Illusionary, silencing and civilising – (un)democratic practices in school governance

ABSTRACT

Successive British Governments have promulgated policies and initiatives that have not only resulted in the marketisation of education but have, arguably, constructed a democratic deficit in relation to who represents the local in a neoliberal educational context. The article utilises a conceptual framework which encompasses notions of civility and somatic norms as well as evaluative models of deliberative democratic systems. The article illuminates the democratic deficit impact of these policy changes on social groups, such as parents or community members of low socioeconomic status, women and non-white Others. In doing so this research illustrates empirically a democratic deficit which is manifested in the school governance of the Co-operative Aligned Academies Trust (CAAT). It would appear local participatory school governance practices have been systematically disabled due instrumentalist and economistic New Public Management practices and neoliberal reforms. Democracy can be conceived as illusionary in the empowered space and as silencing, civilising and exclusionary (anti) democracy in the public space.

KEYWORDS:

• School Governance
• Democracy
• Civilising
• Silencing
• Deliberative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janet E Hetherington

Janet E. Hetherington is a Visiting Fellow at Staffordshire University, UK. Her research interests are focused on governance, democracy, social justice, policy and parental and community engagement. Her thesis explored a Cooperatively Aligned Multi Academy Trust and its model of governance in relation to co-operative values, democracy and parental engagement in a neoliberal context of education. She has presented conference papers at BELMAS, BERA, ECER, PSA and AERA over the last 4 years. She received a BELMAS Student Research Bursary and was also awarded a bursary from the Dr Ruth Thompson Global Teaching Scholarship Fund on two occasions. Janet’s papers have been published in MiE, EMAL and JEP.

Gillian Forrester

Gillian Forrester is Professor of Education Policy in the Institute of Education at Staffordshire University, UK where she leads the Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD). She has over 20 years’ experience in higher education. Her main research interests and publications lie in education policy, policy processes and the lived experiences of pupils, parents, school teachers and school leaders.