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A Deluge of Directives: conflict between collegiality and managerialism in the post‐ERA primary school
Author(s) -
Webb Rosemary,
Vulliamy Graham
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
british educational research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.171
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1469-3518
pISSN - 0141-1926
DOI - 10.1080/0141192960220405
Subject(s) - collegiality , managerialism , realisation , context (archaeology) , teamwork , pedagogy , sociology , public relations , primary education , political science , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , law , biology
The paper examines the impact of the plethora of innovations associated with the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) on the management of whole‐school change in the primary school. Based upon qualitative data from a national sample of 50 schools in England and Wales, it documents the growing tensions between collegial and top‐down managerial approaches. These are evidenced in the changing nature of working collaboratively in primary schools, in the creation of new management structures, in the me of school development plans and in the growth of quality assurance mechanisms, particularly in relation to preparation for Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspections. There are conflicting interpretations of terms such as ‘collegiality’, ‘collaboration’, ‘teamwork’ and ‘whole‐school approaches’ and there have been subtle shifts in their meaning and in their realisation in practice in the pre‐and post‐ERA context.