Search results

The purpose of this paper is to report four case studies in Australia that respond to the question: “How have schools with a relatively high degree of autonomy used their increased authority and responsibility to make decisions that have led in explicit cause-and-effect fashion to higher levels of student achievement”?

A conventional case study methodology was adopted, framed by a review of evidence in the international literature. The studies were conducted in the Australian Capital Territory, Queensland and Victoria. Senior leaders in systems of public education in these jurisdictions nominated schools which have had a relatively high degree of autonomy for at least two years; have achieved high levels of student achievement, or have shown noteworthy improvement; and are able to explain how the link between autonomy and achievement had been made. The four schools chosen from these nominations represented different types as far as level and location were concerned. Triangulation of sources was a feature of the studies.

The findings reveal that the schools were able to explain the links and that it was possible to map the cause-and-effect chain. Schools used their autonomy to select staff and allocate funds in their budgets, each being capacities that came with a higher level of autonomy. Leadership was important.

The paper cautions against generalizing the findings.

There is international interest in the extent to which granting public schools a higher level of autonomy than has traditionally been the case in various national settings has had an impact on student achievement. These case studies go part of the way in describing what schools do when they successfully take up a higher level of authority and responsibility as one strategy in efforts to raise levels of achievement.

This paper is concerned with the impact of school reform on the professional culture of the principalship, drawing on findings from several research projects from 1993 to 1998. The focus is the schools of the future reform in Victoria, Australia. Despite several dysfunctions, some unfulfilled expectations and intensification of work, a large majority of principals would not wish to return to previous arrangements. Case studies reveal that principals play an important role in helping to link the structural aspects of reform to learning and teaching. Leadership is strategic and empowering more than it is heroic or “hands on”.

The purpose of this paper is to review strategies to build capacity for school improvement in Australia. The focus is on public schools and strategies adopted for the system as a whole.

This paper traces developments from a national perspective and makes a case for the key contemporary policy shift that has provided the platform for a new era of educational reform. Two contrasting case studies are described in order to demonstrate the pathways embarked on by a large jurisdiction, namely the State of Victoria, which has led the nation in terms of devolved decision‐making for public schools, and second, a much smaller jurisdiction, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), which is introducing a range of reforms to give public schools much greater autonomy in order to achieve improved performance. The paper concludes with a “futures” view of how strategies may continue to evolve. Shifting the language from “improvement” to “transformation” is canvassed.

It is concluded that a key to success has been to align strategies among different levels of the school system: central, regional/district, school and classroom. The possibilities for moving beyond improvement to transformation are canvassed.

The value of the paper lies in its up‐to‐date account of system‐wide efforts to improve schools and a summary of evidence on their impact. The paper is of particular interest to school and school system leaders as well as those engaged in the study of educational policy and educational leadership.

Briefly outlines the scope and pace of change in education in Australia which is extraordinary and, for many, disconcerting if not dislocating – there is virtually no aspect of the field that has not been touched by reform over the last decade, whether it be the processes of policy making among the different levels of government, or the structures within which public education is administered, or the roles of leaders such as school principals. Briefly contrasts the emerging and traditional roles, then offers an outline of the broad context for education. Details the factors which are influencing change in education, with a description in each instance of the manner in which these are affecting the role of the principal. Describes scenarios for schooling as the nation moves towards the twenty‐first century, with a further shift towards a market model foreshadowed. Proposes four dimensions for leadership on the part of the principal.

Reports on a study in a system of public education that is widely believed to be at the forefront of efforts to create world class schools. The aim of the study, thought to be the first of its kind, was to determine the extent to which five disciplines in the Senge model of a learning organisation are apparent in management practices of schools within the system. Concludes that Senge’s model of a learning organisation provides a helpful template for conceptualising progress towards world class schools. Implications for leadership are identified as an avenue through which to energise the quest for world class schools.

In revisiting the very first ethnographic research the author ever completed has ‘unearthed’ a significant project that speaks to policy makers, educators and teachers with a greater impact than it did when written and shelved over a decade ago. This insider’s journey in reclaiming teaching, conducted within a public high school in Australia, captures the author’s experiences of daily events and is intertwined with the narratives of other teachers interviewed. This ethnography occurred during the implementation of a ‘School Development Plan’ that was sweeping swiftly though the institution. The execution of this plan was unreservedly implemented with little, if any, consultation, explanation or collaboration with the teachers on site. Even though it had been anticipated, and indeed encouraged to publish from this nascent thesis, it did not happen. In reaching for it once again off the shelf, dusty and neglected, was the discovery of a ‘lost thing’. This was a recommendation ‘found’ on the final pages of the thesis; that if one should choose to partake in a similar journey in reclaiming teaching, then they would be wise to garner the support of significant ‘others’. Throughout this chapter, the author finds her own silenced voice (no longer a nom de plume) and the voices of her neglected colleagues to ‘speak back’ to neoliberal policy practice with renewed confidence and clarity. It is the teachers’ voices within their collective ‘present’ that this ethnography unifies and provides transforming nexus points and dialogic spaces to discover, and also maintain hope, possibility, trust, respect and relationships in teaching.