What needs to happen for school autonomy to be mobilised to create more equitable public schools and systems of education?

Keddie, Amanda; MacDonald, Katrina; Blackmore, Jill; Boyask, Ruth; Fitzgerald, Scott; Gavin, M. Katherine; Heffernan, Amanda; Hursh, David; McGrath‐Champ, Susan; Møller, Jorunn; O’Neill, John; Parding, Karolina; Salokangas, Maija; Skerritt, Craig; Stacey, Meghan; Thomson, Patricia; Wilkins, Andrew; Wilson, Rachel; Wylie, Cathy; Yoon, Ee-Seul

doi:10.1007/s13384-022-00573-w

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…This has been fundamental to the rise of school-based management (MacDonald et al. , 2021) and calls for greater autonomy (Keddie et al. , 2022).…”

Section: Optimizing the Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arguably grounded in the work of Hayek (1945), but common throughout many disciplines, there is substantial support for the idea that those most familiar with contextual circumstances should make decisions regarding activities and resourcing. This has been fundamental to the rise of school-based management (MacDonald et al, 2021) and calls for greater autonomy (Keddie et al, 2022).…”

Section: Natural Benchmarkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Schooling for equitable excellence: principles of systemic design

Eacott

2023

JEA

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PurposeEducation is a key institution of modern society, long recognized for its central role in the reproduction of inequities and with the potential to challenge them. Schools behave as their systems are designed. Achieving equity and excellence is not possible through attempts to fix “the school” or educators. Principles of systemic design that incorporate equity and excellence are needed to increase the likelihood of desirable outcomes.Design/methodology/approachUsing the social contract as a design principle, this paper systematically builds an empirical model of school provision aimed at equitable excellence.FindingsEquitable excellence in school provision is possible if choice is available across geolocation and socio-educational (dis)advantage, schools have autonomy over fiscal, personnel and curricular matters, public accountability is linked to academic outcomes and social impact, all moderated by the quality of teaching.Research limitations/implicationsData-driven empirical modelling is particularly attractive to policy makers, systemic authorities and researchers when theory (of all varieties) does not yield the necessary insights to support the functionality and effectiveness of systems to deliver equitable outcomes at scale. Empirical examples can be used to test the explanatory power of the novel model – and refine it when necessary.Practical implicationsThe empirical model and threshold question are the genesis of a common language for assessing relevant costs and benefits of initiatives for government and system designers. Significantly, establishing a threshold question and tests of legitimacy and strength to accompany the novel model provides a more principled way of prioritizing the competing demands on public investment in education.Originality/valueEstablishing a threshold question and tests for legitimacy and strength to accompany the novel model provides a more principled way of prioritizing the competing demands to accompany.

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“…This has been fundamental to the rise of school-based management (MacDonald et al. , 2021) and calls for greater autonomy (Keddie et al. , 2022).…”

Section: Optimizing the Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Natural Benchmarkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Schooling for equitable excellence: principles of systemic design

Eacott

2023

JEA

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“…We should not underestimate the impact that the larger political, social, and economic context has on schools and leaders around the world. A variety of autonomous schools can perform in a managerial way or simply make good use of teachers’ collective agency, and a variety of less autonomous organizations may dispose or not of a certain dose of organizational coherence and leadership (Keddie et al, 2022 ; Walker & Qian, 2020 ).…”

Section: Conclusion: Leadership Is About Organized Agency Not Manager...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Why is school leadership key to transforming education? Structural and cultural assumptions for quality education in diverse contexts

Mincu

2022

Prospects

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Failing to recognize the role of leaders in quality and equitable schooling is unfortunate and must be redressed. Leadership is fundamentally about organized agency and collective vision, not managerialism, since it is an organizational quality, not merely a positionality attribute. Most important, if change is to be systemic and transformative, it cannot occur uniquely at the individual teachers’ level. School organization is fundamental to circulating and consolidating new innovative actions, cognitive schemes, and behaviors in coherent collective practices. This article engages with the relevance of governance patterns, school organization, and wider cultural and pedagogical factors that shape various leadership configurations. It formulates several assumptions that clarify the importance of leadership in any organized change. The way teachers act and represent their reality is strongly influenced by the architecture of their organization, while their ability to act with agency is directly linked to the existence of flat or prominent hierarchies, both potentially problematic for deep and systemic change. A hierarchical imposition from above as well as a lack of leadership vision in fragmented school cultures cannot determine any transformation.

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Introducing Socially just Leadership

MacDonald

2023

Educational Leadership Theory

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What needs to happen for school autonomy to be mobilised to create more equitable public schools and systems of education?

Cited by 6 publications

References 75 publications

Schooling for equitable excellence: principles of systemic design

Schooling for equitable excellence: principles of systemic design

Why is school leadership key to transforming education? Structural and cultural assumptions for quality education in diverse contexts

Introducing Socially just Leadership

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