Fragmented Centralisation

• Ball (2011) argues that promoting academies and free schools had led to both increased fragmentation and increased centralisation of control over educational provision in England
• Fragmentation - Comprehensive system is being replaced by a patchwork of diverse provision, much of it involving private providers, that leads to greater inequality in opportunities
• Centralisation of control - Central government alone has the power to allow or require schools to become academies or allow free schools to be set up. These schools are funded directly by central government. Their rapid growth has greatly reduced the role of elected local authorities in education