The theatricality of accountability: The operation of governing bodies in schools
| Author | Jonathan Morris,Catherine Farrell,Stewart Ranson |
| Published date | 01 July 2017 |
| Date | 01 July 2017 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0952076716654208 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Public Policy and Administration
2017, Vol. 32(3) 214–231
!The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0952076716654208
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Article
The theatricality of
accountability: The
operation of governing
bodies in schools
Catherine Farrell
University of South Wales, Pontypridd, UK
Jonathan Morris
Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
Stewart Ranson
Univeristy of Warwick, Warwick, UK
Abstract
The shift from political leadership to new forms of governance has led to the
establishment of locally appointed bodies in many public organizations including schools.
From a dramaturgical perspective, this article focuses on the accountability of these new
bodies, in particular on the codes of accountability. Using school governing bodies to
illustrate, the article evaluates whether accountability in practice might be likened to a
theatrical performance. The findings presented are relevant to school governing bodies
and there may be wider application in public sector boards more generally.
Keywords
Accountability, dramaturgical perspective, good governance, public boards, scrutiny,
school governance
Introduction
Over a number of years, UK public service reforms have led to the removal of
responsibilities from local authorities and other government agencies and the allo-
cation of these to separate quango and specialist organisations. Bodies including
Corresponding author:
Catherine Farrell, University of South Wales, Ferndale 205, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK.
Email: catherine.farrell@southwales.ac.uk
the Royal Mint and Passport Office have been established outside their parent
central-government departments. In education, further and higher-education col-
leges were removed from public control and managed by new separate corporations.
Within the school sector, school governing bodies were reformed and empowered
and schools themselves were given greater independence from local authorities.
As public organisations delivering key education services, accountability is cen-
tral in the operation schools (James et al., 2014). Theoretically, headteachers as
chief executives are accountable to governing bodies which have a leadership and
strategic role in schools. Headteachers are responsible for putting strategy into
practice and there is a formal mechanism of accountability to enable them to
do this. This mechanism is the ‘headteacher’s report’ in meetings of the full govern-
ing body. For effective accountability, governors need to challenge and scrutinise
the information given to them by headteachers and there needs to be effective
governance arrangements in place (OPM and CIPFA, 2004). This article reviews
the operation of accountability in school governing bodies focusing on both the
headteacher report and also the practices of accountability as these are important
for effective governance. The article is divided into three parts. The first section
outlines the theoretical background around the dramaturgical perspective, theatres
and performances in relation to accountability (Oswick et al., 2001). Next, data
from interviews with a number of headteachers and chairs of governors concerned
with the operation of accountability are presented. This is evaluated in part three to
determine the extent to which headteacher accountability and the practices of
accountability are effective (Baxter, 2016; Clarke et al., 2007). The findings suggest
that accountability within school governing bodies is undermined by managed and
staged performances. This finding has important implications for accountability as
those who have responsibility are not always fully accounting for these. This find-
ing is relevant within the context of school governing bodies and has wider impli-
cations for the governing boards and bodies which exist across many public and
third sector organisations.
Accountability and theatrical performances
The concept of accountability is central to public service organisations as those
who have been given responsibilities or elected to public positions are obliged to
provide an account of their performance (Wright et al., 2012). Much academic
work has been undertaken about the concept of accountability and its ties with
democracy. With the shift to new forms of governance, Pierre (2009) questions
the impact that changing accountability frameworks are having on democracy and
there are issues about the extent to which public bodies fully account for their
activities. There are a range of types of accountability including accountability
to those financing the service, to users, to employees and so on (Mulgan, 2009)
and clearly accountability in one form does not exclude another (Andreeva et al.,
2014: 351). Further, the complexities can mean that ‘being accountable in one form
often requires compromises of other sorts of accountability’ and also that
Farrell et al. 215
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