New Labour and the Governance of Educational Reform in England

• In Event: New Perspectives on the Roles of Institutional Actors in Education Reform

Abstract

The project reported here (project title and code anonymised) generated data and analysis that focuses on the relationship between the state, public policy and knowledge. Specifically a study of the New Labour government’s (1997-2010) approach to educational policy making shows that a huge investment took place in school leadership in England based on a preference for a particular type of knowledge, ways of knowing and knowledge workers. I critically examine the relationship between the production and use of research evidence through (a) institutionalised governance; and (b) regimes of practice. The paper makes an important contribution to the understanding of “who governs” through the inclusion and exclusion of particular knowledge workers, and the endorsement and marginalisation of particular types of knowledge.

Author

• Helen Gunter, The University of Manchester