Local Transformations as Scalecraft: crafting the local in transformations of England s school governance.

Transcription

1 Local Transformations as Scalecraft: crafting the local in transformations of England s school governance. Dr. Natalie Papanastasiou, University of Edinburgh, n.papanastasiou@ed.ac.uk PSA Annual International Conference, Brighton, March 2016 Panel Series: New perspectives on the transformation of the local : Is there a critical approach to local government studies? (Panel 1) Abstract This paper advances the agenda of the panel series by integrating theoretical perspectives from poststructuralist policy analysis and poststructuralist human geography to explore how approaching scale more critically can contribute to how we might think differently about the transformation of the local in the context of local government studies. Drawing on the logics of critical explanation approach, the paper examines responses to the academy schools policy in two English local authorities by identifying the social, political and fantasmatic logics which underpin understandings of local schooling in each case study. By adopting a critical approach to scale, analysis also identifies that strategically constructing the local is a central preoccupation of policy actors and argues that scalar practices should be considered key elements of the logics of explanation. The paper concludes by introducing the concept of scalecraft and proposing for it to be considered an essential feature of local transformations. Introduction This paper proposes that local government studies, and in particular understandings of local transformation, stand to be enriched by human geography debates about scale. Scale categories such as local, regional, national have a profound role in that they shape our everyday and scholarly imaginations of the social world. It is precisely this all-pervasive nature of scale in our daily and academic language that has made it easy to take for granted the meanings of scale and what their associated politics might be. Poststructuralist geographers have called for greater attention to the practices of scale, which involves examining the way actors use scale to make sense of and strategically construct their social worlds. Despite local government studies being no exception to the influence of the discursive turn in policy studies, approaches which have problematised the categories, classifications, practices and discourses mobilised by social actors have consistently overlooked the spatial nature of these. This has been a particularly important theoretical absence in studies of local government. In a current landscape where conditions of austerity, shifting centre-local relations and the marketisation of the local state dominate, all these political dynamics proceed through narratives which challenge the meanings, capabilities, and status of the local. It is therefore time to critically examine the role of scalar practices in the study of local government so that we develop a more nuanced appreciation of what the local in local transformations might mean. These arguments are pursued by developing an integrated theoretical approach which combines poststructuralist policy analysis and poststructuralist human geography, and specifically Glynos and Howarth s (2007) logics of critical explanation approach and a critical approach to scale (Jones 1998; Moore 2008). These two theoretical perspectives are integrated and used to examine an empirical study of responses to England s academy schools policy in two local authorities. The empirical example serves to highlight how the strategic use of scale is a key feature of the different logics governing the transformation of local schooling landscapes. In particular, defining the local is a key preoccupation for local authority and school actors, and the study illustrates how crafting scale in contrasting ways has profound implications for the transformation of schooling governance. The paper begins by giving a brief outline of England s academy schools policy and its vision for local transformation. The next part introduces the two theoretical approaches and how they will 1

2 be integrated, followed by an outline of the methodology and the local authority case studies. The main analysis section interprets the different logics of local transformation and their scalar features and these insights are then developed further by introducing the concept of scalecraft and proposing that it be considered a feature of local transformations. Finally the concluding part of the paper distils the strengths of adopting a critical approach to scale in the study of local transformation and proposes that the concept of scalecraft is a useful way of integrating this approach into future studies. England s academy schools policy and its vision for local transformation England s academy schools policy was launched by New Labour in 2000, when it was announced that a new type of school would help to combat educational failure. The policy involved closing down inner-city failing schools and replacing them with new academies which would be governed by private sponsors. A defining feature of the policy is that converting to academy status involves schools shifting from being accountable to their local authority to becoming directly accountable to central government. Academies thus represent a break from roles and structures and relationships of accountability of a state education system (Ball 2007, p. 177). By 2002 the academies policy was extended to apply to schools in all geographical areas and by the end of New Labour s time in government 203 sponsored academies had been set-up across England (House of Commons Library 2010). The Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition government radically extended the academies policy by implementing the 2010 Academies Act. The latter allowed for successful schools to convert to academy status without the need for external sponsorship. These types of academies (known as converters ) grew at an extremely rapid rate; by September converter academies existed and converter secondaries represent 41% of all current funded secondary schools (House of Commons Library 2015). The post-2015 Conservative government