“…The Ministry of Education (MOE) in many countries (e.g. China, Thailand, Singapore, Malta, Nigeria, Pakistan) designs a unified national curriculum, syllabus, materials and exams and guides funding and staffing of schools, including teacher selection, recruitment and staff development (Uwazurike, 1991;Fenech, 1994;Hallinger et al, 1994;Ligget et al, 1997;Simkins et al, 1998;Morriss et al, 1999). Fenech (1994) illustrated this feature by the Maltese example: 'The allocation of teachers to the various classes in the school is perhaps the only organizational decision which is left in the hands of the principals' (p. 131).…”