Analysing the policy consequences
It was undoubtedly the case that a key determinant of the shift in attitudes towards the EAZ resulted from the change of key personnel in the Zone, from its re-organization and from the way in which Zone priorities were re-established. Initially there was some hostility towards what was perceived as a top-down and often irrelevant agenda. In its early stages the pressure to be seen to generate radical and innovative approaches was strongly evident in Zone. The result was a disengagement between the Zone organization and its member schools. Quite simply there was a break in the policy chain between schools and the Action Forum, the Zone’s central strategic body. This may have been indicative of a more substantial break in the link between schools and the national policy agenda. Several headteachers reported that Zone relevant to what schools were trying to achieve. The collective experience of teachers, who in many of the town’s schools were doing spectacular things in very difficult circumstances, appeared to be at best under-valued, and at worst ignored.