is intending to pass the Education and Adoption Bill which will make it easier for schools to be forced into converting to academy status (DfE 2015) and therefore their numbers are set to continue to rise. Despite the academies policy changing guise over time, many key features of its overarching narrative have remained the same. The most important narrative for this article s interest in understanding local transformations is the claim that academies are the solution to uncreative, bureaucratic local authorities (Gunter and McGinity 2014). New Labour s sponsored academies framed private sponsors as having the appropriate innovative thinking, business acumen and efficient governance techniques to turn around failing schools; characteristics which local authorities were unable to offer. This narrative has been extended by the policy in the post-2010 period, with converter academies being referred to as successful schools whose independence would make them system leaders (DfE 2014). A key phrase which has been used throughout the lifespan of the academies policy is one which provokes a liberating image by describing schools breaking free from local authority control. This, once again, criticises local authorities and the bureaucratic constraints (DfE 2010, p. 11) they impose on schools. Academies bring to the fore questions and transformations relating to what it means to be a local school and challenge the role of local authorities in the governance of schooling. The policy is therefore a fascinating example through which to critically explore the meanings of local transformations, and this paper does so by adopting an interpretive approach which focuses on the perceptions and experiences of policy actors themselves as they muddle through implementing academies. This article draws on an empirical study of policy actors responses to the academies policy in two local authority case studies. Before outlining the research design of the study and describing the 2

3 case studies, the discussion will first introduce two theoretical approaches that it proposes to integrate in order to make sense of the process of local transformations. These theoretical approaches are: the logics of critical explanation and human geographers critical approach to scale. Logics of critical explanation and a critical approach to scale: interpreting local transformations. Logics of Critical Explanation Many discursive studies of policy have highlighted the importance of critically analysing the representation of policy problems (Glynos et al. 2015). This paper considers Glynos and Howarth s (2007) logics approach to critical explanation to be particularly useful for problematising policy practices. It is a poststructuralist approach which emphasises Foucault s notion of problematisation. For the analysis of policy, the practice of problematisation explores how a problem is defined in a particular field, and involves analysis in which one tries to see how the different solutions to a problem have been constructed; but also how these different solutions result from a specific form of problematization (Foucault 1997, pp ). The second key feature of this form of explanation is that it is retroductive; interpretive understandings and hypotheses are formed and revised by the analyst moving backwards and forwards between the empirical data and emergent theory. Poststructuralist policy analysis has its roots in Laclau and Mouffe s (1985) political discourse theory who argue that systems of signification (discourses) do not just consist of an abstract cognitive system of beliefs and words, but also [are] [ ] a constitutive dimension of social relations (Griggs and Howarth 2011, p. 219; Gottweis 2003). A critical feature of social reality and the discourses and practices which constitute it is that they are always emergent and incomplete. It is within these radically contingent and partial social practices that policy change takes place, and it is this process which the logics approach to explanation seeks to understand more profoundly. This paper understands local transformations as moments of dislocation. The latter refers to critical challenges to a discourse from rival discourses for the status of hegemony; the latter refers to a situation where one discourse s systems of meaning become taken-for-granted. The contingent nature of social practices means that discourses are always vulnerable to dislocation, however moments of dislocation occur when this challenge is particularly pronounced. For actors, whose identity is formed within a particular discourse (Laclau 1990), dislocatory events both threaten identities but also initiate a process whereby new identities are developed when actors modify themselves accordingly. It is for this reason that periods of dislocation can be argued to accentuate the role of agency dislocation mobilises agents to articulate a new discursive order, and meanings become up-for-grabs (Jeffares 2007, p. 50). The central category of critical explanation according to Glynos and Howarth s (2007) approach is that of logics. The logic of a discourse reflects the rules that govern a practice or regime of practices, as well as the conditions that make such rules possible and impossible (Griggs and Howarth 2011, p. 222). By using the concept of logics, one is provided with the language to describe and critically explain the dynamic process of social practices being created, maintained, preserved or transformed. Social logics characterise the overall pattern or coherence of a discursive practice (Glynos and Howarth 2007, p. 139) and help to expose the guiding rules through which certain practices play out in particular contexts. In the case of the national academies policy the guiding social logics include the side-lining of local authorities in school governance, schools pursuing their individual interests, and local authorities no longer being relevant to issues of school accountability. 3

