Governing the governors: A case study of college governance in English further education

This paper addresses the nature of governors in the governance of further education colleges in an English context. It explores the complex relationship between governors (people/agency), government (policy/structure) and governance (practice), in a college environment. While recent research has focused on the governance of schooling and higher education there has been little attention paid to the role of governors in the lifelong learning sector. The objective of the paper is to contribute to the debate about the purpose of college governance at a time when the Learning and Skills Council commissioning era ends and new government bodies responsible for further education and training, including local authorities, arrive. The paper analyses the nature of FE governance through the perspectives and experiences of governors, as colleges respond to calls from government for greater improvement and accountability in the sector. What constitutes creative governance is complex and controversial in the wider framework of regulation and public policy reform. As with other tricky concepts such as leadership, professionalism and learning, college governance is best defined in the contexts, cultures and situations in which it is located. College governance does not operate in a vacuum. It involves governors, chairs, principals, professionals, senior managers, clerks, community, business and wider agencies, including external audit and inspection regimes. Governance also acts as a prism through which national education and training reforms are mediated, at local level. While governing bodies are traditionally associated with the business of FE—steering, setting the tone and style, dealing with finance, funding, audit and procedural matters—they are increasingly being challenged to be more creative and responsive to the wider society. Drawing on a recent case study of six colleges, involving governors and key policy stakeholders, this paper explores FE governance in a fast changing policy environment.     

School Governance in the New South Africa

This article examines the early experience of the school governing bodies established in South Africa following the 1996 South African Schools Act. It relates the emergence of school governance to wider issues of democracy and participation and assesses the composition of governing bodies, notably the inclusion of learners. Governing bodies' powers include provision to set fees, subject to parental approval, and the paper examines how this requirement impacts on the resources available to different types of school, and the implications for equity and equality. Governing bodies also determine their own admissions policies, and the paper explores how this provision has led to school populations differentiated by class and race. The relationships between lay governors and school principals are examined to see if the Act's plan to separate governance and professional management has been achieved in practice. The paper concludes that, despite the significant difficulties facing the educational system in South Africa, governing bodies provide a good prospect of enhancing local democracy and improving the quality of education for all learners.     

From autonomy to quality management: NPM impacts on school governance in Switzerland

This article reviews the impact of discourses on ‘New Public Management’ (NPM) on compulsory schooling in Switzerland during the last two decades and traces its implementation in the Canton of Bern. The analysis suggests that while NPM reformers initially promoted increased school autonomy, the introduction of market elements and school choice, the focus subsequently shifted to a concern with school management, supervision and accountability. NPM-guided reforms led to the introduction of headteachers and quality management procedures in a majority of cantons. Ethnographic research in the Canton of Bern shows that NPM-influenced decentralisation policy results in a growing standardisation of schools' conditions and processes. Additionally, lay school boards as traditional, democratically legitimised bodies of local supervision are coming under threat.     

A comparison of the governing of primary and secondary schools in England

In England, governing bodies continue to be responsible for the conduct of publicly funded schools. This article compares the governing of publicly funded primary schools (for 5–11 year olds) and secondary schools (for 11–18 year olds). The research analysed policy documents and the governing of 16 primary and 14 secondary schools. The main governance mode for both primary schools and secondary schools is hierarchical and similar in nature, and the governing bodies of primary and secondary schools use broadly similar governing instruments. However, they differ in significant ways. In primary schools, governing is smaller in scale and less complex. Primary school governing is closer to the school and children, and the images held by governors of the system to be governed are better developed in primary schools. Functional knowledge was more useful in primary school governing, and the use of informal meetings as instruments of governance was more widespread in primary school governing. The findings and their implications need to be taken into account in the analysis of and policy making for school governing.     

Learning from and Reacting to School Inspection – Two Swedish Case Narratives

Throughout Europe, school inspection has become a visible means of governing education. This education and inspection policy is mediated, brokered, interpreted, and learned through networked activities where the global/European meet the national/local, giving national and local “uptake” a variety of characteristics. We explore the local features of this “uptake” as processes of learning in the interaction between schools and inspectors in Sweden. Drawing theoretically on Jacobsson’s notion of governing as increasingly done through meditative activities and on Leontiev’s activity theory, we suggest that school actors learn compliance through diverse emotions provoked by inspection processes in different local settings. Based on observations of inspections, interviews with teachers, head teachers and inspectors, documents, reports, and decisions, we portray how governing education is done through inspection processes in two Swedish schools. The case narratives underscore the importance of local context in these governing and learning processes.     

