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Presents a study which investigated how school councils operate in the Australian state of Victoria and how parent councillors participate in the affairs of the school council. Data were collected through a questionnaire survey on 172 schools, as well as visits to schools and attendance at school council meetings. Proposes a theoretical model linking personal, institutional and community‐related factors to the successful operation of the school council. Uses data collected in the survey to test and confirm the model by using structural modelling analysis. Concludes that most of the parent councillors are relatively highly educated and the working class is under‐represented in school councils. Finds several factors to be positively associated with successful operation of school councils: the readiness of and mutual acceptance between parents and teachers; commitment of principal; parents’ satisfaction with their participation; and parents’ contribution and donations to the school.

School‐based, decision‐making councils were studied as vertical teams, groups of individuals who share a common purpose but operate on different levels from different role perspectives within the organization. These role perspectives were considered important determinants of the amount of conflict experienced by council members when conflict was considered to be a function of the bases of leader power of the principal and the social influence of the council members. Subjects were from 144 schools in Kentucky, representing the three school council constituencies: teachers, principals, and parents. Findings of the study revealed significant differences in the amount of conflict, power, and influence between the three council constituencies and a significant relationship between the amount of conflict and power and influence.

The basic legislative frameworks determining the cooperation between school and parents at the elementary school level in Slovenia are presented in this chapter. Parents have a special role in the school council and the parents’ council where they are involved in (co)decision-making in the organization and the content of the elementary school programme. The organization of parents’ meetings and individual consultation hours which enable a direct formal form of the cooperation between school and parents is of outmost importance besides the legislative provisions which manage the informing of parents about school achievements and the behaviour of children, the inclusion of parents in the formation of school education plan and school regulations. The partnership model of cooperation between teachers’ and parents’ is perceived as the most productive model for developing constructive involvement of parents. Teachers should have appropriate attitudes towards cooperation with parents and possess suitably developed interpersonal communicative, cooperative and organizational skills, all of which are prerequisite to establishing and maintaining quality cooperation between teachers and parents. The results of the empirical research on the cooperation between schools and parents, based on representative sampling of both teachers and parents, showed the basic advantages and obstacles related to this cooperation, along with challenges facing more high-quality cooperation in the future.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the current school‐based management (SBM) policy reform in Indonesia, with an emphasis on the impacts of shifting authority and responsibility to school level, as well as challenges confronted by the school council members, followed by remedial measures to minimize the problems.

The paper employed a mixed‐method research design comprising an extensive empirical survey followed by semi‐structured and focused group interviews and examination of relevant documents. The data reported here are on the basis of an empirical survey involving 504 school council members from Ngada‐Flores, followed by 42 interviews and focus group discussion (FGD) with all relevant stakeholders.

The research findings demonstrate how devolution of power and authority to school level can create partnership in participatory school decision making in terms of setting a school mission, shared‐vision, annual programs, school budget, school textbooks, school buildings, school‐based curriculum and even students’ discipline policies. In turn, devolving power and authority to school level has created several changes in schools, including in‐school culture changes, and increased participation of school communities. These factors have led to the improvements in teaching‐learning environments and student achievements.

The findings of this study are specific to the context of Ngada‐Flores, Indonesia. The possibility for the general applicability of the findings is limited by the scope, the sample, and the cultural context of this study. Accordingly, even though there could be common features, the findings may not have general applicability to other systems.

The paper suggests that capacity building in school level is required for the effective implementation of SBM policies and programs, including in‐service training, regular professional development sessions and workshops on effective school leadership and management, as well as school development planning.

This paper could be significant because of the absence of similar studies in the Indonesian context. The findings could be helpful in informing practitioners, the local and national authorities and all those interested in school education on how SBM with devolution of power and authority to school‐level decision makers assists in‐school improvements and student achievements, as well as problems and challenges confronted by school leaders in the implementation of SBM.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key determinants of effective school-based management (SBM) for improved teaching−learning environments and student achievements, while identifying the major reasons as to why poor implementation of SBM is associated with lower student achievements.

Both dimensions of quantitative and qualitative research were applied for the purpose of this study with active participation of 334 school stakeholders, including principals, teachers, parents, and school council members. In addition to the survey, 33 Interviews and FGDs were conducted with the participation of 61 key informants. These were followed by an examination of school documents, including students’ national examination results.