4 There are also political logics which characterise the process through which social logics become established, contested, rejected or transformed. Political practices consist of two logics: equivalential and differential. The logic of equivalence incorporates a chain of meanings or identities into the same discourse, which results in the simplification of political space. The logic of difference on the other hand fragments equivalential chains of meaning and thus involves the expansion and increased complexity of political space. By drawing equivalences or differences between elements, groups or individuals, political logics establish, defend or contest an existing norm [or] [ ] pre-empt the contestation of a norm (Glynos et al. 2015, p. 396). An example of a political logic in the national academies policy is a differential logic which emphasises schools having diverse individual needs which in turn justifies the social logic of pursuing individual interests. Finally, fantasmatic logics relate to the way a particular discourse or set of practices mask the contingent nature of social relations by conveying a sense of certainty or fullness. In other words, an understanding of fantasmatic logics furnish[es] us with the means to account for the grip of an existing or anticipated social practice or regime (Glynos and Howarth 2007, p. 107) as their narratives promise a version of a desirable social reality. Fantasmatic narratives consist of both beatific and horrific scenarios which evoke positive and negative affective reactions respectively. The most striking fantasmatic narrative of the national academies policy is the beautific scenario it proposes whereby schools are given greater freedom to pursue their interests or (in the case of sponsored academies) become more innovative and competitive by benefitting from the managerial strength of private sponsors. This fantasmatic narrative also frames academies as being the solution to the horrific scenario whereby schools are being held back by bureaucratic local authorities whose involvement in schools is burdensome. This brief overview of the logics approach to critical explanation has outlined how the approach seeks to understand how particular discursive regimes take grip, maintain dominance or are replaced in particular contexts. The approach involves analysis which identifies how contingent elements and different logics are assembled in context a process of articulation which necessarily involves the analyst s judgement and interpretation. A Critical Approach to Scale: insights from poststructuralist human geography This paper proposes that we can develop a more nuanced understanding of local transformations by integrating the logics of critical explanation approach with a critical approach to scale found in poststructuralist human geography. The latter highlights how engagement with how scale categories such as local, regional, national feature in social practices serves to shed light on a key element of signification and meaning. One of the fundamental arguments of a poststructuralist approach to scale was originally proposed by Katherine Jones (1998) when she observed a group of activists who argued that their local struggle was in fact a global one. The central role played by scale categories in conveying the meaning of activists struggles led Jones to argue that the construction of scale proceeds through representational practices and that we can understand scale to be situated relationally within a community of producers and readers who give the practice of scale meaning (ibid, p.26). The implications for approaching scale in this way is to understand it as an epistemological rather than an ontological concept. Instead of scales existing as structures of the social world, they are used by actors as meaning-making categories to interpret and strategically construct their worlds. Subsequent poststructuralist thinking around scale in human geography has been grounded in the arguments put forward by Jones. While some authors have argued that scale should be removed from our scholarly vocabularies due to problematically suggesting the world is made of of spatial 4

5 blocks ( local-global or micro-macro ) (Marston et al. 2005) others have put forward different agendas. One particularly influential agenda has been that proposed by Adam Moore (2008) who, drawing on the work of Brubaker and Cooper (2000), makes the distinction between scale as a category of practice and a category of analysis. Categories of practice refer to categories of everyday experience, developed and deployed by ordinary social actors [ ] to make sense of themselves, [and] of their activities (Brubaker and Cooper 2000, p. 4). These are contrasted to categories of analysis which are experience-distant categories used by social scientists (ibid). Brubaker and Cooper argue that analysis which blurs the distinction between these two types of categories becomes problematic because it can lead to categories of practice being treated as real, existing features of the world. Moore argues how this blurring has taken place in analyses of scale by identifying how scale has become a descriptive category used by social scientists. Summarising this argument, he states the tendency to partition the world into hierarchically ordered spatial containers is what we want to explain not explain things with (Moore 2008, p. 212). Moore s solution to the problematic approach to scale which typifies most social inquiries is to focus on understanding how scale operates as a category of practice. This involves treating scales as powerful and institutionalised sets of practices [ ] rather than concrete things (ibid, p.218) which, critically, allows for analysing the politics of scale without committing to its existence. In particular, Moore calls for research to examine scalar practices the ways actors use scale categories to both interpret and to strategically construct their social worlds. A focus on scalar practices involves asking the following questions: what interpretations are conveyed through actors use of scale categories? How do scalar categories enable or constrain particular understandings of the world? What do actors scalar practices reveal about the strategies they are pursuing? Reflecting on the arguments made by poststructuralist geographers, one can identify how the academies policy narrative is dominated by references to the vertical ordering of space. The scalar narrative of the policy seeks to re-define the relationships and roles of school governance by