Area-based approaches to educational regeneration

The Education Action Zone (EAZ) experiment is one of a number of area-based regeneration initiatives (ABRIs) that have been introduced by central government in recent years in England in an attempt both to tackle social exclusion and lever up educational achievement in some of its disadvantaged localities. The policy, regarded by some of its advocates as the epitome of New Labour's 'Third Way', is premised upon the idea that different bodies (public, private, voluntary and community) can work together to deliver localised 'joined-up solutions' to 'joined-up problems' - in this case those to do with how to address successfully persistent educational failure in poor neighborhoods. Drawing on the findings of a three and a half-year long ESRC-funded research project designed to investigate the origins, operation and impact of the EAZ policy, this article reflects on the degree to which this approach to educational regeneration is delivering on its objectives and highlights the lessons that can be learnt from its operation so far.