Policy Press

Schooling in a Democracy

Returning Education to the Public Service

By Richard Riddell

Published

Feb 6, 2023

Page count

160 pages

ISBN

978-1447362937

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Feb 6, 2023

Page count

160 pages

ISBN

978-1447362920

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Feb 6, 2023

Page count

160 pages

ISBN

978-1447362944

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Feb 6, 2023

Page count

160 pages

ISBN

978-1447362944

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press
Schooling in a Democracy

The COVID-19 pandemic has left inequalities in schools wider and uncertainty about the future greater. Now seems an appropriate time to think about the contribution schooling makes to the communities it serves and the country generally.

However, drawing on his recent research, Richard Riddell argues that the increasingly narrow focus of Education governance after 20 years of reform has made new thinking impossible and has degraded public life.

Nevertheless, he highlights new possibilities for democratic behaviour and the opening up of schooling to all it serves.

Richard Riddell has worked for over 40 years as a state schoolteacher, senior Local Authority Officer, consultant, head of education for an NGO and senior lecturer at Bath Spa University where he is now Visiting Research Fellow. An experienced author, this is his fourth book.

1. The emptiness of English public policy

2. Where it all begins: the tasks for Education and others

3. Governance change in England

4. Middle tier functioning, standards, places and school ecosystems

5. But society won’t wait: the communities around the school and the role of local government

6. More muddle: English Education’s unstable assemblage

7. Wider parallels: limitations at the top

8. The construction of central governments that find it all too difficult

9. Re-democratising and re-politicising

10. Conclusion: Beginning to return English schooling to the public service