redistributing them across different scales. Namely, the academies policy is directly aimed at increasing individual school autonomy (the local ), side-lining the role of local authorities (the middle tier ) and increasing the accountability role of the ( national ) state. Logics of Critical Explanation and a Critical Approach to Scale In the analysis which follows, the practices of policy actors charged with implementing the academies policy will be examined through the logics approach. By exploring the practices of policy actors, the article is not attempting to establish causal links in the policy process but instead is seeking to identify the conditions that enabled the emergence and maintenance over time of particular regimes of practice (Griggs and Howarth 2011, p. 221). The academies policy is understood as a critical juncture, a dislocatory event, and it is in these moments where the nature of local transformations come to the fore. In addition, a critical approach to scale will be a key feature of analysis by seeking to understand whether and how policy actors think through scale as they go about their policy practices. The following questions reflect the integrated theoretical approach and will guide the interpretation of the empirical case studies: (i) Social logics: what are the characteristics of the overall pattern of the discursive practices shaping responses to the academies policy? Does the concept of a vertically ordered space or categories of scale feature in these guiding rules of social practice? 5

6 (ii) (iii) Political logics: how are chains of meaning incorporated into the same discourse (equivalential logic)? How are chains of meaning fragmented and distinctions drawn between their constituent parts (differential logic)? How is political space simplified or diversified through the logics of equivalence and difference respectively? What does this reflect about actors understanding of the world as a space consisting of vertically ordered spatial containers, and what are the relations between different scales? Fantasmatic logics: what kinds of beatific or horrific scenarios feature in actors narratives of local transformation associated with the academies policy? What affective reactions are linked to these fantasmatic logics? Does the concept of scale feature in how social and political space is crafted in fantasmatic scenarios? Having established the theoretical framework for interpreting processes of local transformation the paper will now briefly introduce the empirical study and then proceed to its analysis. The Empirical Study: methodology and local authority cases This paper draws on empirical material from a study examining the responses to the academies policy in two local authority case studies and four academy schools within each of these. The local authorities which have been given the pseudonyms Northwestern and Eastshire were chosen on the basis of an instrumental case study design (Stake 1994). The aim of instrumental case studies is to function as a means through which to develop new understandings of social processes rather than the cases themselves being of primary interest. Very little is known about how the academies policy has been interpreted and implemented in local contexts (Simkins 2014) which made the instrumental case study design a highly appropriate one. Data collection involved conducting semi-structured interviews with local authority officers, principals, private sponsors, and chairs of governors in Eastshire and Northwestern between September 2012 and May These interviews adopted a broad and open-ended structure which allowed for policy actors to describe how they had responded to the academies policy, the process of implementing academies in each local area, and what kinds of transformations they envisaged for the local authority s schooling landscape. The two local authority case studies will now be briefly introduced by outlining the key features of the schooling landscape and their responses to the academies policy. The Local Authority Case Studies Northwestern is a Metropolitan authority located in the North West of England. It has one of the highest rates of social deprivation in the country and the educational performance of its schools has been chronically lower than national averages. The Labour Party has a long tradition of being the dominant political party in the City Council, with its councillors affiliating themselves to the historical roots of the Labour Party and largely opposing the policies of New Labour governments. Soon after the launch of the academies policy in 2000, Northwestern City Council came under pressure from the New Labour government which was in power at the time to engage with the policy, particularly due to the high level of educational failure in the authority. The Labour councillors in Northwestern were opposed to academies due to the policy s narrative of side-lining the role of local authorities. However, at that time (during the period), engaging with academies opened up an opportunity to receive capital investments in school buildings from central government through the Building Schools for the Future policy. The latter was considered a highly valuable opportunity by Northwestern officers who set about designing an alternative model of academies which would address the concerns of Northwestern councillors. The result was the Northwestern Academies Model which made some significant modifications to the national policy. These changes included making the City Council an academy co-sponsor, 6

