Project Summary
Autonomy is proclaimed as virtuous by proponents of school reform. It usually refers to decentralised decision-making, particularly in the areas of budgeting and staffing, although not curriculum. School site-level "autonomy", however, is highly contested for, at the same time as schools may be autonomous, their decision-making discretion is circumscribed by a range of accountabilities. For this reason, autonomy may be more apparent than real. Using a small sample of schools, this project tries to ascertain whether post-1988 reforms have increased or diminished schools' sense of their autonomy, and assesses the robustness of the claim that autonomy is associated with learning improvements, as well as the impact on, and significance of, these policy shifts for school leaders and leadership.
Start and Finish Date and Duration
Start date: November 2008; Finish date: December 2009
Research Team
- Peter Gronn (Contact person)
- Ros McLellan
- Ciaran Sugrue
- Joanne Waterhouse
Outcomes
The outcomes will provide a platform for future funding for UK-wide and international comparative analyses of autonomy and its implications for leadership and school improvement.