Community participation in large public school systems

In a 1980 nationwide survey of school systems enrolling 50,000 or more students, it was found that community participation existed at the local school and districtwide levels for all 66 school systems, while 42 (67%) also reported community participation at the decentralized level. School systems with 50,000 to 74,900 students exhibited lower community participation scores than larger school systems with 75,000 or more students. Predominantly white school systems (+50%) tended to have higher community participation scores than predominantly minority school systems (+50%) at the local school and districtwide levels. At the decentralized level, the community participation scores between predominantly white and minority schools were similar. Suburban school systems' community participation scores were higher than city and county school systems' scores at the local, decentralized, and districtwide levels; county school systems' scores were lower at all three organizational levels. Community participation tended to be higher in the Southwest and West and lowest in the Midwest.     

The effects of community factors on school participation in Turkey: A multilevel analysis

Turkey, like many developing countries, is facing considerable problems in terms of low school attendance rates, late enrolment and early dropout of girls in particular. Numerous studies have already been conducted, both in Turkey and elsewhere, to determine the factors affecting school enrolment of boys and girls. Existing studies in Turkey, however, have focused extensively on the association between household-level factors and school participation, ignoring the role of the broader environment in which children live. Using a recent, large-scale and nationally representative data set, this paper investigates school participation at both primary and secondary levels in Turkey, giving specific attention to community-level factors. In taking into account socioeconomic context variables using the multilevel modelling method, this study contributes significantly to current school participation literature in Turkey. The author’s findings highlight the importance of community/context factors in explaining low school enrolment in Turkey. The results of the study can help policy makers develop a systematic understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic context and school participation, and enable them to make more appropriate decisions for improving school participation across the country.     

The River of Learning: building relationships in a university,school and community Indigenous widening participation collaboration

In this article, findings of a qualitative study of an Indigenous widening participation program are presented. The program, River of Learning, has been in existence since 2010 and represents a powerful collaboration between a rural high school in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, a metropolitan university, Indigenous Elders and non-Indigenous community members. An analysis of the narrative data generated through individual and group interviews with stakeholders provided findings with respect to the program including how it has contributed to the building and strengthening of university and community relationships and how important the interaction with Indigenous Elders and school and university staff is in development of confidence to engage in higher education in the Indigenous students. These findings are discussed and the article concludes with reflections on the learnings generated through such university, school and community collaborations and what these may mean in ensuring greater Indigenous representation in higher education in Australia in the future.     

The exigencies of student participation in university governance: Lip services and bottlenecks

This study was conducted to explore the level, type and quality of student participation in the governance milieu of twenty public universities in Ethiopia based on secondary data availed at a national level. The findings reveal that despite their demands and aspirations, students' participation in university governance is still at its lowest ebb across most of Ethiopian public universities both in terms of their representation at the available hierarchical structures and the quality of participation in matters of substantial importance to the student body. Given the multitude of advantages the institutions and students can garner from meaningful student participation, it is argued that changes need to be made in terms of improved representation, type and quality of student participation.     

The perception of participation in executive governance structures in Dutch universities

In 1997 a new governance act, based on the principles of New Public Management (NPM) was introduced at Dutch universities. The aims were to realise integrated management, to strengthen the position of executives at the central (executive board) and faculty (dean) levels, to introduce a Supervisory Board at the institution’s central level, and to increase the leeway for universities to design its own governance structure. This article reports on a large-scale evaluation of the governance act and focuses on student and staff participation in decision-making and on the actual appraisal of different actors within the universities (leaders, managers, staff, students) of the governance structure of their university. The empirical data reveal a mixed picture regarding the appreciation of the new governance structure, but overall—in contrast with many critical reviews of NPM in higher education—there seems to be considerable endorsement for the present situation.     

国家治理现代化进程中的网络政治参与问题思考

为实现全面深化改革,习近平主席从国家角度提出"第五个现代化"——国家治理现代化。国家治理现代化是基于我国国情提出的,是建设中国特色社会主义的必由之路。而网络的发展为国家治理提供了新的手段,网络政治参与成为关乎国家治理和人民当家做主的重要内容。正确认识网络政治参与对社会现代化的影响,充分发挥网络政治参与的积极作用,实现公民理性而有序的网络政治参与是本文研究的重点。     

Self-managed leadership: An alternative school governance structure

This paper explores how the current governance structure of American schools detracts from their ability to solve the educational problems that confront them. The paper argues that the current structure restricts the problem-solving capabilities of teachers. Teacher empowerment is a step in the right direction, but is frequently too narrowly defined and thus falls short of maximizing the utilization of potential. An alternative structure, self-managed leadership, is proposed. Implications for principal and teacher roles and behavior are examined. Implementation and potential issues and problems are discussed.     

The abolition of secondary school fees in Kenya: Responses by the poor

Following the 2007 presidential election, the Government of Kenya abolished secondary school fees in 2008. In the context of this significant change in policy, this study examines the effect of fees on transition to secondary schooling by following 109 primary school leavers in rural Kenya after the fee abolition, starting in 2007. The study draws on survey data with multiple interviews and finds that the abolition of school fees had limited effects on children from low-income families. The study concludes that although there is a high demand for secondary education in general, whether primary school leavers from low-income families actually enrol in fee-free secondary education depends largely on other direct costs and opportunity costs and their perceived economic returns from such education.     

