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Papers by Mark Innes

Journal of Educational Administration and History, Dec 10, 2023

Journal of Education Policy

Educational Management Administration & Leadership

System leadership has historically been used normatively as a concept to promote and privilege mu... more System leadership has historically been used normatively as a concept to promote and privilege multi-site working across education institutions as part of a so-called self-improving system. In this article, we argue that a consequence of this definition is that any superficially ‘leaderful’ practice in such multi-site institutions is understood and legitimated through a system leadership lens. We argue further that when multi-academy trust (MAT) actors understand what they do as system leadership in this way, they may misdiagnose the role and importance of micro-politics as an explanatory model for their practice and motivations. Accepting a system leadership framing for their practice enables participants to underplay how they engage in careerist micro-political strategies and ploys within a wider framing of collaboration, networking and normal MAT functioning. To make these arguments, we draw on interview and observation data and analysis from a case study investigating literacy p...

London Review of Education

The Literacy Policy Project examines the trends in UK government policy interventions into litera... more The Literacy Policy Project examines the trends in UK government policy interventions into literacy curriculum and pedagogies in schools in England. We undertake a policy scholarship methodology to read policy texts through a conceptual framework that frames policy interventions with functional, realist or socially critical purposes. We identify how successive UK governments have primarily adopted functional policies and research relating to literacy in schools in England. We argue that policy is dictated by, and serves, a growing marketplace for educational solutions, making the case that more prominence should be given to facilitating socially critical approaches to literacy policy.

School Leadership & Management, 2021

ABSTRACT This article reports on research for The Literacy Policy project. The focus is the micro... more ABSTRACT This article reports on research for The Literacy Policy project. The focus is the micro-politics of policy enactment, sited in the literacy policy of a multi-academy trust (MAT). A semi-structured interview was conducted with the CEO of a MAT to ascertain what literacy policy means to them. The contribution is to add to existing literature on the practice of MAT CEOs, using theories of micro-politics and the thinking tools of Bourdieu. Findings suggest that MAT CEOs may enact policies and structure their organisation in a way that reduces the opportunity for, but also monitors and utilises, micro-political activity by teachers and headteachers. This is driven by the pressures on MATs to expand in a highly performative environment and deliver curricular in a cost-effective way. This is important because it suggests that the UK government’s academies policy for schools in England does not necessarily deliver the promised levels of autonomy; and may lead to homogenised curricular for schools in disadvantaged areas where greater criticality is required.

Oxford Review of Education, 2021

ABSTRACT This article reports on a case study investigating the micro-politics of policy enactmen... more ABSTRACT This article reports on a case study investigating the micro-politics of policy enactment in a school in England. The case is sited in the literacy policy of a primary school in challenging circumstances as it joins a Multi-Academy Trust (MAT). Data gathering consisted of interviews with the school headteacher, assistant headteacher, and literacy coordinator. Data were analysed thematically using the thinking tools of Bourdieu to understand and explain the micro-politics of the policy enactment. Findings suggest that the enactment of policy in schools in England can be a dynamic undertaking when there is judged a need to improve. The micro-politics of the school may become dominated by the need to comply with MATs and private providers of educational solutions, potentially reducing the autonomy of teachers and headteachers.