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Aims to develop the conception and theory of school‐based management and map its characteristics of school functioning for facilitating the ongoing discussion and effort for school management reforms in local or international contexts. School‐based management employs theories of “equifinality” and “decentralization”, assumes that “school is a self‐managing system” and regards “initiative of human factor” and “improvement of internal process” as important. When compared with externally‐controlled schools, the characteristics of school‐based managing schools are very different in school functioning. They should have clear school mission and strong organizational culture. In these schools, managing strategies should encourage participation and give full play to members′ initiative; there should also be considerable autonomy of procuring and using resources to solve problems in time; the role of people concerned should be active and developmental; human relationship is open, co‐operative with mutual commitment; administrators should be high quality and always learning; and evaluation of school effectiveness should include multilevel and multi‐facet indicators of input, process and output in order to help the school learn to improve.

This paper examines the impact and effects of site‐based management on schools using a framework developed by Canadian researchers, Sackney and Dibski. It draws on research literature from the UK, New Zealand and Australia and includes results from three studies in which the author has been engaged. The Sackney and Dibski framework is used to lay seven “charges” against site‐based management – that site‐based management leads to greater decision‐making flexibility, changes the work role and increases the workload of principals, improves student learning outcomes, increases innovation, increases competition, results in reduced funding and affects the standing of the public education system. The analysis of the literature selected suggests that site‐based management is guilty of some and not of others.

This history of the politics of moves towards school‐based management in Queensland education is located within a broader historical and political analysis of such moves across Australia since the Karmel Report. This paper specifically focuses in on developments in Queensland. The Queensland analysis traces the moves from Labor’s Focus on Schools through the Coalition’s Leading Schools and the most recent Labor rearticulation in the document Future Directions for School‐based Management in Queensland State Schools. The analysis demonstrates that the concept of school‐based management has no stipulative meaning, but rather is a contested concept. More generally, the paper provides an account and analysis of new forms of governance in educational systems and the tension between centralising and decentralising tendencies as school‐based management is adopted in order to address a number of competing policy objectives.

Site‐based management depends on collaboration and teamwork among teachers, administrators, and parents. Collaborative decision making in educational systems is frequently characterized by conflict and disagreement, given differing perspectives and opinions among participants, and differing interests in the status quo. School principals, charged with facilitator roles in locally managed schools, are challenged to address resulting conflicts in ways that yield functional synergies and constructive outcomes which enable schools to respond to community needs. The purpose of this study is to develop a profile of preferred conflict management behaviors and strategies of a sample of principals in a large, urban school district who work in site‐based managed schools. Results reflect these principals’ preference for solution‐oriented conflict strategies. Findings are discussed in terms of the changing leadership responsibilities of principals in site‐based managed schools.

The paper seeks to apply the theory of the democratic deficit to school‐based management with an emphasis on Australia. This theory was developed to examine managerial restructuring of the Australian Public Service in the 1990s. Given similarities between the use of managerial practices in the public service and government schools, the authors draw on recent literature about school‐based management in Australia and apply the democratic deficit theory to it.

This paper is conceptual in focus. The authors analyse literature in terms of the three components of the democratic deficit – i.e. the weakening of accountability, the denial of the roles and values of public employees, and the emergence of a “hollow state” – and in relation to the application of this theory to the Australian Public Service.

A trend towards the three components of the democratic deficit is evident in Australia although, to date, its emergence has not been as extensive as in the UK. The authors argue that the democratic principles on which public schooling in Australia was founded are being eroded by managerial and market practices.

These findings provide policy makers and practitioners with another way of examining managerial and market understandings of school‐based management and its impact on teachers and on students. It offers suggestions to reorient practices away from those that are exclusively managerial‐based towards those that are public‐sector based.

The value of this paper is that it applies the theory of the democratic deficit to current understandings of school‐based management.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how principals’ leadership approaches to teacher professional development arise from school banding and may impact upon teacher professional capital and student achievement.

The case study is situated within the context of school-based management, comprising reflective accounts of nine school principals selected by stratified sampling from a sample of 56 Hong Kong schools to represent Bands One, Two, and Three schools. The reflective accounts were triangulated with observations of teachers and analysis of school websites.

First, under school-based management, principals remain obliged to recognize the power of state-defined examinations in determining the schools’ future priorities. Second, the exercise of school autonomy in response to this obligation varies, depending upon the competitive advantage schools have in the school banding system. Ideally, effective school-based management is dependent upon the principal’s capacity to facilitate good instructional practices. However, principals need to adjust their leadership practices to school contextual demands. Third, adaptations to contexts result in the varied developments of teacher capacities in schools, corresponding with the types of principal leadership adopted.

