to secure adequate facilities for further education (FE), and the post-war era is generally remembered as a period when they dominated FE. Yet this is not the full story of FE in post-war England: it is often forgotten that a significant amount of FE existed outside the municipal framework. This article returns to the post-war decades and begins to uncover the largely forgotten history of FE outside local authority control at that time. It highlights how voluntary and private organisations offered various forms of post-compulsory education outside the municipal framework, and how they contributed to the eclectic and diverse nature of FE across England. This, I argue, not only reflected the expedience, compromise and inertia that characterised FE in post-war England but was rooted in a capture of educational policy more generally by a privileged elite intent on maintaining a social order characterised by social, economic and cultural divisions.     

The Role and Status of LEAs: Post-war pride and fin de siècle uncertainty

From the mid-1940s until the mid-1970s, most of Britain's political 'establishment' shared a tacit governing philosophy which embraced a broad commitment to the concept of 'a national system of education, locally administered'. More specifically, it was believed that the tripartite partnership established between central government, local government and the individual schools and colleges involved a network of checks and balances which would ensure the effective distribution of power throughout the system. This partnership survived the local political battles over comprehensive schooling in the 1950s and 1960s, but began to break down in the 1970s when economic dislocation and a national identity crisis ushered in a new era of accountability and sanctions. This 'breakdown' encompassed the trust and confidence that central government had once reposed in the competence of local education authorities. The erosion of confidence in LEA effectiveness intensified under the Thatcher and Major administrations and is further threatened by the privatising agenda of New Labour.     

Parents choosing to combine special and inclusive early years settings: the best of both worlds?

This paper focuses on parents' perspectives of combining special and mainstream services for their children in the early years, offering insights into: how parents came to make this choice for their children's education; what parents expected from the combined provision and how their expectations were being met in practice. The data presented formed part of a small‐scale, UK‐based study that investigated local discourses and practices operating for young children within a global context of commitment to inclusion. Despite moves towards inclusive early years education in the UK, many parents of young children identified as having special educational needs opt for a combination of both inclusive and special early years settings. A survey sent to early years providers, voluntary groups and parents in three local education authorities (LEAs) in southern England, revealed that the practice of combining placements was widespread. Follow‐up interviews with parents of five children revealed rich detail about the processes of choice making and parents' expectations and experiences of combined provision. The research findings have clear implications for the development of inclusive education and its appeal to parents, who may need convincing that it can offer sufficient specialist expertise and resources.     

Hierarchies and 'local' markets: the geography of the 'lived' market place in secondary education provision

While not providing a social class analysis of market competition this paper aims to build upon such work by introducing other factors that appear to be present in the education market place. In this paper market competition is considered along two broad dimensions. The first examines educational markets as spatial phenomenon. In the second an empirical study of competition and markets in action is undertaken based on one year's transfer of pupils to secondary schools across six LEAs, each with different geographies. The study proposes three key ways in which competition between schools can be classified. It also suggests that the education market place is, generally, hierarchical, and that the position of schools within these hierarchies is largely associated with their relative examination performances. The paper concludes by suggesting that the concept and the subsequent identification of the ‘local’ markets is necessary before addressing issues such as the impact on school rolls and potential social segregation of intakes.     

Transition and other services for handicapped students in local education agencies

A survey was conducted among special education administrators in 1,450 local education agencies (LEAs) nationwide, to determine the availability of vocational programs and transition-oriented services for handicapped youth. Results showed that most LEAs offer at least some vocational programs; transition-oriented services as not as frequently available, particularly in smaller LEAs. In addition to size of LEA, community employment opportunities and the availability of adult services were related to whether an LEA offered any transition-related services.     

强化人大预算监督能提升地方政府教育支出吗？——基于省级预算审查监督条例立法的准自然实验

在“中国式”分权背景下，地方政府对本地教育财政投入激励不足。如何发挥地方人大的预决算审查监督职能、构建有效约束机制来提高地方政府教育支出水平，对我国教育事业长远发展具有重大意义。本文以我国各地区推动预算监督法制化为制度背景，以1999—2017年间各省份预算审查监督条例立法作为准自然实验，使用双重差分法研究通过立法加强地方人大预算监督如何影响地方政府教育支出。研究发现：（1）省级预算监督条例立法能够显著增加地方政府的教育财政支出，使教育支出在财政预算支出中的比重平均上升约一个百分点，使地方教育支出占GDP的比重显著提高；（2）异质性分析显示预算监督条例立法对地方政府教育投入的促进作用主要体现在基础教育和中等教育层面，并且在财政分权程度更高或地方主政官员缺乏中央工作经历的地区更加显著。本文的研究表明，推动财政监督法制化是构建现代教育财政治理体系的重要制度基础，强化地方人大预算监督是确保地方教育支出持续稳定增长的有效制度保障。     

Parents' views on nursery education: Perceptions in context

The analysis describes the broad consensus which is currently emerging about the nature of the educational changes which are necessary for the creation of a 'learning society' and contrasts this vision with the contemporary reality of an education system which is every day more constrained by formal assessment. The implications of these tightening bonds for the development of universities in the third millennium are explored in terms of research evidence which documents the impact of conventional forms of assessment on student learning. The argument is made that this emphasis on 'categoric' assessment if fundamentally incompatible with aspirations towards the creation of a 'learning society'. This is partly because institutions must necessarily give their attention to obtaining high scores and cannot risk the substantial changes in the reorganisation of teaching and learning that an 'empowering' educational environment would arguably require and partly because of the power of the prevailing assessment discourse to define priorities. The article uses Lyotard's concept of 'performativity' to examine these contemporary tensions in higher education, their origins and potential significance for the creation of a 'learning society'.     