This study concludes that SBM drives the emergence of decision-making authority of principals, the presence of participatory school decision-making, and high involvement of school council for better teaching and learning environments. In turn, effective implementation of SBM policy is associated with healthier teaching−learning environment and better student academic achievements. However, less effective implementation of SBM is due to lack of proper understanding of the school stakeholders that resulted in lower academic achievement.

Adequate provisions of training on the part of school council members and school principals are required for significant results of SBM policy and programs for improved teaching–learning environment and increased student achievements. The training focuses on, among others: school leadership, school development planning and changing roles of school leaders under SBM reform.

This study builds on global and Indonesian developments of the decentralized education through SBM model. This study is highly significant in addressing the current debates in existing literature about whether or not SBM has resulted in school improvements and higher student achievements. Practically, this study provides adequate insight to educational leaders, policy makers and international donor agencies in demonstrating why SBM is effective in particular school settings as well as why SBM policy and programs are not effectively implemented in other schools that resulted in lower student achievements.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the practical implications of a recent High Court ruling about the legality of a council's response to concerns that direct payments were being misused.

This is a review of a reported High Court decision.

The High Court upheld a council's unilateral response to its genuine concerns about misuse of direct payments but this was an extreme case. Normally, a far more inclusive approach to direct payments decision making is required.

This paper provides an interpretation of the judgment for practical application.

This part of the report (Part 1 is published in the International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 5 No. 3, 1991) is a description of each day of the study visit with appropriate comments and impressions. From this, practices used in Denmark which could be of potential benefit in the UK are discussed; and also issues worthy of further study. The study visit raised pertinent questions on UK philosophy on teaching in general and teaching of the disabled; the rights of the disabled; and the responsibility for the provision of education.

This chapter takes as its focus a series of issues related to participation and the World Bank. First, it traces from 1980 to the present the trajectory within the Bank of thinking related to participation in development generally. Second, it unpacks the framework within which that thinking has been crystallized – namely, the Framework for Service Provision (FSP) delineated in the 2004 World Development Report, Making Services Work for Poor People. Third, it shows how the work done by the Bank in the education sector has both paralleled and furthered the concepts embedded in the FSP. Focusing on the education sector is essential because it is the sector in which the Bank has perhaps been most active in theorizing and most successful in implementing its conception of participation. As the chapter shows, a particular approach to decentralization is central to the way the Bank advances that conception of participation and to the way that it supports the realization of participation in practice, both generally and with regard to education governance. Lastly, the chapter reviews and discusses the results of Bank-supported education decentralization projects in light of the theory elaborated to promote them.

In 2017, 22% of the Canadian population are foreign-born immigrants and one in five is a visible racial minority. Canadian schools and classrooms mirror the diversity of the society and are populated with more and more immigrant and refugee students from diverse ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds each year. Uprooted from their home countries and familiar environments, immigrant and refugee students experience barriers and challenges in new living and educational environments. The increasing number of immigrant and refugee students and their unique educational needs and challenges have called building welcoming and inclusive schools a priority in Canadian education system. This chapter addresses the urgent need for high-impact policies, practices and praxis to build welcoming and inclusive schools for immigrant and refugee students through cross-sector community engagement. Based on several empirical studies, critical and extensive literature review and authors’ professional reflections, this chapter introduces a theoretical framework of building welcoming and inclusive schools for immigrant and refugee students and introduces the promising strategies of engaging community stakeholders, including educators, students, parents, governments and community organizations and agencies.

This paper reports a policy research project intended to clarify the accountability processes and criteria that should be used to collect data, report and improve the quality of learning, teaching and leadership in Tasmania. Its outcomes informed the design of a new three‐year school review process that seeks to integrate local governance, school planning, action research evaluation, external reviews, and systemic performance monitoring. Behind the recommended policy is a touchstone set of processes and criteria that comprise a theory of mutual and educative accountability. This theory represents an attempt to reconcile centralism with pluralism, exhibits liberal, democratic and limited forms of community government, anticipates educative forms of leadership, and values communitarian over collegial and individualistic forms of professionalism.