In Spring 2022, the campaigning group Reclaiming Education organised two webinars to explore the impact of academisation and consider alternatives, principally a return to local authority oversight or the establishment of local education boards. Speakers at the second event included Nigel Gann, Georgia Gould, Anntoinette Bramble and John McDonnell…

"The Oxford Dictionary of English" defines authoritarianism as the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom, as well as a lack of concern for the wishes or opinions of others. In this paper I argue that there are growing signs of a move towards more authoritarian practices and structures…

This contribution is an edited version of the "Alumni Lecture" organised by the Department of Education of the University of Oxford at Lady Margaret Hall on 15th September 2011. The article reviews the drift towards the centralisation of power in the way the schooling system is run, the conflict between a desire for equity in education…

While there has been a tradition of all-age schooling within the private sector it has not, until recently, been typical in state schools. However, there appears to be a growing trend in which all-age schools, i.e. schools that comprise multiple phases (usually primary and secondary) are becoming more popular. This article summarises the main…

It is the aim of this article to contribute towards an understanding of why Scandinavia and England have achieved very different levels of social integration in their state school systems.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) was used over a three-year period to investigate the curriculum of state schools and academies. The resulting data has shown that spectacular apparent school improvement, in terms of five or more A*-C GCSE /GNVQ passes has been largely brought about by the substitution of mainstream curriculum subjects by much…

Comprehensive secondary schooling is currently beset by changes and challenges. The creation of specialist schools and emphasis upon league tables and parental choice appears to be undermining comprehensive schooling. Inequalities within the current system are highlighted by increased variation of perceived quality between schools, the existence…