Emerging local schooling landscapes: the role of the local authority

The school system in England is undergoing rapid change. The Conservative/Liberal Democrat Government came to office in 2010 and its programme to create a school system comprised primarily of ‘independent publicly-funded schools’ (DfE 2010) through ‘academisation’ has proceeded apace (Woods and Simkins 2014). The intention is for the majority of schools to be academies which operate under direct funding agreements with central government removing them from significant influence by the local authority (LA). They are autonomous in terms of curriculum and management, but operate under the same central government accountability regime of testing and inspection as those schools that remain within the ambit of the local authority. By September 2013 9% of primary and 52% of secondary schools had converted to academy status (a total of 3304) and a further 99 new ‘free schools’ had been created also as academies.