“Innovative” Leadership at a Time of Rapid Reform: An English Case Study

• In Event: Leadership in a Global Context (Part 2)

Abstract

This paper sets out to report upon the findings of an ethnographically informed case study of an ‘innovative’ school in England. Specifically the research focuses upon the way in which the leadership team have engaged with the neo liberal policy context in which increased autonomy and diversification or provision is promoted by the government as a driver of standards. Using Bourdieu’s conceptualisations of field and capital the findings suggest that ‘innovative’ localised policy-making can arguably ‘misrecognise’ the role such ‘innovation’ plays in helping to maintain structures, which may serve to disadvantage members of the school community as well as contribute to ensuring the field, and its competitive nature, is protected rather than challenged.

Author

• Ruth McGinity, The University of Manchester