Ecologies of participation in school classrooms

The concept of legitimate peripheral participation was developed by considering informal learning contexts. Its applicability to school classrooms is problematic. This is particularly so when teacher centred and decontextualised procedural practices predominate as they do in ‘usual school mathematics’ classrooms. By considering the nature of social practice, learning relationships, identity and participation in such classrooms in relation to legitimate peripheral participation as a construct, both these features and the construct itself are explored and critiqued. To understand the complexity and multidimensionality of participation in both formal and informal learning contexts, the concept of ecologies of participation is proposed.     

Community financing of education: issues from Kenya

Given the squeeze on national budgets and the need for priorities over investment choices in education, many governments have turned to communities in the search for alternative sources of revenue. In Kenya, there is a long and rich history of community involvement in the financing of education at all levels, rooted within the phenomenon of the dynamic self‐help movement harambee, which underpins much of Kenya's grass roots development activity. Within education, the conscious partnership between communities and government has been most manifest within the unaided harambee secondary school sector, although a more recent policy shift has witnessed the transfer to communities of all capital expenditures associated with a structural and curriculum reform, particularly at primary level. Despite opening up access to education to a high percentage of the school age population, there remain, however, fundamental questions associated both with the quality and equity of systems dependent upon community financing.     

论广播电视大学对社区教育的介入

社会的发展和教育大众化的不断推进使社区教育成为必然。社区教育存在缺资源、少机构,尤其缺乏实施高等教育层次的教育实体等问题,而地方电大在成人教育竞争日趋激烈的形势下,也在为如何谋求新的发展寻找切入点,因此电大教育介入社区教育是广播电视大学的责任,事实上也是社会和高等教育发展的必然。本文从社区教育与电大教育的发展,电大教育介入社区教育的可行胜和电大教育介入社区教育的几点思考等三个方面进行阐述,试图为广播电视大学参与社区教育提供些许参考。     

Community participation in bureaucratic organizations: Principles and strategies

The present paper points out that there are tasks that primary groups perform better than bureaucracies and those that bureaucracies perform better than primary groups. Both types of tasks are very interdependent so that sometimes primary group tasks must be performed within the boundaries of the bureaucratic organization. The argument is made that when primary groups intervene in bureaucracies, they can do so directly in non-expert tasks without lowering the effectiveness of the bureaucratic organization. When they intervene in expert aspects, they should do so indirectly through an expert advocate. However, in all intervention the primary group must take into account that its structure is contradictory to that of the bureaucracy and, therefore, it must keep as much distance as possible—consistent with its ability to intervene. From this analysis we derive a series of hypotheses suggesting when the community might ideally use the bureaucracy's own experts, when the community must hire its own experts, when the community should use mass media, strikes, indigenous workers, etc. It is suggested that the multitudinous possibilities for linkages can all be derived from a few basic underlying dimensions of the situation.

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Résumé Cet article montre qu'il existe certaines tâches que les groupes primaires accomplissent mieux que les bureaucraties, et certaines autres qu'accomplissent mieux les bureaucraties. Les deux sortes de tâches sont interdépendentes; donc parfois les tâches des groupes primaires doivent s'accomplir parmi les organisations bureaucratiques. Les auteurs soutiennent que les groupes primaires peuvent intervenir dans les bureaucraties en complétant les tâches non-expertes sans réduire l'efficacité de l'organisation bureaucratique. Quands ils participent à certains sujets experts, ils devraient se munir d'un agent expert. Mais dans toute intervention le groupe primaire doit se rendre compte que sa structure contredit celle de la bureaucratie et que, par conséquent, il doit se tenir autant à distance que possible par rapport à sa compétence d'intervention. De cette analyse proviennent des hypothèses qui indiquent quand une communauté peut se servir le mieux du personnel expert d'une bureaucratie, quand la communauté doit engager des experts, quand la communauté doit se servir des mass média, des grèves, des ouvriers indigènes, etc. Les nombreuses possibilités de liaisons proviennent toutes de quelques dimensions fondamentales de la situation.

     

Industry school partnerships: reconstituting spaces of educational governance

Industry school partnerships have emerged recently in Australia as a policy solution for the management of problems associated with integration into the global economy. This paper draws on governmentality theory to examine a transnational partnership, the Gateways to the Aerospace Industry Project, which has been mobilised to manage transition risk for young people in the state education system of Queensland, Australia. It argues that globalisation emerges as an effect of knowledge producing practices and programmes that seek to reconfigure the governmental spaces and subjectivities in and around schools and communities.     

Localism in faculty governance and participation in the reward system

Faculty at a Midwestern university were classified as either locals or nonlocals on the basis of the institution that awarded their degrees. Nonlocals had earned all of their degrees from universities outside the state; locals received at least one of their degrees at an in-state university. Locals participated most often in the governance system and received significantly higher salaries despite slightly lower research-creativity productivity than nonlocals. Women faculty reversed this pattern for governance with nonlocals participating most often.