Governing teacher learning: understanding teachers’ compliance with and critique of standardization

This paper examines how policy pressure for increased performance on standardised measures of student achievement influenced the teacher learning practices that arose in a school setting in Queensland, Australia. Drawing upon research and theorising of governing by numbers, and applications to the governance of education, and particularly teachers’ learning, the research analyses how a group of Year 3 teachers collaborated to better inform themselves about the nature of their students’ learning. The research reveals that the governance of teachers’ learning under current policy conditions was manifest through both teachers’ compliance with and critique of a strong focus upon school, regional, state and national data – specifically, students’ attainment in ‘leveled’ readers and other school-based standardised measures of reading and mathematics, and school, state and regional results on national literacy and numeracy tests. There is little research that highlights the tensions around these numbers as governing technologies in relation to specific formal, ongoing instances of teacher professional development practices. The research cautions against the influence of such governing processes for how they potentially narrow teachers’ attention to more standardized measures of students’ learning, even as teachers may critique these more reductive effects.     

Understanding reforms,school reactions to major changes: the case of Israel

ABSTRACT

Two major education system reforms were introduced by Israel’s government in collaboration with the teachers’ unions. These reforms redefine principals’ and teachers’ roles, increasing teachers’ work hours, and the scope of their work. School principals absent from the reform negotiations, are expected to apply the reform, although their work conditions were harmed. This research examines how principals cope with those reforms, and why they sometimes apply them in ways that seem to contradict their interests? Semi-structured interviews with 30 school principals, and 10 schoolteachers, indicated that the reforms have encumbered school principals’ complex tasks. They have little time or ability to thoroughly apply the reforms, responding to multiple stakeholders, political pressures, the exam regime, human resource management, etc. They often ignore policy directives, delegating authority to others, refrain from using certain resources provided by the reforms and allow internal forces to lead, while remaining uninvolved. Conclusions are presented.     

‘I do not like what I am becoming but…’: transforming the identity of head teachers in Catalonia

The aim of this article is to elucidate how a new system of school and teacher assessment in Catalonia is transforming the conceptions, practices and identity of head teachers, especially younger ones. It begins by considering the impact of global neoliberal policies on educational practices, highlighting their Foucauldian productive nature. It then examines the educational context of Catalonia during the last 30 years, emphasising the changing role of head teachers and the impact of neoliberal governance. This is followed by an account and analysis of in-depth interviews with four head teachers, focusing especially on how the head teacher’s objectives, practices and identities are being transformed, or produced, as a result of the new neoliberal ‘assessment regime’. It ends with a discussion on the importance of refusal and resistance to this process and the need to reconsider basic educational and social questions.     

Academic work within a mode of mixed governance: perspectives of university professors in the research context of western China

Chinese higher education institutions have been subjected to the intensive bureaucratic governance led by the central authorities since 1949. Since the new public management has been a burgeoning social discourse, some reforms have been conducted recently, centering on the competitive contract-centered employment of staff, integration of industrial sectors, universities, and research institutes, and the evaluation of teaching quality at the undergraduate level. By embracing the ideas of new public management, a mode of mixed governance has evolved within the larger milieu of Chinese higher education. By in-depth interviews with 36 university teachers from a university in western China, this study finds that the distribution of income within the academic community has been polarized, so that the career development of new teachers and those in low priority disciplines is curtailed. Additionally, research is assigned more priority than teaching; institutional service has made distracted academics from knowledge. Lastly, Chinese academics’ work has been greatly affected by a mixed mode of governance spawned by the unique integration between paternalistic governance, bureaucratic management, and new public management.     

Bringing democratic governance into practice: policy enactments responding to neoliberal governance in Spanish public schools*

This article explores different ways in which public primary schools sustain democratic governance structures created beyond those mandated by law in Spain. These new institutional designs, while not opposed to policy text requirements of having a governing body with representatives of parents, teachers and public administration, are being carried out against the grain of the hegemonic neoliberal managerial approach. The objective was to observe the different ways that some schools apply other institutional paths to the current governing bodies by aiming at widening decision-making not only to legal representatives but to all agents. Data come from focus groups, in-depth interviews and observations carried out in four public schools during fieldwork lasting two academic years. The findings show that while some schools are broadening current legal governing bodies, others generate ad hoc bodies transforming legal ones into new institutional arrangements.     