While statistical studies have identified attributes of exemplary principal leadership, few studies have examined the qualitative reasons for the exemplification of these attributes, and the influence of the school context in shaping these attributes. Departing from assumptions that leadership attributes are intrinsic to individuals, this paper considers how principals contextualize leadership in teacher professional development to the schools’ student academic achievement.

This paper aims to develop a total quality management (TQM) model based on the Deming prize criteria extracted from the Deming Prize. The proposed model is aligned with the school education context and deployed with the goal of achieving school excellence.

The model is developed based on a literature review in which key concepts for formulating the criteria and sub-criteria were identified. A qualitative research approach is applied to validate the model’s effectiveness. Interviews and feedback from an international school in Japan which adopted the model are used to determine its impact.

The model emphasises the achievement of school objectives (A) by implementing TQM activities (B) and assessing their impact (C). Its implementation offers enhanced organisational ability and the achievement of society-oriented school objectives. The findings show that the model gives clarity to TQM application and offers benefits for schools’ future sustainability.

This research proposes the adoption of a TQM model for educational institutions based on Deming criteria. Based on a comparison with prescriptive models such as Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and ISO 9001, this study shows how the developed model ensures organisational ability in current practice and future growth towards school excellence. Through the formulation of society-oriented school objectives and their linkage with results, it enables schools to create a balanced recognition of important stakeholders and gain consensus in realising the school’s objectives.

To analyze and find a model design of Adiwiyata environment-based management for schools built on wetlands.

The research approach used is qualitative descriptive research, which provides complex details about a phenomenon or situation that has not been expressed through direct observation. The research was conducted at State Senior High School in Dumai city, which has participated in Adiwiyata program. Objects in the study are school communities including educators, education personnel, learners, cleaning personnel, and canteen management. Sampling was done randomly (simple random sampling). Students sample taken were from X, XI, and XII grades for both schools. Number of the population in SMA Negeri 2 (Public Senior High School 2) were 1,006 people. SMA Negeri Binaan Khusus (Binaan Khusus Public Senior High School) were 594 people. The number of samples eligible in the study was 30–500 people. Data collection techniques were conducted by using observation, interview, questionnaire, and documentation performed in both schools. Data analysis used qualitative and quantitative descriptive analysis with a simple statistical approach in the form percentage.

Public Senior High School 2 and Binaan Khusus Public Senior High School have school plans on activities related to environment-oriented education school management. Planning is outlined in school programs and school development planning programs by fulfilling infrastructure facilities supporting school activities with environmental insight. Programs are made by both schools, some are carried out in accordance with the plan. Nevertheless, some of the programs are not yet realized. For example, Public Senior High School 2 planning in building a greenhouse. Binaan Khusus Public Senior High School's fishpond plan was abandoned.

The originality of this research appears in the novelty of the use of built models that involve all school communities to be able to change and instill caring behavior and attitudes toward the environment in order to realize Adiwiyata-program-based environment-oriented education school management. But, there is no Adiwiyata program implementation model; therefore, the model in this study does not include the components of Environment–Based Curriculum Implementation

Business schools are increasingly positioning themselves as entrepreneurial risk‐takers. In doing so, they are front‐runners of a marketization trend affecting the entire higher education sector. In response, governments have begun to subject higher education sectors to systems of risk‐based regulation. The purpose of this paper is to study the likely impact of regulatory change on business school behaviour.

The article focuses on the financial dimension of institutional performance and draws on the corporate risk management literature to derive general design principles for managing risk‐taking in business schools. These are matched with a review of the regulation literature to evaluate regulatory effectiveness.

Business schools are facing a double‐hurdle test when managing their risk position. They need to protect their financial solvency with the maintenance of properly functioning risk management systems. At the same time, they will increasingly be subjected to regulatory scrutiny with regulatory shortcomings likely to be mapped into binding but sub‐optimal behavioural constraints. The article offers initial reflections as to how business schools can cope with this double‐hurdle.

Risk management in higher education, here with a specific reference to business schools, has so far been under‐theorized from a financial perspective and, as a consequence, the debate on risk‐based regulation lacks a proper foundation. The article addresses this shortcoming.

Change in the New Zealand state education system during the 1980s brought about a transfer of responsibility for school financial management from the centre to the school level. The purpose of this paper is to report an investigation of how aspects of this devolved responsibility have been operationalised and managed in a secondary school setting.

The empirical study is based on four case studies.

The paper concludes that the expectations of an espoused economic‐rationalist approach to school‐based management have yet to fully permeate into the schools' way of “doing” devolved financial management. Accounting and management technologies have come to be used as a tool of rhetoric and have served a useful, political purpose, although not in the way intended by the reform architects.

This conclusion raises a question about the administrative reform and whether the consequential outcomes have yielded the espoused efficiency and educational quality gains.