School autonomy and 21st century learning: the Canadian context
International Journal of Educational Management
ISSN: 0951-354X
Article publication date: 12 September 2016
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on the policy and practice contexts for school autonomy and twenty-first century learning in Canadian provinces.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reports on an analysis of policies in Canadian provinces (particularly the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan). The authors review policies related to school autonomy and twenty-first century learning initiatives.
Findings
In this paper, the authors argue that autonomy is a complicated and multi-levelled phenomena with a measure of autonomy devolved from the state to local school divisions, and yet other elements of autonomy devolved to the school and to individual teachers. The link between autonomy and twenty-first century learning are unclear as yet. This paper attempts to establish the policy contexts for school autonomy and twenty-first century learning without making claims about a causal relation between the two.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper lies in its description of autonomy beyond the school level. Autonomy, as a construct, is rarely examined as a dynamic process among multiple layers of the educational system.
Keywords
Citation
Newton, P. and da Costa, J. (2016), "School autonomy and 21st century learning: the Canadian context", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 30 No. 7, pp. 1279-1292. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-11-2015-0151
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited