NEW WAYS of balancing freedom and flexibility with central control – the highwire act in public policy – are being tried out in schools in England and the United States and could stimulate new thinking in Australia. In Britain, the new Liberal–Conservative government has wasted no time in shaking up school governance and funding by announcing a dramatic expansion of the autonomous Academy schools. In the United States, the Obama administration is tying access to funds under the multi-billion-dollar Race to the Top initiative to the expansion of autonomous Charter schools, alongside other quality and equity measures. There is even movement in Britain to open the door to for-profit bodies to run schools, as in Sweden.

At first blush it seems ironic that the new British government has gone for “Blair-plus” and rushed to expand a flagship British Labour education policy, while in the United States the Republican enthusiasm for Charter schools is being extended by a Democratic administration. But on both sides of the Atlantic these initiatives are dedicated to solving…