Anatomy of a Professionalization Project: The Making of the Modern School Business Manager

Description

Public services have been a target for reform in Western-style democracies for more than three decades. This volume documents and examines the case of School Business Managers (SBMs) as an example of a growing but scarcely-acknowledged phenomenon: the government-backed creation of new ‘professions’ within the public sector for groups of support workers not formally recognised as such. The dawn of the millennium saw the beginning of an unprecedented professional project as the New Labour government set about the systematic creation of a pool of suitably skilled and qualified School Business Managers in England. The Government’s stated purpose was to support educational leaders in meeting mounting public expectations for state schools in increasingly complex and challenging circumstances. Although the ‘war stories’ of lead professionals such as teachers and physicians in the context of reform have been extensively documented, the contribution of the army of less high-status professionals in public service institutions is poorly-understood. Drawing on first-hand accounts of people involved in bringing the SBM professional project about, and those whose professional lives the project sought to target, the SBMs themselves, the book turns the spotlight on an under-recognised group. It explores the purposes and outcomes of the professionalization initiative, comparing the process to the professional projects of SBMs in other countries and to parallel projects within the health sector. Cover Half-tile Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Figures and Tables Acknowledgements Foreword 1 The Making of a New Profession: The Case Explained Part 1 Politics and the Professional Project 2 The School Business Manager Project in the Context of Public Sector Reform 3 The Public Sector Professional Part 2 School Business Manager Professionalization 4 Th e School Business Manager Professionalization Programme 5 Professional Knowledge and Skill 6 Credentials and Careers Part 3 Professional Knowledge Applied 7 Individual Perspectives on Professional Practice 8 Applying Expertise Inter-professionally 9 Institutional Arrangements and Knowledge Application Part 4 Politics and the Professional Project 10 Professionalism as Personal Project 11 Professionalism as Political Project 12 Professionalization Revisited Appendices Appendix I: Overview of School Business Manager Research Projects and Data Appendix II: Illustrative Interview Questions (All Categories of Respondent) Appendix III: National College Chronology of Project ‘Milestones and Achievements’ April 2007–July 2010 Appendix IV: Excerpt from the School Business Manager Competency Framework : Facilitating Change References Index