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This chapter integrates current Chinese education reform into the unique socioeconomic context of China in a transitional time and explores the complexity of education decentralization in China through an in-depth analysis on changes in education finance, administration, and curriculum development. Mark Hanson's theory of education decentralization is cited to build a conceptual framework for examining education decentralization in China. Previous studies, government documents, laws, and regulations related to the current wave of Chinese education reform are reviewed to capture a true picture of education decentralization in China. In investigating the background, actual actions, and motive of the current Chinese education reform, the chapter demonstrates that the on-going Chinese education reform is moving toward a centralized decentralization. Linking education with the unified national goal of economic modernization, the paradoxical mixture of centralization and decentralization is a strategic means to avoid loss of centralized control. Literature on decentralization reform in Chinese education primarily concentrates on changed Chinese education policies in the reform. This chapter places the focus on the contextual factors that shape the decentralization trend in current reform.

Educational decentralization is a popular reform theme of governments around the world, but with motives, strategies and outcomes as different as the countries themselves. For researchers and policy makers alike, there is a growing need to synthesize the positive and negative aspects of these national strategies and experiences. The objective of this paper is to identify and explain the key issues and forces that play major roles in shaping organization and management strategies of educational decentralization. Examples from five Hispanic nations that have initiated decentralization reforms will be utilized to illustrate the major points: Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Nicaragua and Spain. The paper is organized around a series of questions that tap core decentralization issues, such as national and regional goals, planning, political stress, resource distribution, infrastructure development, and job stability. The paper concludes with a conceptual model of the decentralization process and a series of “lessons learned” from the five nations.

In this paper the sometimes confusing concepts of structural centralization and decentralization and administrative centralization and decentralization are classified. Brief contrast Is made between the Latin American and North American models. It is hypothesized that there is a positive relationship between administrative decentralization and (I) leadership development at lower hierarchical levels, (II) greater participation in the decision‐making process by people at lower hierarchical levels, (III) an increased sense of responsibility, for the final output, by those at lower hierarchical levels, (IV) implementation of innovative changes which are proposed by individuals at lower hierarchical levels, (V) the development of different approaches to solving problems in the various subsystems at lower hier‐archical levels, (VI) the rapidity at which decisions can be made concerning local issues.

As we challenged you at the outset, our hope with this book was to do more than inform you. Rather we hope that it will catalyze you to think and act in transformational ways as you address the complex, yet delicate world of healthcare. The tapestry of ideas presented on these pages pulls you through multiple perspectives and healthcare venues big and small. They address revised views on common practice, reframe long-standing management principles, and push at the very edge of how we can continue to make healthcare a healthy and vibrant organizational experience.

Health care organizations provide a unique and insightful microcosm of the many larger challenges health care systems face around the world. To improve our health care industry, one has to first improve the internal health and well-being of the organizations that deliver care every day. In other words, to become a high-functioning industry, the organization has to become healthy first (Lovey, Nadkarni, & Erdelyi, 2007). This book has been crafted to catalyze this journey of creating healthy and vibrant health care organizations through proven strategies and evidence-based practices and in doing so have some part in transforming our global health care industry.

The difference between developed and less developed countries resides to a great extent in the effectiveness of their administrative systems. The objective of this study is to identify and analyse the organisational constraints acting upon and within the Egyptian Ministry of Education that deter its capacity for administrative reform. Critical management processes are examined, such as policy formation, promotion procedures, planning, resource distribution, and local level decision making. Field visits to several regional school systems, as well as interviews with most of the senior ministry officials, were carried out by a team of American and Egyptian researchers. The research is significant because it provides a close examination of a system closed to most Western researchers. The administrative structure of the Ministry will be of interest to scholars because, even though it is highly bureaucratic, it operates with relative efficiency. However, what it cannot do with any degree of effectiveness is change the educational system from its long‐established patterns.

The purpose of this paper is to report the outcome of a city‐wide survey of teenagers’ views on their health, and compare this with the outcomes of a science‐oriented health intervention called LifeLab, a hospital‐based classroom aimed at developing teenagers’ attitudes towards their health and that of their future children.

A questionnaire survey of 597 14‐year olds across the city of Southampton was conducted to gauge their views and behaviour in relation to their own health. The views of 37 students who took part in innovative, hospital‐based, hands‐on LifeLab activities were compared with those of their peers six months after the intervention to analyse long‐term impacts of the experience. Interviews were carried out with ten LifeLab students to gain further insights.

The intervention created a wider appreciation among students that food they eat now could affect their long‐term health and the health of their future children. Students became significantly more interested in studying science beyond compulsory schooling, and in considering science and healthcare career options.

Although results were statistically significant, the intervention sample was quite small, and further data collection is ongoing. The city‐wide student response rate of 29 per cent was fairly low.

This study has shown that a carefully structured hospital‐based classroom visit, and associated science lessons can have a marked effect on student engagement with health‐related issues, and an impact on their consideration of their career choices.

The hospital‐based classroom is an innovative approach to improving teenagers’ knowledge and attitudes towards their health. The paper's findings should be of interest to a range of educational stakeholders including teachers, local education authorities and local politicians concerned with health education matters.