Understanding working-class 'drop-out' from higher education through a sociocultural lens: Cultural narratives and local contexts

The 'drop-out' of working-class students from universities has been identified as one of the most pressing issues for the higher education (HE) sector in the United Kingdom. This article draws on the initial findings of a major research project that explores the meanings and implications of such withdrawal from HE amongst young working-class people. The article argues that drop-out should be seen not just as an educational problem, but also as a manifestation of sociocultural change. To understand drop-out we need to look beyond student support needs or institutional barriers to cultural narratives and local contexts. This enables us to use a sociological frame to understand the educational question, and employ the educational data to contribute to sociological debates on class. The article analyses 'drop-out' as a self-fulfilling cultural narrative that is increasingly connoted as working class, as well as being a consequence of the material exigencies of working-class circumstances. It illustrates how class identity mutates yet stays the same, with the working class still positioned in terms of 'lack'. Although the possibility of university study has become a part of working-class identity, the expectation that this experience may be 'flawed' or 'spoilt' has also become engrained. The article analyses drop-out as two sides of one coin: as both significantly influenced by local culture and as having a perceived impact upon that culture, with different effects in different locales.     

Cross-school Mentoring: Training and implementing a peer mentoring strategy

This article describes a project based on Year 7 pupils (aged 11-12 years) in a UK inner-city girls' school classified as 'in challenging circumstances'. The girls were cross-mentored by Year 12 (aged 16-17 years) girls from another local girls' school. The city has a diverse multi-cultural population where single gender education is an active preference for many parents. This parental dimension influenced cooperation between the two schools. The conceptual theme for the mentoring project was that the older pupils provided a supportive framework for their younger peers. This was a conscious shift from the traditional notion of 'prefects control younger pupils'. Prior to operating the scheme, a training programme was devised by the city's Secondary Behaviour Support Team. The progress of this training course and the application of the techniques through the mentoring sessions are described.     

Using GRIDS to Develop the School

GRIDS stands for 'Guidelines for Review and Internal Development in Schools'. This is a school-based review process which has been tried out in 15 local education authorities (LEAs) since the mid 1980s. John Ashley, head of Hayfield School for pupils with moderate learning difficulties, Upton, Merseyside, was introduced to this system of review and development when he was working in Oldham, one of the pilot LEAs for testing the GRIDS model.     

Provision of Counselling Services in Secondary Schools: A Survey of Local Education Authorities in England and Wales

This paper explores the current state of counselling as provided by local education authorities (LEAs) to secondary schools in England and Wales. A questionnaire was sent to all 172 LEAs in England and Wales. The data suggest that the counselling provision is highly variable and somewhat fragmented in scope. The data also indicate that the perception of the role of school counselling services by educational professionals varies considerably, and that there were a number of issues concerning integrated versus decentralized forms of provision. The study has a number of implications for the main stakeholders, including schools, LEAs, pupils and parents, concerning future developments in this increasingly important policy area. These relate to minimum qualifications for counsellors, confidentiality, accessibility to pupils and funding.     

Opting Out of Local Authority Control ‐Using the Education Reform Act to Defend the Comprehensive Ideal: a case study in educational policy implementation

ABSTRACT

This paper is based on an insider account of the process by which a secondary school, Stantonbury Campus, Milton Keynes, England, used the 1988 Education Reform Act to opt out of local authority control in order to preserve its egalitarian comprehensive character. Using the legislation in this way effectively reversed many of the assumptions surrounding the notion of Grant Maintained Status, in particular that such schools would be selective, traditional in character and seeking to leave Labour LEAs. In describing how and why Stantonbury's governing bodies engaged in a struggle to leave the control of their local education authority, the case study suggests that the direction and development of state educational policy may often lead to unforeseen outcomes and consequences. Moreover, the analysis demonstrates that educational change does not conform to a purely rational model and that it is significantly influenced not only by ideology but also by human agency and meaning. The current state of the debate about comprehensive schools and educational standards is subjected to a critical examination, partly by using the vehicle of a TV documentary made at Stantonbury in 1990, just after the school opted out. The television programme and its associated press coverages serve to indicate the extent to which not only politicians but also the media have produced a situation in which there are many similarities between left wing and right wing policies on education. Indeed differences of opinion over the advisability of opting out as a policy are one of the few remaining divisions between the two sides. The paper concludes by asking what the future holds for opted out schools should the Labour Party be returned to power in Britain.     

The identification of able socially deprived pupils: LEA advice to primary schools

This article examines the advice that local education authorities (LEAs) in England and Wales give to primary schools on the identification of able socially deprived pupils. The research described here is situated within the context of the theoretical literature and central government policy regarding these children. It is noted that identification of able pupils has become more inclusive, although limited research has been undertaken on socially deprived able pupils. The role of central government in supporting these pupils through flagship initiatives such as Excellence in Cities is then analysed and the identification advice that LEAs provide to primary schools is examined. It was found that, whilst LEAs provide systematic and inclusive identification advice, the identification of able socially deprived pupils is only tangentially addressed. The problems associated with the use of checklists by LEAs are examined and the implications of the research are discussed.