At its launch in January 1998, the Education Action Zone (EAZ) initiative was presented as “the centrepiece of Labour's modernisation agenda” (DfEE official, cited in Carvel, 1998). Six months later, the first 25 EAZs were formally announced as the “standard bearers in a new crusade uniting business, schools, local education authorities and parents to modernise education in areas of social deprivation” (DfEE, 1998a). Over the following two years the scheme was expanded to include a further 48 ‘second-round’ zones. Like a number of New Labour policies, including Employment Zones, Health Action Zones (see Chapter Six) and New Deal for Communities, EAZs are area-based initiatives that seek to develop integrated solutions to complex social problems within regions of social disadvantage. The aims of EAZ partnerships are, broadly, to raise educational standards and tackle social exclusion in areas of ‘educational under-performance’. A typical EAZ consists of around 20 schools (usually two or three secondary schools plus their feeder primaries) and receives government funding of between £500,000 and £750,000 per annum for a period of three to five years. Zones are expected to raise £250,000 additional sponsorship in cash or ‘kind’ from the private sector.

While EAZs are managed on a day-to-day basis by an appointed director, each EAZ is formally governed by an Education Action Forum (EAF), a statutory body set up through powers established by the 1998 School Standards and Framework Act. The EAFs are required to include one appointee from each of the governing bodies of participating schools (with the caveat that any of the governing bodies can decide they do not wish to be represented) and one or two members appointed by the Secretary of State. In addition, the EAF may add to its membership parents, students and representatives of the local “business and social community”. EAFs are also urged to ensure that there “is an appropriate gender balance among the members” and that “significant minority communities within the EAZ are represented” (DfEE, 1998d, para 2.4.10). EAFs have a statutory responsibility for formulating, implementing and monitoring a detailed local ‘action plan’, to be implemented over a period of three to five years. In this plan they are expected to set and meet performance targets for both student achievement and student behaviour. In order to achieve their targets, EAZs are encouraged to experiment with ‘innovative’ approaches to teaching and learning (DfEE, 1999).