Decentralized Decision Making In Schools

An increasing number of developing countries are introducing School-Based Management (SBM) reforms aimed at empowering principals and teachers or at strengthening their professional motivation, thereby enhancing their sense of ownership of the school. Many of these reforms have also strengthened parental involvement in the schools, sometimes by means of school councils. SBM programs take many different forms in terms of who has the power to make decisions as well as the degree of ecision-making devolved to the school level. While some programs transfer authority only to school principals or te.

An increasing number of developing countries are introducing school-based management (SBM) reforms that are aimed at empowering principals and teachers or at strengthening their professional motivation, thereby enhancing their sense of school ownership. Many of these reforms have also strengthened parental involvement in the schools. SBM programs take many different forms in terms of who has the decision-making power and the degree of decision making that devolves to the school level. While some programs transfer authority only to school principals or teachers, others encourage or mandate pare.

It is possible to give a concrete meaning to the usually vague concept of decentralization by examining four core components. First, at the crux of decentralization is a downward shift in decision-making power. Administrative decentralization entails shifts internal to the institution. Political decentralization shifts authority to external forces such as community boards. These two strategies are not mutually exclusive. Second, studies of bureaucracies demonstrate that decentralization is compatible with strong leaders provided that leadership is exercised at lower levels in the administrative hierarchy. Third, decentralization requires the rejection of existing reward structures in favor of a system of incentives that establishes meaningful connections between professional conduct and rewards. Fourth, it is important to design a division of responsibility for ends and means among the district and schools that diminishes the role of explicit rules. Most school districts reflect few of these four principles, and their efforts and decentralization are often marginalized and incomplete. Experiences to date with site-based management, the most common attempt at decentralization, demonstrate the difficulty in producing authentic decentralization. (Contains 51 references.) (TEJ)

The aims and origins of decentralization are examined and its effects on school flexibility, accountability, and productivity are explored in some depth. Administrators and others tell their stories. This volume offers an analysis of how school-based management works.

This book, which is the eighth volume in the 12-volume book series Globalisation, Comparative Education and Policy Research, presents scholarly research on major discourses in decentralisation, school-based management (SBM) and quality in education globally. This book, which focuses on decentralisation and SBM as a governance strategy in education, presents theoretical aspects of the phenomenon of decentralisation/privatisation and contextualises them within the education research literature. It provides an easily accessible, practical yet scholarly source of information concerning the dynamics of decentralisation and SBM that normally take place when reforms are instituted to decentralize authority and power. Above all, the authors offering the latest findings regarding major discourses in dec- tralisation, SBM and quality in educational systems in the global culture emphasise aspects of that dynamic interactive process (see also Geo-JaJa 2006a; Gamage and Sooksomchitra 2006, Zajda 2009). This dynamic interaction in the process that is implicit in the title of the book is reified by calls for restructuring of schools f- lowing the idea that schools are not promoting human rights, social cohesion and sustainable development. The chapters as a source book of ideas for researchers, practitioners and policy makers in decentralisation and SBM in education contr- ute to the educational literature while enhancing the understanding of the larger dynamics involved in educational reform. It offers a timely overview of current issues affecting decentralisation in education in the global culture.

In practice, most education systems have both centralized and decentralized elements. Planners involved in a decentralizing reform must identify which components of the system are more appropriately managed at the central level and which at the local level. This book is intended to inform education policymakers, planners, and practitioners about international experience in the legal aspects of decentralizing basic education. It also provides a basic understanding of how laws and regulations can be used for education reform. For purposes of the discussion, decentralization is used to describe efforts to transfer decision making power in basic education from the administrative center of a country to authorities closer to users. The term is also used in a more technical sense to describe one of the many forms this type of reform can take, and in this sense it is contrasted with deconcentration and devolution as educational reforms. The first section examines the general legal aspects of decentralization, and the second looks more closely at decentralization laws and regulations. The third section is, in effect, a checklist of items that should be included in decentralization laws, and the fourth section provides a road map to help the planner prepare and implement the laws required for reform. Although an effort has been made to keep the discussion general enough for use in many countries, the analysis is based on the legal systems of the Western world or those that they inspired. (Contains 35 references.) (SLD)

Decentralization and Education: Asian Experiences and Conceptual Contributions examines the specific ways in which decentralization policies have affected the structure and delivery of education in eleven Asian nations. Written by top scholars in the field, the case studies provide detailed and rich empirical evidence documenting the tensions as well as synchronisms between the ideas that form the basis of decentralization policy and the contexts into which they are introduced. The high quality of this collection of essays and the careful attention to local contexts for implementation will make this book a must read for academics, policy planners, practitioners, and students of Asia.

This study analyzes decisionmaking at four high schools having varying degrees of decentralization and finds that decentralization efforts can fail to significantly change external constraints and decisionmaking authority.