Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

This is a qualitative data collection. This research project aimed to contribute to critical policy analysis through a qualitative study of multiple education policy enactments in four UK secondary schools. Previous studies have tended to focus on the impact and influence of single-strand policies, in contrast, this study explored the ways in which different policies are simultaneously 'implemented' in schools.

The schools selected for the case studies were ‘ordinary’ secondary schools, moderately successful with a sound track record of achievement. They were located in four different local authorities and included one school based in inner-London, two schools in outer London and one in a county town. We conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with the head teachers; other senior managers, including the bursars or school managers; a range of classroom teachers (more and less experienced); union representatives and support staff in each of the schools. In total, we conducted interviews with 95 individuals; 86 with in-school personnel and 9 with ‘outsiders’ such as local authority support partners and consultants. As some of the interviews were conducted with pairs of interviewees, we have 86 fully transcribed and anonymised interviews.

The interviews were tailored to each of the respondents and covered areas such as policy priorities within the school, specific questions on some of the substantive policy areas we were interested in (behaviour, standards and personalised learning) and policy management


Main Topics:

Policy in secondary schools; school contexts; in-school communication; policy enactment; standards policies; behaviour policy; policy artefacts and events; school funding; staffing in relation to policy