A similar pattern of progress emerged in relation to other EAZ themes such as increasing the role of the private sector, the development of new forms of school governance and the use of new flexibilities in terms of both the curriculum and conditions of employment. Some of the schools within the Zone already had significant contacts with local businesses and used these creatively to support the curriculum. At a strategic level there was business involvement in the Zone through representation on the action Forum (chaired by a representative of the local business community). However, it had not been possible to find large-scale business finance to support the Zone, nor was it possible to identify at a school level any significant initiatives that increased business involvement in the curriculum. There was no enthusiasm in the Zone’s school to use their EAZ status to vary national curriculum arrangements. This difficulty in promoting private sector involvement in EAZs was not unique to the case-study Zone. Indeed, this pattern appeared to be the rule rather than exception (Hallgarten and Watling 2001: Carter 2002), and perhaps suggests that those who foresaw EAZs as the harbingers of a Grad grind curriculum for the working class and the portent of a new role for the private sector were unduly pessimistic (STA 1998). It is the case that increasing vocationalism and privatization (DfES 2004) are very much features of the current educational scene in England, but in both cases this appears to be almost despite, rather than because of, the contribution of EAZs. In a similar way, the government appears determined to challenge the concept of national pay and conditions for teachers; however, it has had to look to alternative ways of achieving this after EAZs showed no enthusiasm to use the powers they had to vary terms and conditions.