Recent reforms in England's education system have been justified on the grounds that other countries have pursued similar approaches to education reform. Many such policies that by-pass or otherwise diminish meso-level institutions demonstrate a commitment to the idea of devolving authority to local actors. The current reforms in England and…

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 paper examines the results of a study of strategic plans in community colleges in Ontario, Canada between 1995 and 2005. The system was very similar to centralized systems in many jurisdictions including China. The study found that (1) the strategies of those colleges were more alike than different; (2) the strategic content of the plans as…

Program evaluation, the evaluation of the performance of a unit of an organization (rather than of specific persons within that unit) against criteria that are consonant with the goals of other units in the organization, is currently the most important mechanism for the increased coordination, or coupling, of various hierarchical levels in the…

Addressed are the issues of government/school relationship and the increasing centralization of postsecondary education. Drawing from the experiences of foreign countries, the value of institutional differentiation, and the need for planning and autonomous action for differentiation, coordination, and change are discussed. (JMD)

Explores the nature and possible consequences of benign and detrimental aspects of defamiliarization occurring in Northern Ireland's schools. Recent legislation, although apparently sharing power, centralizes power by providing for curricular form and content, promoting a certain management ethic, and relocating some key control mechanisms in the…

The argument is advanced that tertiary education in Australia, which comprises three sectors--universities, colleges of advanced education, and colleges of technical and further education--is hierarchically structured. Although the colleges were proposed to be of comparable status to universities, the new colleges of advanced education, which have…

Legalization here refers to the introduction into the educational system of new legal rules, emanating from outside the routine channels of educational management. It includes general legal rules from legislation, from the courts, or from higher administrative levels. The key to the definition is lack of integration of the new rules with the main…

The organization of local government in England underwent significant structural revision during the 1970s, creating centralized authorities focused on objectives and service delivery systems rather than on organizational structures and the separate services delivered. As the most autonomous local agency prior to reorganization, education was the…

American education is distinctive in the decentralization of its funding and control. Despite recent expansion, the role of the federal government is still restricted to funding and authority in special programs and situations, while both states and localities have authority to define educational purposes, programs, and policies. At all levels of…

Approaches to the organization and administration of higher education drawn from other countries are presented. In some countries, higher education is coordinated by a central bureaucracy in which there is much nationalization of the curriculum, a nationalized degree structure, and a nationalized system of admissions. This approach is contrasted…

State systems are seen as becoming more centralized. Many college presidents see a diminishing of campus autonomy by governing board staffs of higher education. Statewide planning and opening lines of communication are also discussed by George Janik and George B. Weathersby. (MLW)

Centralized control of budgets and programs, a growing consumerism among students, and collective bargaining are among the issues addressed in a Florida statewide conference on institutional research. papers and reports include: the keynote address; a legislative workshop; a collective bargaining panel; The New College Story as Told by 103 Alumni…