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Decentralization in Education. The meaning of decentralizationThe narrow (management) approachThe broader (service provision) approachThe rationale for decentralizationThe direction of change in educational governance and management systemsPublic administration systemsEducation systemsThe reg
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1. Decentralization in Education in the „Transition Countries”
Péter Radó
Budapest, 28/05/2008.
2. Decentralization in Education The meaning of decentralization
The narrow (management) approach
The broader (service provision) approach
The rationale for decentralization
The direction of change in educational governance and management systems
Public administration systems
Education systems
The regional landscape
Governance and management
Education service providers
The typical obstacles to further decentralization
3. The meaning of decentralization in education Two approaches to decentralization:
The public administration approach: the distribution of decision-making competencies among the levels and actors of management of education (e.g.: director of schools = lowest level administration agent)
The service delivery approach: the division of labor between public administration agents and educational service delivery institutions with professional, organizational and financial autonomy. (e.g.: director of schools = the manager of school- based decision-making)
4. The public administration approach to decentralization Decentralization:
The locus of decision-making: devolution of decision-making competencies to lower (regional, local, school) levels of management
The actors of decision-making: involvement of non-administrative actors into decision-making (roles: regulation, decision-making, consultation)
Decentralization versus deconcentration
The changing role of central governance: from administrative management to strategic steering of processes in the system + problem solving oriented policy-making
The local level: focusing on local accountability relations
5. Local accountability relations in public services
6. The education service approach to decentralization Underlying assumptions:
Only the self-development efforts of the schools can improve the effectiveness of education – this requires empowerment based policies.
Key competences are emphasized (not subject knowledge) – the whole school is in the center of development and not individual teachers (organizational competences of teachers are more and more in the emphasized)
As goals are changing in education the required teacher competences are changing, too – professional development of teachers becomes part of school based HRM regimes
Consequences:
Organizational, professional and financial autonomy of the schools is the prerequisite of organizational learning and improvement
Whole schools are to be held accountable (not individual teachers)
7. A combined view on the design of decentralization
8. The rationale for decentralization in education Growing scale and complexity (LLL)
Heterogeneity of the clientele (expansion of secondary education, inclusion)
Implications of school based quality assurance
Scarcity of public resources
Problems in the flow of information (subsidiarity)
Connecting education with other services (inherent versus instrumental goals)
The political agenda (democratization and openness)
9. The direction of change: management From centralized to decentralized From separated to integrated From controlled to liberated (deregulation) ? The transfer of the ownership of schools to local/regional self-governments ? Empowering the clients (parents and students) of educational services ? Fiscal decentralization: from direct allocation of resources to schools to indirect allocation (combining bottom-up and top-down financial planning