Class of 2010: a qualitative longitudinal study of an English secondary school that became an academy

Abstract

This project was a qualitative longitudinal research study into cultural and structural change in an English secondary school. The schools’ consistent underperformance led to its conversion to ‘academy’ status as part of a development under the Labour administration of 1997-2010. The Labour policy for academisation was designed first, to challenge the culture of underachievement in areas of high deprivation and secondly, to encourage schools to play a part in local community regeneration. Our research began at the point of conversion to academy status, and we have subsequently visited the school each year to interview senior leadership, teaching staff and a sample of pupils to investigate their views on continuity and change within the institution and the impact on their own roles. Wider context for the research has been provided by annual publicly-available performance data and academy documentation. In this case-study report we consider research design and some methodological issues that we encountered during the data collection. We show how trust is an essential ingredient between researchers and participants for the project to yield rich and interesting data.