Policy Mortality and UK Government Education Policy for Schools in England

Bibliographic Data

ID8406331
AuthorsHelen Gunter (0000-0002-6486-5033, University of Manchester, corresponding author), Steven Courtney (0000-0003-2379-7035, University of Manchester)
Year2023
Volume71
Issue4
Pages353-371
Publication date2023-07-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Educational Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1005 • E-ISSN: 1467-8527
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00071005.2023.2193066
OpenAlexW4362732607
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited47

Successive UK governments have adopted failure as a strategy in the reform of public education in England: first, to construct crises in order to blame professionals/parents/children for a failing system; and second, to provide rescue solutions that are designed to fail in order to sustain the change imperative. We describe this as policy mortality, or the integration of systemic and organisational ‘death’ within reform design. Our research demonstrates the interplay between the blame for the ‘wrong’ type of school, leader, teacher, pupil, parent, and the claimed ‘solutions’ in the form of new schools (e.g., between 70 and 90 different types in England), organisations (e.g., MATs), professionals (e.g., CEOs), pupils (e.g., branded access to a school place), and parents (e.g., consumer choice). Our research contribution is conceptual through the development of new thinking about policy mortality, whereby the claim is for ‘success’ but the reality is that some professionals, schools, children and parents are required to fail

Blame · Business · Construct (python library) · Economic growth · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Order (exchange) · Political science · Public policy · Public relations · Sociology · Diverse Education Studies and Reforms · Political and Economic history of UK and US · Psychology · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology