4 Policy and context
Throughout this course you may have recalled your own reactions to national policy or the reactions of those around you – perhaps those of colleagues, unions or parents.
Activity 5
Read the following abstract for ‘Stories of compliance and subversion in a prescriptive policy environment’, by John MacBeath.
In their commitment to raising standards successive Conservative and Labour governments have moved progressively to tighter prescription of school policy and more far reaching proscription of practices deemed unacceptable. This article examines how 12 headteachers construct the policy environment and how they respond to it in the schools they lead. The evidence base is 12 in-depth interviews with headteachers, in six primary schools and six secondary at the outset of the TLRP/ESRC research project Learning How to Learn. This subset of headteacher interviews from the total number were selected for this article because these 12 interviews were accompanied by the fullest data set of complementary interviews, questionnaire and observation data which will be the subject of other papers to follow. The interviews provide a baseline picture of how these school leaders were talking about leading learning in their schools and the authority, or ‘warrant’ they referred to in validating their views. Patterns of compliance and subversion are examined with reference to theories of organizational, and ‘double loop’ learning.
Note where you think your own organisation sits within the policy discourse prevalent at this time, and whether the leadership is more or less directive.
Discussion
A reason for supporting any policy initiative is that it may improve and tighten teaching and learning, especially for weaker teachers. A reason for not supporting the policy may be that it stifles creativity, owing to loss of autonomy. Whether (or not) to do as one is told becomes a dilemma determined by context and values.
MacBeath (2008) describes this possible range in response as a continuum line with polar opposites at the extremes. At one end, he signals compliance, and at the other, subversion – although most of the people interviewed in this study were mid-range. He finds ambiguity and tensions in what teachers and headteachers believed about learning and what they had to do. The suggestion is that their compliance is inevitable under stronger accountability measures.
MacBeath also picks up tensions and gaps in the making of a prescriptive policy to work where there is a conflict between the policy and how learner-centred everyday practices can be. He points to the tension between an ideal view of learning and the pressures on the need to meet targets – such as inspection criteria – so leading to a different style of leadership to get the job done.
MacBeath argues that leaders should come off the fence and be more than technical administrators. He points out that conflict is only seen in pupil–teacher terms rather than conflict or dialogue with policy. MacBeath is arguing that leaders should ‘know what stance is appropriate at a given time and in relation to specific policy movements’ (MacBeath, 2008, p. 127). He is agreeing with Giroux’s (1992) radical view against an uncritical approach of technical implementer (i.e. an approach that does not ask questions or analyse appropriateness) and argues to guard against seeing new ideas as unproblematic, or if:
internalisation of the grand narrative has for our sample of headteachers at least not only coloured their view of policy making but provided a rationale for a more directive form of leadership in accord with the new orthodoxy.
In his paper, MacBeath touches briefly on the issue of values. In the article in the following activity, Rayner reports on research that looked at the impact of headteachers’ personal values and life histories on their reaction to policy.
Activity 6
Read the article below by Rayner. As you do so, think about policies that have created personal tension for you because of their opposition to your personal values. ‘Playing by the rules? The professional values of head teachers tested by the changing policy context [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ’