Decentralising the Management of Australia's Schools

📖 The Scoop

In 1991 Australia's National Industry Education Forum released a policy statement that suggested ways to improve Australian schools. This report, an outgrowth of that statement, contains a blueprint for the decentralization of management for Australian schools. Studies were undertaken in 11 companies to draw lessons from business and industry. Forty-five recommendations draw on best practices in different settings and suggest a model of management for Australian schools. The recommendations propose a legal framework for aligning responsibility, authority, and accountability, and outline stakeholder roles. The first two sections describe patterns of centralization and decentralization in public education in Australia and in other nations, and set the historical context for understanding the emergence of various forms of school management. The next sections summarize research on processes and outcomes, identify issues and concerns about decentralization, and describe related experiences in business and industry. The report recommends further decentralization of management to realize gains in efficiency, effectiveness, equity, job satisfaction, and professionalism. Two conclusions are that differences exist across states with respect to current levels of decentralization and readiness, and that strategies reflecting the differences should be developed for each school system. One table is included. The appendix describes the approach to resource allocation in Edmonton Public School District in Alberta, Canada. (Contains 57 endnotes.) (LMI)

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