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The Reform At represents the most important stage in the changing pattern
of relationships within the education service. The DES has acquired a whole range
of new powers in relation to the curriculum, schemes for financial delegation and the
approval of GMS applications. Local education authorities will lose much of their day-
to-day control of schools and colleges as powers are devolved to institutions. Schools
will have much greater responsibility for the management of staff, pupil admissions
and finance, together with the right to seek withdrawal from the local authority system.
Within schools there is an enhanced role for the new governing bodies established
under the 1986 Education Act.

The new responsibilities imposed on schools and colleges by the 1988 Act will
place a premium on the effective management of these institutions. Headteachers,
principals and other senior staff will have to perform tasks formerly undertaken by LEA
officers. People with training and experience in curriculum and pedagogy will have to
acquire new skills in staff management, finance and marketing to lead their schools
into the competitive period which will follow the implementation of the Act. School
management training has been a national priority since 1983 and will become even
more important in the post-Reform Act era.

According to Glatter (1979, p. 16), educational management is concerned with
‘the internal operation of educational institutions, and also with their relationships
with their environments, that is, the communities in which they are set, and with the
governing bodies to which they are formally responsible’. School and college leaders
generally play a key role in formulating the aims or goals of the institution. They have
a particular responsibility for establishing and maintaining an effective management
structure. Heads and principals are important participants in the process of decision
making and they have a major role in maintaining good relationships with groups and
individuals in the external environment.

The relevance of theory
All these managerial functions might be regarded as essentially practical
activities. Setting goals, making decisions and building relationships all involve ac-
tion. It might be thought that simply repeating these tasks would eventually lead to
managerial excellence-practice makes perfect’. Certainly, practitioners often stress the
relevance of practical experience and the remoteness of theory. As Hughes (1986, pp.
3 and 31) points out: