This article reports the findings from an ongoing evaluation of a new model for collaboration among secondary schools: the Birmingham Collegiate Academies. The claims the authors make in this article are based on two years' field work and draw on individual interviews and more informal discussions, attendance at meetings of headteachers and other…

Schools are currently being asked to collaborate and compete with each other. Britain's 1988 Education Reform Act and the Technical and Vocational Initiative (TVEI) seem to promote conflicting school development models. This paper explores these policies' background and investigates how one TVEI cluster is responding to this challenge. Conclusions…

Government policy of competition is resisted and reconstructed by secondary school head teachers from the United Kingdom in the newly formed Urban Schools Development Group. Emphasis is placed on school collaborations between secondary and partner primary schools, and on partnerships between parents and teachers to restore policy coherence and…

Reviews the literature on parental choice and suggests implications for the marketing of secondary schools in England. The parameters of parental choice may change as schools become more active at marketing and parents become more sophisticated in their choosing strategies. However, schools may become increasingly disenchanted with the competitive…