Canada: Fiscal decentralization
A typical example of school-based management in Canada is Edmonton Public School District in Alberta. Its reform is called "school-based decision-making", which leads to the decentralization of resource allocation between teaching staff and non-teaching staff, equipment, facilities and services. One feature of this model is the establishment of school-based committees. Schools have the right to allocate the total amount of funds, which is determined according to the types of schools, the demand level of students and the services provided by schools, and the allocation of funds is included in the school-based budget. In order to ensure the implementation of the grade responsibility system, determine the monitoring process and mechanism, randomly select the learning situation of students in grades 3, 6, 9 and 12, and define and use standard grades or benchmarks, which will become the basis for future students' comparison. Every year, students, teachers, principals, school district staff and parents are asked to evaluate their satisfaction with a series of issues related to their respective roles. The results of the survey are public, from which the public can get a general understanding of the progress in this regard. Relevant schools can learn the data specific to each school and the comparative analysis of schools' achievements in this regard; By applying in advance, parents and others can also know the results of these data and comparative analysis. Other data include the retention rate of grade 12, the number of teachers and staff participating in on-the-job and off-job career development activities, the number of school buildings borrowed by the community, the cost of repair and maintenance, the cost of capital construction projects, and daily expenses (gas, water, electricity, etc.). ) and the annual budget. T\e！
1994 Alberta plans to start a major reform of the province's education system. The proposed reform measures include streamlining the offices of the Education Department, drastically reducing the number of staff in school district offices, and decentralizing power to the school level. The power of the school committee to levy education tax is replaced by the provincial government's unified allocation of all funds. The main feature of these reforms is to increase the participation of parents, communities and enterprises in decision-making, including resource allocation and how to achieve the required results. 3 inch PE &
Britain: Direct Subsidy Schools and Local Management
The British 1980 Education Law puts forward that the national curriculum, achievement level, evaluation, supervision and achievement report should all be controlled by the central government. Within this framework, the transfer of courses, the management of manpower, financial resources and material resources, and the responsibility system of parents and communities are all delegated to the school management Committee. Its new feature lies in trying to encourage competition between schools to meet the market demand, including competing for students. * & ltR5
The education reform law of 1988 fundamentally changed the basic values of the whole education system and educational practice, and it tried to promote school-based management from six structural changes. The six structural changes are as follows: (1) The core subjects adopt the national unified curriculum; (2) Implementing a unified national examination for students aged 7, 1 1 1, 14 and 16; (3) Establish direct subsidy schools to get rid of the control of local education authorities and get full funding directly from the central government. (4) Establish City Technical College (somewhat like American vocational education middle schools), (5) Divide London Education Bureau into 65,438+03 local education authorities, and (6) Establish a management framework for local schools, including: openly enrolling students in local education authorities, allocating resources to each school according to a formula, determining the key points of allocating funds for each school, and authorizing the board of directors of each school to hire and dismiss staff and teachers. m
These policies include teachers' evaluation, students' evaluation, religious education, school activity expenses and bidding for various services. For the first time, the national unified curriculum stipulated the curriculum content and evaluation of students aged 7, 1 1 year,1year,1year, and1year. In 1993, the education law promulgated a school framework, according to which schools can easily manage themselves or be directly funded by the central government. g-nw#O
Local school management (LSM) is basically a school-based management policy, which limits the power of local education authorities and grants the management right of funds and resources to the school board and school staff. Under the management of local schools, the schools are mainly funded according to the number of students enrolled. The decline in the birth rate leads to a decrease in the school-age population, which means that many schools have excess enrollment capacity. Open learning breaks the geographical restrictions on students' admission and enables parents to choose the school they want their children to attend. Because the school budget is closely related to the number of students enrolled, it urges schools to compete for students' survival or increase their income. The British government believes that the pressure of funds will eventually promote competition between schools, thus achieving the goal of improving the quality of education. x^2
Decentralization of school management power and responsibility is one of the main strategies to implement education policy. This decentralization means more autonomy and flexibility in decision-making, and it also increases the responsibility of the school to parents, employers and communities. The mechanism of urging schools to take responsibility includes intuitive guidance, publication of student files and grades, student transcripts, annual reports, etc. Schools that fail to meet the accreditation standards are identified as "at risk" by the Education Standards Office. These schools are supervised by an expert group whose job is to improve the education level. If schools fail to achieve satisfactory results, the government will eventually close them down.