7 local authority representatives sitting on academy boards of governors, and the local authority being responsible for selecting the private sponsors for academies. The Model stated that all schools, regardless of their status, would continue to work towards a common school vision set out by Northwestern City Council which emphasised equality of educational opportunities. The Northwestern Model was approved by councillors and, after a period of negotiation with Department for Education and Skills officials the Model was also approved by central government. Six sponsored academies were set up under the Northwestern Model, and these opened in This paper focuses on the development of this Model and fieldwork interviews were held with five local authority officers, six academy sponsor representatives, and four academy principals who all worked on creating and implementing the Northwestern Model. Eastshire is the second local authority case study and is a shire county in the East of England covering a large, mostly rural geographical area. It is one of the least deprived areas in the country and the average educational performance in Eastshire is consistently above national averages. Thus, Eastshire was unaffected by the academies policy until 2010 due to the policy being targeted at low-performing schools up to this point. The County Council has not been dominated by a single political party over time but when the 2010 Academies Act was introduced (and during the fieldwork period) the Council was led by the Conservative Party. The County Council s official position towards academies was to declare itself neutral. It justified its position by stating that it was there to support schools and their communities regardless of their choice to convert to academy status. However, many interpreted this neutral stance as giving the green light to the many successful schools who were eligible for becoming converters to convert to academy status. Importantly, during the first year after the Academies Act there were also significant financial incentives for becoming a converter academy (Downes 2011); in light of its schooling landscape being dominated by high-performing schools, Eastshire local authority therefore fully expected a large number of conversions something which indeed took place. Area colleges (a pseudonym) are a type of educational institution unique to Eastshire. Originating in the 1930s, these institutions were developed in small rural settlements and promoted a particular philosophy that endorsed serving the whole community (not simply children) and preventing migration to urban areas. Eastshire also contains a high number of community colleges a type of secondary school set up during the 1960s. Community colleges share similar founding principles to those of area colleges, for example, they were designed to contribute to the overall quality of life in their area and their buildings are available for use by the wider public. Despite all secondary schools in Easthire now being academies the area college and community college identity remains strong in many of these schools. Converter academies have come to dominate Eastshire s schooling landscape and it is these schools which were the focus of the fieldwork. Interviews were conducted with five local authority officers, four academy chairs of governors, and four academy principals. Interpreting responses to the academies policy: logics and their scalar features Policy actors in Northwestern and Eastshire interpreted the academies policy as the problematisation of two interrelated issues. They understood academies to be changing the role of local authorities in school governance and to be forcing actors to re-consider the meanings of local accountability in a landscape increasingly dominated by schools that no longer have any official accountability links to their local authority. This part of the paper discusses how policy actors in Northwestern and Eastshire interpreted and responded to these problematisations and how they shaped the nature of local transformations associated with academies. 7

8 Social Logics One can identify a number of social logics in how Northwestern local authority actors have interpreted the problems presented by academies and constructed their proposed solution. By including the local authority in all parts of the Northwestern Academies Model officers reveal a social logic that local government has a key role in school governance. This directly contests the social logic of the national academies policy which calls for less involvement of local authorities in schooling. The second key social logic which has shaped Northwestern s response to academies is that local accountability rests with the local authority. This is at odds with the national policy s aim to sever the accountability link between schools and their local authorities by making academies directly accountable to central government. The enduring role for local government in school governance and accountability are social logics which reflect the political profile of Northwestern City Council. Labour councillors emphasise the political vision of comprehensive schooling where all pupils are given the same opportunities in schools (by the latter being non-selective) and assign the local authority the role of overseeing the implementation of this system. Thirdly, the dislocatory event caused by the academies policy was responded to with a social logic of collaboration and coordination. The Northwestern Model calls for academies to work towards the collective vision of raising educational standards across the city. This built on existing relationships between the local authority and large Northwestern employers; the latter were chosen to be academy sponsors and thus ran academies according to the assumption that they were part of a larger, city-wide collaboration. Once again, this contrasts to the logic of individualisation promoted by the national policy narrative of academies which encourages schools to pursue their individual interests. Finally, a prevailing social logic expressed by Northwestern policy officers during the critical juncture created by the academies policy was that national policy should serve the interests of Northwestern. Northwestern officers were determined to persuade central government officials to allow for their Model to be permitted and they pursued this in a very brazen manner. The officer who led the negotiations at the time stated: you only have to mention a few times as an officer, well the government wants it and our [Council] members would say, I m not bothered what the government wants [ ] (Northwestern officer 6). This attitude was consistently expressed by Northwestern officers, highlighting a disregard for national policy aims. The dislocatory event of the academies policy exposed a number of social logics operating in Eastshire. Firstly, Eastshire County Council s argument that it should be neutral