Building a big society: Will charity's creeping reach generate a new paradigm for state schools?

The traditional distinctions between state schools and fee-charging independent schools have been challenged over the years, with charitable status at the core of the crossover. The changing relationship between the state and charitable sectors and the resultant blurring of the dividing line between them leads us to examine the role that charities now play within the coalition government's Big Society agenda. In the context of schools, a new paradigm, acknowledging the profoundly significant contribution of charity to state schools, is suggested, and evidence is provided to support this new paradigm by way of two waves. The previous and the current government have embraced charitable provision, such that it is now deeply embedded within state education. Charity-led community involvement in education services may well come to dominate rather than simply back up state provision and this leads us to question the distinction between those schools with and those without charitable status. © 2011 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.