Contracts and competition? A reflection on the nature and effects of recent legislation on modes of control in schools

Abstract

This paper examines the extent to which recent legislative changes in schools have introduced ‘the market’ as a mode of control. The legislative reforms of the Education Reform Act (1988) can be seen as part of an ongoing attempt to change the public sector in the UK and internationally. In order to examine the changes, we build a heuristic framework to develop ‘ideal type’ models of markets, hierarchies and clans, thus developing the ideas of Ouchi (1979). We argue that the Education Reform Act and the subsequent and related legislation form an initiative which, while justified by an appeal to market-based control, has a strong centralising tendency, seeking to restrict the autonomy of professionals.