Academisation, neoliberal technologies of governance and the rapid growth of multi-academy trusts (MATs) in England

Pennington, Andrew and Su, Feng and Wood, Margaret (2024) Academisation, neoliberal technologies of governance and the rapid growth of multi-academy trusts (MATs) in England. Cambridge Journal of Education, 54 (4). pp. 517-533. ISSN 0305-764X

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Abstract

Academisation of schooling in England is a significant development with consequences for the disavowal of the role of community and democracy in education at the local level and wider resonance for geo-policy jurisdictions where neoliberal education reforms play out. This study analyses the operation of power and control of Multi Academy Trust (MAT) boards and the apparent diminution of local oversight and accountability, the bedrock of an inclusive, democratic polity. The explanatory and conceptual contribution made to understandings of the phenomenon of MATs is seen in the problematising of academisation and MAT formation as a technology for the operation of power, foreclosing democratic community engagement with their local schools. This has implications for the vitality of a democratic polity. Yet, more optimistically, generative possibilities of a renaissance of schools’ relations with their communities and reinvigoration of the public realm are envisioned as restorative of local democratic engagement in school governance.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	© 2024 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords:	academy schools; multi-academy trusts; education policy; power; school governance; neoliberalism
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Frank Su
Date Deposited:	03 Sep 2024 08:27
Last Modified:	12 Nov 2024 14:39
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4341

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