Education Across the United Kingdom 1944–2017: Local Government, Accountability and Partnerships

327 Pages·2018·2.85 MB·English

by  Robert McCloy

EDITED BY ROBERT MCCLOY
EDUCATION ACROSS
THE UNITED KINGDOM
1944–2017
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ACCOUNTABILITY
AND PARTNERSHIPS
Education Across the United Kingdom
1944–2017
Robert McCloy
Editor
Education Across
the United Kingdom
1944–2017
Local Government, Accountability
and Partnerships
Editor
Robert McCloy
London, UK
ISBN 978-3-319-89916-9 ISBN 978-3-319-89917-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89917-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018942011
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Preface
Local Government Revisited
The history of education in England is littered with the abolition of
institutions before anything better has been put in their place. The
replacement of grammar schools en masse by comprehensives is a case
in point. The removal of local education authorities from any meaning-
ful role in the national system, foreshadowed in the government’s White
Paper ‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’, to become in the prime
minister’s words ‘a thing of the past’, is another.
Local education authorities were called into being and held their
position for over a hundred years to prevent education from falling into
what was then called ‘formlessness’—precisely the state of affairs which
awaits the national system if the proposals in the White Paper, more a
blueprint for incoherence, are ever implemented. No-one can say with
any clarity where in practical terms the boundaries of responsibility,
now being redrawn, between parents, faith groups, private interests,
philanthropy, business, the schools themselves, let alone central and
local government will finally come to rest, nor how and to what extent,
the national system should be planned, if at all.
v
vi Preface
Pragmatism ‘what works’ has replaced principle to a dangerous
degree. At risk are the founding principles we still take for granted;
that education is a birthright not a commodity to be bought and sold,
that it should be available to all on an equal basis and that it is a public
and not a private responsibility. Becoming clearer in the absence of a
mediating layer of responsibility between those who provide and those
who use and depend on the education service are the dangers of over-
regulation, greater inequality, inefficiency, financial malpractice, lack of
transparency, accountability and public involvement, not least, continu-
ing low standards and under-performance.
‘Educational Excellence Everywhere’ claims that its proposals ‘sit
squarely’ within the government’s agenda for greater devolution. They
squarely do not. Why of all the public services is education, one of
whose traditional strengths was precisely its diffused nature, held to
be the only one not able to benefit from and contribute to devolved
arrangements? Why are chain stores, banks and the like judged suitable
to provide schools but not great cities belonging to the ‘northern power-
house’?
In this collection of essays, educationists review the contribution
local government has made to the national system in the past and argue
there is no inherent contradiction between the government’s policies
towards school improvement and local government as a major part-
ner. On the contrary, many would be advanced through local govern-
ment’s involvement to the benefit of all concerned. The new pattern of
devolved arrangements now emerging provides an invaluable opportu-
nity (for a re-vitalised role for local councils) (for the re-vitalised role for
local councils outlined here). It should be taken.
London, UK Robert McCloy
Editorial Commentary
Of its nature, the study reflects differing perspectives. Experience of
the education service has not been uniform. The voices vary in which
accounts are rendered. What they have in common, however, is a per-
spective of careers mainly spanning the 1960s to the 1990s, and reflec-
tion upon subsequent developments. In this, they reflect concerns
uppermost and especially characteristic of that period. Issues which later
take on sharper relief are not necessarily less important albeit receiving
less attention, such as the foundation and development of faith schools,
the impact upon learning of digital technology, and the transformation
of higher education by its exponential expansion.
The study identifies seven emergent themes of concern.
Education’s Purpose
The first and overwhelmingly the most critical relates to the educa-
tion’s purpose. In the beginning, it was broadly recognized as an essen-
tial instrument in safeguarding and developing civilization. Herein
was the justification for the state’s partnership with the churches in the
vii
viii Editorial Commentary
superintendence of the service but also for the churches’ concentration of
resources on its provision. This is evidenced, in particular, in Chapter 2
(treating with experience in the immediate post war years), Chapter 4
(describing the church/state dimension), and Chapters 5 and 7 (relating
to Northern Ireland and Scotland). However, with the passage of time,
this basis became increasingly obscure as society at large became more
secular and the state, institutions, and practitioners turned to measurable
outcomes and giving priority to aspects of education capable of improv-
ing economic performance in a competitive world. This metamorpho-
sis, never complete, is glaringly first witnessed in this narrative in the