about whether schools choose to convert to academy status reveals a social logic that local government should have a very minimal role in school governance. The local authority is given no part to play in shaping schools opinions or decisions on academy status. This mirrors one of the main logics of the national policy narrative which frames local government involvement in schools as overly bureaucratic and a restraint on school innovation. In Eastshire there is evidence that this social logic already existed before the launch of the academies policy. Schools described having a distant relationship with the local authority and officers characterised the Council s approach as always avoiding any interference in schools decisions. The academies policy is related directly to the principle of individual schools serving their communities, where community here refers to a schools catchment area. This reflects a second prevailing logic that local accountability relates to individual schools catchment areas, rather than there being a local authority-wide notion of accountability. Examples of how newly converted academies grappled with the question of how they were going to remain locally accountable included holding village hall meetings to present their school s progress and increasing the number of parent governors; the local authority was not considered a meaningful consideration in local accountability. Thirdly, the dominance of a logic of free-market individualisation and choice is revealed in the way Eastshire actors emphasise that schools decision on whether to convert to academy status relates above all else to what is in their individual interests. This is also complementary to the logic driving 8

9 the national academies policy which envisages individual schools working independently in a marketplace and competing for parent customers. Market logic is reflected by how principals refer to their school brand and the existence of a school pecking order, demonstrating how the policy logic of academies easily gained traction in the context of Eastshire. Finally, Eastshire local authority officers expressed a sense of inevitability that central government s aim for all highperforming schools to convert would succeed, and officers described their neutral stance towards academies as the only pragmatic response. There is therefore a fourth logic that national policy aims will prevail through central government setting up incentives for schools to convert as well as introducing risks related to non-conversion. This social logic is once again underpinned by the notion of a schooling market where schools respond to market incentives and risks, leaving little agency with local government. The presence of a Conservative Party majority in Eastshire County Council is also significant here national policy aims were compatible with those of the Council at the time. Interpreting the social logics driving the responses to academies in Northwestern and Eastshire highlights how the academies policy presents a discursive challenge to four key governance issues. The role of local government in school governance, the meaning of local accountability, school landscapes being collaborative or competitive, and the authority of national policy were common issues identified by policy actors as essential to re-define in light of the emergence of academies. However, does adopting a specific interest in scalar practices further enrich these understandings of social logics? Firstly, it is easy to establish that scales are a key spatial feature of the identified social logics. Actors interpretations of academies reveals them understanding it through the lens of three different scales: individual school, local authority and national, which, perhaps unsurprisingly, mirrors the narrative of the national policy. However, these scales are given contrasting meanings in the scalar practices of policy actors in Northwestern and Eastshire. In Northwestern, the social logics relating to questions about the role of local government and local accountability are underpinned by scalar practices which emphasise the local authority scale as being the most meaningful political space. Furthermore, by consistently relating discussions about schools to the local authority-wide area of Northwestern, policy actors display scalar practices which strategically downplay the importance of the individual school scale. The reverse has taken place in Eastshire: the individual school scale is that which is linked to meanings of local accountability and is emphasised in such a way that frames local authority-wide considerations as irrelevant to transformations in Eastshire s education landscape. Social logics that promote collaborative or competitive schooling landscapes also display features of scalar practices. Collaboration is inextricably linked to the local authority scale in Northwestern whereas in Eastshire the individual school scale is framed as embodying the principle of competition and market freedoms. Once again, scale concepts have antagonistic relations, with individual schools being regarded as the biggest threat to collaboration in Northwestern and the local authority scale being the source of bureaucratic burdens that are detrimental to a competitive schooling landscape. Finally, the accounts of local authority actors were underpinned by a social logic reflecting their perceptions of what possibilities were available to them when faced with a national drive to push through the academies policy. Here, scalar practices which gave particular meanings to the national were highly significant features of policy actors work. In Northwestern, national policy was automatically considered in light of the interests of the local authority; scalar practices of consistently shifting attention away from the aims of national government were a key strategy adopted by local authority officers. The national was understood to be the source of far greater authority in Eastshire, where policy actors interpreted the national vision for mass academy 9