The Role of Democratic Governing Bodies in South African Schools

School governance reform in post-apartheid South Africa has been used instrumentally to democratise schooling and to calibrate governance functions to accommodate diverse school contexts. Through an analysis of relevant sections in legislation, the author shows how the reform was structured to allow for representative democracy and partnerships. But, drawing on two recent studies, she contends that the governance reforms failed to include measures that prevent a re-enactment of traditional South African power relations of race, class and gender at schools, and apartheid-era inequalities continue to manifest in schools. The author concludes that in general democratic school governing bodies have fallen short of the transformation vision.     

Teachers as Leaders: A critical agenda for the new millennium

Education systems around the world are implementing school-based management organisational reforms resulting in new and enhanced roles for teachers. As a result, traditional notions of what skills, knowledge, competencies and attitudes teachers need to carry out their roles and responsibilities are changing. Fundamental to the necessary changes for teachers is promotion of a 'teachers-as-leaders' agenda, one which is conceptualised around a leadership framework that facilitates a rethinking of teachers' work and that has similarities with that usually associated with school administrators. This paper uses current developments in Queensland government schools to illustrate this changing world for teachers.     

‘The Beauty Walk,this ain't my topic’: learning about critical inquiry with adolescent girls

This study analyses and describes the links between the curriculum policies of one urban school district in the US and an intervention by the economics firm Standard &; Poor’s (S&;P). It characterizes the languages and values introduced to the district leadership by S&;P as ideologically neoliberal. This school‐level case study that makes clear the connections between the introduction of neoliberal languages and values, local‐level curriculum policies, and the resulting experiences of teachers and children in the US. In the end, it offers a case study of the ways corporate forces, such as S&;P, are extending their reaches beyond national and state‐level policy bodies to local communities to further legitimize the neoliberal project and to ‘reform’ schools in ways that grow their own profitability.     

A research report on the reception of the 2005 Religious Observance Guidelines in Scotland

This article gives a brief overview of the place of religious observance (RO) within Scotland’s non-denominational state school sector, and the background to recent changes in educational thinking and government policy which led to new guidelines being introduced in 2005. The article reports on a study conducted in 2008 into the reception of the new RO guidelines and their implementation within three primary schools and one secondary school in a local authority area, together with empirical data from each of the four case studies and interview extracts from head teachers, RO practitioners and pupils. The article then highlights some problems arising from the new guidelines and suggests some areas for future empirical research.     

The Influence of Teachers in the Operation of Basic Schools in Iceland1

The governance of basic schools (grades 1–10) in Iceland was transferred from state control to municipal control in 1995 with a new Basic School Act. This transfer was in line with the emphasis on school‐based management that was stressed in the Act. This policy was criticised by many, including teachers and their union representatives. Research indicates that basic principals are very pleased with their new working environment, but showed indication of dissatisfaction amongst teachers. Accordingly, it was of interest to investigate how this policy has influenced the working environment of basic school teachers: Has it facilitated increased autonomy of schools? Has it enhanced participative decision‐making and co‐operation amongst teachers? What kind of pressures and expectations has it generated from parents and municipal educational authorities? A questionnaire was sent to a sample of 750 teachers during the spring of 2005. The findings indicate that there seems to be a gap emerging between the perceived professional independence of schools and the professional independence of teachers. This study also indicates that the general teacher wants to be more involved in decision‐making in his/her school in areas such as development projects, in‐service planning and distribution of financial resources. The study also shows that external demands and pressures on teachers have increased considerably, particularly in urban areas.     

Principals’ perceptions and experiences of the role parents play in school governing bodies in rural areas

This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of rural school principals in South Africa of the role that parents in the school governing bodies (SGBs) play in improving school management and governance. The study reports on a literature review as well as on the empirical investigation, which was based on a qualitative research paradigm. Semi-structured interviews with the principals of three different rural schools were employed to collect data. The literature findings revealed that including parents as part of the SGB is seen as an essential component for the successful functioning of the school. The empirical study also emphasised the importance of including parents. However, the principals were concerned about the fact that many members of the SGB are illiterate and uncertain of the role they play in school governance. The principals emphasised the need for training of the members of SGBs as regards their working knowledge of school governance activities.     