1960s as consumerism assumes a stronger position in society and helps
to shape education provision, as alluded to, for example, in Chapter 1
(giving an overview), and Chapter 2 (when referring to the Thatcher
administration). It climaxes in the Great Education Reform Movement
(GERM) and is a dominant theme, again, for example, in Chapter 3,
treating with metropolitan England, and Chapters 6 and 7, in discussing
developments following devolution in Wales and Scotland. The narrative,
notwithstanding, records with approbation, a challenge to GERM and
a partial reversion to a more comprehensive commitment to education’s
purpose, again referred to especially, in Chapters 6 and 7, relating to
Wales and Scotland, and taken up as a concluding theme in Chapter 10.
The Changing Character of the Administration
of Education
A second major development, central to the focus of this study, was the
fundamental change that occurred in the nature of local government’s
education administration. Initially, the function was largely discrete dis-
charged by a local education committee with high levels of autonomy
with little direction from either central government or other local gov-
ernment committees, described in Chapter 2. For the most part, too,
the education committee was not in contention with a developed sys-
tem of governing bodies. This status was buttressed by the Association of
Education Committees and reinforced by its associated and authoritative
professional journal ‘Education’, as considered, in particular, in Chapter 9.
Editorial Commentary ix
Duly this position was undermined: first, by a Labour government
intent upon the reorganization of secondary education and then by a
Conservative government resolved to take charge of the curriculum and
much else (considered, in particular, in Chapters 2 and 3); second, suc-
cessive re-organizations of local government, affecting both the scope
of jurisdictions and internal working, themes in varying contexts of
Chapters 2–7, showing how each country was affected; third, the general
adoption of corporate management, manifested especially in England, as
noted in Chapters 2 and 3; and fourth, the centralizing of authority and
the scattering of various elements of the service to other agencies, phe-
nomena noted especially subsequent to devolution and discussed, in vary-
ing contexts, in Chapters 3, 5, 6, and 7.
Intrusive Politics
A third characteristic is the growth of politics in education’s adminis-
tration. In the wake of the 1944 legislation there was so much to be
done there was a limit to how far the political impulse could reach, as
shown in the instances of England (Chapter 2) and Wales (Chapter 6).
Initially, it was both commitment to the spirit of partnership enshrined
in the legislation and necessity that shaped conduct. Nevertheless,
as noted in the narrative, there were national and regional variations:
South Wales and other urban areas often witnessed the active engage-
ment of local government politicians in detailed administration. In
contrast to later developments, however, professional officers exer-
cised decisive influence. Progressively, party politics gained ascendancy
and professional authority declined most notably from the 1970s, as
cited in Chapters 2 and 3. Subsequent to devolution, the dominance
of local political involvement was increasingly qualified by govern-
ment ministers, both in Whitehall and in the devolved administrations.
Throughout the period, the status of the education officer was progres-
sively compromised by the removal of its statutory status and its more
overt subordination to other disciplines.
x Editorial Commentary
The Weakening of Local Democracy
Fourthly, the period has witnessed a progressive weakening of democratic
accountability for the administration of the education service. In one
process, the centralizing of decision-making in Whitehall or devolved
administrations, democratic accountability was, in a sense, being empha-
sized. However, the concomitant necessity to establish intermediate
agencies, such as regional commissioners, made this an unreal concept.
What was being lost was a tangible sense of democratic localism, as con-
sidered, in particular in Chapter 9. The establishment in England of Free
Schools constituted an extreme instance. In other instances, for example,
in Wales (Chapter 6), the weakening of local government exacerbated by
the need for operational economies, resulted in the necessity of authori-
ties having to combine operations thereby obscuring, at a practical level,
the identity of those democratically responsible.
The Abandonment of Trust
A fifth casualty of the period was the general abandonment of any real
sense of trust. Initially, there was a high presumption that the teacher
was a professional trusted as a doctor and lawyer to discharge duties
in relative freedom. Supervision had a ‘light touch.’ Not only was the
teacher accorded autonomy in the classroom but institutions were gen-
erally given a wide measure of freedom to operate. The curriculum was
broadly shaped by examination boards dominated by professional staff;
and teachers, in the classroom, exercised wide discretion over method-
ology and teaching content. Inspection, by the standards of a later age,
was characterized by encouragement and gentle guidance: it was neither
authoritarian nor inquisitorial. This aspect is discussed, for example, in
Chapter 6 relating to Scotland. A critical consequence has been a seri-
ous problem of staffing morale, recruitment, and retention.