10 conversion to be an inevitability that the local authority could do little about. An attention to scalar practices highlights how actors had particular understandings of the relationship between the national and local, which translated into the strategies they pursued in their policy work. By interrogating how scales are incorporated into and given particular meanings in the social logics of transformations associated with academies, a critical approach to scale has allowed analysis to shed light on the spatial politics crafting patterns of local transformation. Political Logics This section turns to the political logics underlying the response to academies in each local authority. In the case of Northwestern, powerful equivalential logics are mobilised by policy actors to ensure that the discourse of local authority-wide collaboration maintains its hegemonic position despite the dislocatory challenge presented by the academies policy. The way in which the Northwestern Model denies special treatment for academies exposes a clear logic of equivalence which seeks to erase difference between schools. For example, Northwestern officers argued it was of great significance that the leader of the Council is not really using the word academies, he s using the word schools to be an inclusive thing, and embracing all schools (Northwestern officer 2). Most importantly, equivalences are not simply drawn between individual schools but are applied to the whole area of Northwestern; Northwestern is an empty signifier whose vision all actors and institutions work towards. The powerful grip of this equivalential logic is further underlined by how its principles were consistently expressed by academy principals and sponsors. Principals referring to their academy as part of the jigsaw of Northwestern (Northwestern Principal 3) and sponsors describing being part of a collaboration across the city (Northwestern Sponsor 1) highlight the consistent equivalence being drawn between schools and the local authority. Eastshire s response to the academies policy is dominated by the political logic of difference. The social logic of individualisation directly mobilises a logic of difference between individual schools. Schools emphasise their unique history and institutional identity, often citing how they are different to other schools. Local authority actors similarly characterise Eastshire schools as pursuing their individual interests and being part of distinct communities. The relationship between the local authority and schools is also underpinned by a logic of difference. This is highlighted by school principals and governors consistently referring to the local authority as distant ; local authority officers also echo a similar differential logic by arguing that schools would convert to academy status regardless of whether the local authority supported their decision: schools want to do this, they re going to do it (Eastshire officer 5). This highlights how schools pursue their individual agenda without consideration for other Eastshire schools or the local authority. It is clear that the academies policy has brought to the fore political logics which centre on the relationship between schools and their local authority, which exposed political logics of equivalence or difference. Equivalential and differential logics have direct spatial implications of fragmenting and simplifying political space respectively (Howarth 2006). However, one can argue that there is more to the spatial dimension of these political logics which involves distinct scalar practices at work. What the case studies reveal is that the notion of a vertical hierarchy of space is being crafted in particular ways which supports the (re-)establishment of the dominant social logics driving interpretations of academies. The Northwestern model specifically seeks to flatten space, so that schools and the local authority which are framed as operating at different scales by the national academies policy are operating as one, city-wide scale. Indeed, it is this scalar practice which allows for the simplification of political space by emphasising the shared aims of all schools to contribute to the local authority s vision for education. Examining the scalar practices at work in Eastshire reveals the local authority and individual school scales being further distanced from each other. Choices and aims driving the transformation of Eastshire s schooling landscape are 10

11 driven by individual schools, with the local authority being a detached institution that has little control over how the academies policy affects the county. Enhancing and emphasising the vertical hierarchy of scale, together with the individual school scale itself having no scalar cohesion, are scalar practices which are powerful drivers for fragmenting Eastshire s political space through the logic of difference. In light of the above, interpreting political logics by also asking whether and how actors are using scale to strategically construct academies has been a valuable lens for understanding the nature of local transformation. A critical approach to scale brings sharply into focus the spatial dynamics of equivalence and difference and how these logics derive power from constructions of scale which complement logics fragmenting or simplifying effects on political space. Fantasmatic logics The local transformations of schooling landscapes in Northwestern and Eastshire contain fantasmatic narratives which deploy both beatific and horrific elements that evoke affective reactions to complement dominant interpretations of academies. In both cases, the concept of community a term used here as a loosely specified sense of social collectivity (Liepins 2000, 25) was a central feature of fantasmatic narratives. In Northwestern, the initial reaction of local authority councillors and officers to the national academies policy was to describe the horrific scenario of the policy fragmenting Northwestern, for example: if it s like a whole load of different bitty schools and areas, erm, suddenly have, you know, highly competitive, with very unfair financial arrangements, you know Then it just starts to break up, doesn t it? (Northwestern officer 6) The breaking up of Northwestern involving a lack of coordination and cohesion is presented as the alternative scenario to the Northwestern Academies Model. A related horrific scenario also demonstrated in the quotation is that of