![Sample our Education journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5932/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Education.jpg"})
Abstract
There is a current trend in education, apparent in several Western nations, towards decentralisation and redistribution of power to parents and the wider community. Many such initiatives focus on encouraging school‐based management. This paper, however, examines an area‐based innovation: a Parents’ Centre established by a local education authority (LEA) which aims to involve parents more closely in the education service. It explores the nature of that involvement through a careful appraisal of the concept of participation. Those concerned with the Centre's establishment share an apparent consensus over its aims, yet competing priorities are to be found working within that agreement. This paper concludes that these submerged differences stem from varying constraints operating on the different groups involved in the Centre, and on the LEA as a whole. These ensure that the opportunities for participation open to parents are of a limited kind.
[1] ‘Community’ is of course a much contested term. It is used here in the sense in which LEA officers used it—to refer to the electorate, especially parents.
Notes
[1] ‘Community’ is of course a much contested term. It is used here in the sense in which LEA officers used it—to refer to the electorate, especially parents.