“治理”视域下的学校公民教育

“治理”作为一种新型的管理理念和实践方式,在当前获得了人们愈来愈多的重视。“治理”理念倡导教师和学生对学校治理权利的共享,引导教师与学生通过协商、对话、合作以及公民伙伴关系等方式积极参与学校公共事务的管理,从而扩大和提升学校的公共利益,培育学生的更为健全的公民品质。因此,学校“治理”与公民教育之间所形成的是一种有机联结的关系,学校组织的治理型建构可以为公民教育提供坚实的生活基础和制度保障,而公民教育则可以通过唤醒学生的公民意识和治理意识,提升他们的治理意愿和治理能力,从而推动学校治理的发展。基于“治理”理念而建构起来的公民教育,不再是灌输式、概念式的公民教育,而是一种主体性、实践性的公民教育,它可以更好地培育学生的公民权利与责任意识,使学生成长为治理型的公民。     

School decentralization as a process of differentiation,hierarchization and selection

The Austrian ‘school autonomy policy’, which allowed schools to develop specific ‘curricular profiles’, is taken as an example for discussing processes and effects of school decentralization policies. Data from school case studies (based on qualitative interviews and document analysis) are used to analyse and interpret the processes by which schools and teachers take up policy innovations and translate it into action and structures on school and classroom level. These policy changes and the resulting governance regimes are examined from a perspective on changing modes of ‘action coordination’ between actors on different levels of a school system and from an attention to processes of ‘re-contextualization’ in multi-level governance systems. The main result is that the Austrian decentralization policy – although not explicitly based on a market approach – boosted principles of competitive coordination between schools. In consequence, it resulted in processes of differentiation and hierarchization of schools and classes and offered new legitimatory and practical opportunities for student selection.     

Short Reports

Government legislation over two decades has brought about major changes in the management and governance of schools. School governing bodies have been awarded far more power and influence than ever before and are now required to make important decisions affecting the quality of education provision for the nation's children. With an estimated 60,000 governors assuming their responsibilities for the very first time, questions about their preparedness for such a substantial task are bound to be asked. The significance of training for governors has increased as the extent of governing body responsibilities has expanded. Whereas the importance of training was recognized by the 1986 Education Act which gave the local education authority a statutory duty to provide the training it thinks necessary for governors to carry out their duties effectively, it remains optional. This small‐scale research project set out to investigate the induction needs of governors newly appointed to a local authority's schools. The project, undertaken in the autumn term 1996 and spring term 1997, made use of two different but complementary research tools. The first was a questionnaire survey of 314 new governors which attracted a response rate of just over 65 per cent. In addition, follow‐up telephone interviews were conducted with a small sample in order to gather extended responses to those given in the questionnaires. The research concluded that the new governors surveyed: ? had received little or no formal training for their role as school governors

? identified as their future training needs the following topics: roles and responsibilities of governors; local management of schools (LMS); and recruitment and selection procedures

? identified the need for a comprehensive programme of induction made up of a combination of centrally run and school‐based courses, briefings, information and guidance materials, videos, helplines and updates.

     

How schools train principals to use new teacher evaluation systems: A comparative case study of charter school and traditional public school principals

Over the past decade U.S. policymakers, practitioners, and researchers have sought to examine if changing teacher evaluation policies and systems have resulted in changes in identifying quality teachers and/or increased student achievement. This research generally shows most states have experienced little change in how teachers are rated. Researchers are now exploring why, in many cases, teacher evaluation reforms have failed to produce the desired systematic changes of better identifying quality teachers and better distinguishing teacher performance. Embedded within this line of inquiry is how principals (and other evaluators) are trained to use new teacher evaluation systems. This comparative case study observed six principals (three charter school principals and three traditional public school principals) in the U.S. state of Michigan as they learned and enacted a new teacher evaluation system. Additionally, all principals were interviewed three times throughout the school year, in an effort to examine how their initial teacher evaluation training impacted their evaluation of teachers. The research questions that guided this work were: (1) how are principals initially trained when their school adopts a new teacher evaluation system?; (2) in what ways does the training received by charter school principals compare to that of traditional public school principals?; and (3) how does initial training impact how principals evaluate teachers? Results indicate principals are trained to navigate the logistics of new teacher evaluation systems, but are not trained to evaluate teacher performance. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.