Micro‐politics in the 1990s: staff relationships in secondary schooling

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Drawing on case study material from four London comprehensive schools, this article examines the micro‐politics of secondary schooling in the mid‐1990s. The extent to which new social relationships governed by expendiency and pragmatism are developing in schools is explored. Often a pseudo‐democracy appears to mask directive, controlling forms of leadership. The paper argues that the new managerialism has brought with it a shift in values which permeates all aspects of staff relationships. The paper explores the extent to which the headteachers can be seen to be conscripted by external forces seeking to change the culture of comprehensive schooling, despite the four schools’ expressed commitment to comprehensivization. The contemporary language of efficiency, effectiveness, accountability and responsibility has produced a climate in which teachers are increasingly seen in terms of their use value and as means to improved school performance rather than as ends in themselves.

This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit: