Working with Secondary School Leadership in a Large-scale Reform in London, UK: Consultants’ Perspectives of Their Role as Agents of School Change and Improvement

Abstract

This article uses a cultural and political theoretical framework to examine the relationship between consultants and secondary school leaders within a large-scale consultancy-based reform, the Secondary National Strategy (SNS), in London UK. The SNS follows a cascade model of implementation, in which nationally created initiatives are introduced and supported within local authorities (LA) and schools through LA-based SNS consultant teams. The article is drawn from a larger interpretive case study that follows the experiences of SNS consultants working within the reform from 2002—2006. The article uses unstructured interviews to reveal the various and diverse experiences that occur in schools as a result of the introduction of the SNS consultant—school leader relationship into schools. The article argues that introducing a SNS consultancy structure within secondary schools has created dynamic, complex and shifting effects across secondary school hierarchies. While SNS consultants are often seeking to operate to further create developmental or learning experiences that resonate with teachers’ and departments’ experiences, these activities may also serve to further the institutional control of teachers’ workspaces to significant degrees. These effects are part of the complexities that exist within school change agendas in LAs and schools. Understanding these contradictions may be of critical importance for the success of any secondary school large-scale reform.