‘A less unpalatable alternative’: Executive leaders strategically redefining their work in primary MATs
Abstract
Since the election of the Coalition government in 2010, an increasing number of primary schools in England have converted to academy status. This article explores how executive leaders working in primary academies construct academy freedoms and their attitudes towards their local authorities. Interviews with four executive leaders working in two contrasting Multi-Academy Trusts were analysed using critical discourse analysis. Findings show that in these primary academies, leaders chose to discursively distance themselves from other academy schools, and instead construct themselves as continuing the best traditions of local authority support. The findings indicate that the professional identities of academy leaders, as key policy actors, have an impact on how national policy is interpreted and enacted. The discourse of these academy leaders suggests that primary academisation has led to school leaders appropriating methods of strategic redefinition, to navigate the new post-2010 education landscape and construct new professional identities.Citation
Spicksley, K. (2020) ‘A less unpalatable alternative’: Executive leaders strategically redefining their work in primary MATs. Management in Education, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/0892020620959730Publisher
SAGEJournal
Management in EducationAdditional Links
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0892020620959730Type
Journal articleLanguage
enDescription
© 2020 The Author. Published by SAGE. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1177/0892020620959730ISSN
0892-0206EISSN
1741-9883Sponsors
The research presented in this paper was conducted as part of a University of Worcester PhD Studentship.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1177/0892020620959730
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/