ITALIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY OF EDUCATION

There has been a permanent revolution of reforms to the education system in England over the past thirty years. This paper presents a description and conceptualisation of governance as a means of understanding and explaining those reforms. Specifically I draw on the data and theoretical work from the Knowledge Production in Educational Leadership (KPEL) project funded by the ESRC to examine the relationship between hierarchy, markets and private interests with New Labour (1997-2010) education policymaking. I present institutionalised governance as a frame for explaining the inter-actions of government with researchers, private consultants, and the profession in designing and delivering reforms.