Constructing a ‘Disordered’ Identity in a Child-Centred School

Deborah Marshall was a primary school head teacher for whom I had the utmost respect. Despite the increasing formalization of the curriculum and the assessment system, the school had continued to retain what Deborah described as a ‘child centred ethos’ with plenty of opportunities for creative play. The school usually met its targets for literacy, numeracy and science, but all the teachers felt there was more to education than this. As Deborah put it, they had to conform to Government guidelines ‘to keep OFSTED off our backs’ and create space for the development of the school’s own priorities. She thought that SATs and the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies were at present something they could live with, and that her school was ‘successful’ despite these Government-imposed policies rather than because of them.