School Governance ― Policy, Politics and Practices

The recent Trojan Horse scandal, in which twenty-five Birmingham, UK, schools were investigated following allegations that school governors were imposing a hard-line Muslim curriculum, raised important questions not only about school governance, but also about the future of a democratic system of education in England. Taking the Trojan Horse scandal as a starting point and drawing on her own experience as a school governor, Jacqueline Baxter examines what implications these questions will have for the newly elected British government. By examining the political, social, and economic contexts surrounding education in 2015,School Governance offers keen insights into pressures and challenges engendered by the current system and what these challenges may mean for English education in the twenty-first century.

Jacqueline Baxter is lecturer in social policy at the Open University and has twenty years of experience as a school governor.