increased inequality between schools, with academies receiving disproportionate resources and attracting the most privileged students. The Northwestern Model is framed as the response which directly combats the fears around academies. The Model modified the national policy in such a way that removed the possibility of the horrific scenario of fragmentation and inequality, replacing it instead with the beatific scenario of collaboration and equality across Northwestern. In this way, the Model draws on a notion of a community existing in Northwestern. Talking about working together for the good of all children (Northwestern officer 5) and referring to the Northwestern family of schools are examples of how the beatific scenario of the Northwestern Model hinges on the idea of a Northwestern-wide community. The use of family is particularly significant: it invokes a sense of belonging and suggests schools and the local authority share a resilient and lasting bond. In Eastshire, the County Council s decision to be neutral towards academies was explained by evoking a beatific scenario whereby each school had the freedom to pursue its own individual needs and best serve its community. School actors conveyed this beatific scenario by repeatedly emphasising the unique identity of their schools and how this was resilient to any national policies. For example, one principal described area colleges as a 75-year-old brand, erm, it means more than academy I think to people in the area. It s a very local [pause] particular thing (Eastshire principal 1). Academies were excluded from the beatific narrative of community in Eastshire but were instead regarded as an opportunity for financial gains which would further support school communities. The alternative, horrific scenario of Eastshire actors fantasmatic narratives was presented as a situation where the local authority discouraged schools from converting to academy status, which would treat all schools and their communities as generic and not allow them to make their choices independently. 11

12 Community is thus a beatific narrative which underpinned fantasmatic logics in the case studies. Practices which consistently use scalar concepts to give meaning to academies can be identified as also featuring strongly in fantasmatic logics which are transforming the local schooling landscapes. The beatific scenarios which link the response to academies to existing understandings of community are mirrored in the dominant scalar practices of each case study. The narrative of the Northwestern Model protecting and fostering a local authority-wide community and preventing its fragmentation is underpinned by a scalar imaginary which blends together individual school and local authority scales. Similarly, the academies policy being framed as a choice for individual school communities hinges on crafting individual schools and local authority scales as distinct, with a sense of community being absent in the latter. This points to how the crafting of scale can contribute to the affective power of discourse. In this case, scales evoke a particular sense of community or collective, a sense of being local. Indeed, the scalar nature of fantasmatic logics is a powerful reminder that the meanings of local transformations are embedded in context and, critically, that the scalar boundaries of the local have grave implications for the nature of policy transformations. Scalecraft as a Feature of Local Transformations The transformation of local schooling landscapes has been analysed by adopting two theoretical tools. The first has been the logics approach which has served to illuminate the social, political and fantasmatic logics that underpin how the academies policy has been given meaning in Northwestern and Eastshire. By identifying the logics which have shaped responses to the academies policy the theoretical approach has been a valuable tool for understanding how two very different normative visions for local schooling have taken hold in Northwestern and Eastshire, and how these transformations imply particular kinds of politics. Broadly speaking, Northwestern s response to academies has been to go against the national narrative by emphasising the continued importance of local government in the governance of schooling and a vision whereby all schools work towards a common educational vision for Northwestern. The response in Eastshire has reflected a political position that is more closely aligned with that set out by national government, emphasising school choice and pursuit of individual interest above all else, leaving very little role for strategic input by local government in the governance of schooling. The critical logics approach is now well-established as a valuable theoretical tool for illuminating the dynamics which allow a discursive regime to be established, maintained or replaced. This paper argues that the logics approach can be further strengthened by considering the possible scalar practices which might be at play in the work of policy actors. The second theoretical lens used to interpret the empirical cases was sensitive to how categories and concepts of scale have been constructed and strategically deployed by policy actors. In this way analysis was extended further, going beyond using local to merely describe transformations but to instead regard the local and all other scales as actively constructed, and identifying this process as instrumental to the nature of social transformations. In this section I propose that we might think critically about scale in the study of local transformations by considering the practice of scalecraft to be a key feature of the practices of policy. The empirical example of academies in Northwestern and Eastshire has confirmed the argument made by poststructuralist geographers that scale is an epistemological concept; policy actors demonstrated how they used the notion of a vertically ordered social space consisting of individual schools, local authorities and the national scale to make sense of academies. In other words, a key way actors know and understand their world is to think through scale. In many ways, this is a rather obvious, perhaps even mundane point. It confirms the basic argument of discourse theory 12