American public education has become increasingly centralized over the last hundred and fifty years. Everything from curricular objectives and assessment tools to teacher certification criteria (and, often, textbook decisions) are being made at the state level rather than the county, district, or school level. Increasingly, teachers are told what…

Following his previous article in this journal on the centralisation of power in English education post the 1988 Education Reform Act ("The Era of Centralisation", "FORUM", 50[2], pp. 255-261), the author considers the apparent turn to school autonomy central to the Conservative Educational Revolution. He argues that the power…

The past two decades have seen an emerging trend in urban school governance: mayors taking the reins of school district leadership. The impetus for putting the mayor in charge of a city's schools usually stems from at least one of the following being documented or generally perceived about an urban school district: (1) Lack of accountability; (2)…

Regarding Australian educational administration, the more it changes, the more it remains the same. When Freeman Butts studied Australian education in 1955, centralization was the dominant, much-criticized mode. Butts proposed devolution to improve educational decision making. His thoughts are once again topical, as Australian states and other…

No country in Europe, with the exception of France, provides specially designed professional preservice programs to prepare educational administrators. This is partly because administrators have little power, being controlled at one level by central politicians and administrators and at the institutional level by teachers and teacher unions.…

The administrative policies in Australian and New Zealand school systems have undergone radical changes in recent years. This article summarizes research into the origins and patterns of the reforms, their progress, and the problems encountered. Holistic reforms were intended to achieve increased economic efficiency, educational effectiveness, and…

British Columbia's College Councils were one province's solution to the need to impose central direction without sacrificing sensitivity to outlying parts. Their creation, particular structure, and demise are described. (Author/MLW)

At the moment, most of Canada is faced with the problem of dealing with declining enrollments. This decline necessitates consideration of two major issues: the role of the educational system in Canadian society and the structure of educational governance in Canada. Although by law education is the prerogative of the provinces, the federal…

Describes components of "Seventh Five-Year Plan" for China that identify the importance of educational development. In 1985 the Ministry of Education was replaced by the National Education Commission, emphasizing the new prominence of education. The centralized structure of the education system is being dismantled, and concerns over the…

A drastic restructuring of the governance and administration of education in Quebec is likely to fuel the debate on the role of parents in controlling the school system. However, the concurrent drive toward centralization and standardization will probably allow parent committees to exercise only token power. (Author/WD)

Education support structure in the Netherlands is designed to ensure responsiveness to schools' needs and to avoid emergence of self-serving bureaucracy. National Institute for Curriculum Development was founded in 1975 to work with teachers and colleges of education to develop new curricula and instructional materials. Regional agencies located…

A number of issues emerge as important to educational administrators in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Education Service now makes it possible for system administrators and certain teaching personnel to exchange positions and thus gain new perspectives and reduce status differences. Also, to prevent the loss of the services of able and enterprising…

Reviews both the proposals and the problems inherent in the concept of decentralization. Examines the motives and methods involved in the current efforts in Trinidad and Tobago and recommends a specific course of action. Notes that these actions are driven more by political motivations than by a desire for educational quality. (MJP)

Based on the realization that 20 years of educational development efforts in Latin America have had little result, this author identified problems in educational administration at the national and regional levels that are largely responsible for the lack of progress. A number of structural and legal problems were identified, including the…

This case study analyzes and evaluates the administrative computer systems in the British Columbia public school organization in order to investigate the costs and benefits of computers, their impact on managerial work, their influence on centralization in organizations, and the relationship between organizational objectives and the design of…