New Zealand: Fiscal Decentralization and Localized Management
During the period of 1987 and 10, New Zealand conducted a special survey on the education administration in the country, and found that there were some serious deficiencies in education management: too centralized decision-making, complicated management, lack of information and choice, lack of effective management practice, and a general sense of powerlessness in schools. This is the famous New Zealand Picot Report. The report suggests that 95% of the education budget should be paid directly to schools. After the publication of the report, New Zealand launched a reform movement to rebuild the school system, which is characterized by strengthening local management and control of schools, aiming at eliminating the situation of "excessive participation of the central Ministry of Education", "compartmentalization among departments" and "lack of focus of the central government". Faculty members are selected and employed by the school committee. Although there is a unified national curriculum framework, few people are employed at the national level. They are mainly responsible for supervising the operation of schools and providing them with necessary support. 26^3[
Local management reform involves major changes in the central management authority. All primary and secondary schools are allocated funds according to the formula; 1989 closed the district education offices and encouraged officials in these offices to set up independent education support units, thus providing additional funds for schools. The primary and secondary schools in New Zealand are somewhat similar to those in Britain. $h
In addition, several working organizations have been established to investigate issues such as school buildings, school property maintenance, personnel and community education, and each working organization has to submit an investigation report to the evaluation team. The working organization in charge of school funds must formulate two formulas, one is about teachers' salary, and the other is about the cost of regular activities. These programs must sensitively reflect the different needs of different institutions in different regions. Therefore, the institutions responsible for allocating funds must pay attention to the issue of fairness. x{0'#
Each school is completely controlled by the board of directors, and each board member includes 5 elected parents, principals, 1 staff representatives, 1 student representatives and 4 cooperative election representatives. The main responsibility of the board of directors is to formulate the school charter with the principals, faculty and community under the guidance of the overall national education policy. The charter focuses on the goals and policies of the school. The constitution of a school must be approved by the Ministry of Education, and the approved constitution becomes a contract between the government and the school, and between the school and the community. This charter is used for school monitoring. ,
America: Choice and Local Decision-making
The method of implementing school-based management in the United States has always been fragmented and localized, mainly because the United States has three levels of government: federal, state and local. The responsibility for public education belongs to each state, while the responsibility for providing educational services is borne by the local governments of each state (except Hawaii). According to the laws of each state, school districts are autonomous branches and have the right to raise funds for running schools through taxes, build school buildings with loans, and formulate laws and regulations to guide the direction of running schools. Each school district has an elected local school committee, which has great power over the courses taught and the appointment of teachers. "
During the period of 1990, the states assumed the main responsibility for allocating education funds, thus liberating schools from the rules and regulations imposed by the central government. The initial central rules and regulations limited the ability of schools to provide educational services needed by students. 14 Each state has delegated power to local governments, and one third of school districts have implemented some form of school-based management from 1986 to 1990. Since 1990, at least five more states have authorized local governments, and more than 20 states have adopted charters.
School) legislation. There are two main types of these reforms: the first is "decentralization of administrative power", where local education authorities assign certain tasks to school teachers and principals, and local education authorities give them some powers to a limited extent, but local schools are still responsible for them; The second is "school-based management", which empowers parents, teachers and principals of each school to determine their own work priorities, allocate budgets accordingly, form their own curriculum characteristics, and have the power to hire and dismiss personnel. In this reform, the decision-making power is local, but the responsibility is not the right but the community served by the school. etsYFA
People's growing dissatisfaction with school welfare and business leaders' serious concern about the decline of American workers' skills and quality are the main reasons for these reforms. Although dissatisfaction with the educational results has promoted these reforms, they also contain a view that the role of schools is closely related to the economic productivity of the country.
A study in 1990 shows that schools with strict local control have reached better academic standards. Therefore, people who advocate choice think that the market can be used as a means to improve the quality and efficiency of education, and put forward several different suggestions for choice:
The "education voucher" system gives students certain funds to go to the school chosen by their parents;
"magnet school", focusing on specific subjects (such as science);
Free choice of schools within the jurisdiction of local education departments; ;
Free choice of schools outside the jurisdiction of the local education department.
Most variants of school-based management in the United States include the establishment of a representative decision-making Committee in the school, which may share power with the principal or just be a consultant. Some committees have the right to appoint and remove the principal, some have the right to appoint and remove the principal, some have neither the right to appoint or remove the principal, some committees can recruit other personnel when the position is vacant, some committees stipulate that the principal shall be the chairman of the Committee, and some stipulate that the principal shall not be the chairman of the Committee. DddPQ@
The practice of school-based management reform in American States is different. Kentucky requires every school to set up a school-based committee composed of three teachers, two parents and the principal. The state entrusts the Committee with considerable financial power and decision-making power. Maryland and Texas require schools to have school-based decision-making groups, but contrary to Kentucky, these two States have not stipulated the composition of decision-making groups, nor have they legally delegated power from school districts to schools; In Chicago, state laws give important powers to the local school board, which is composed of six parents, two community representatives, two teachers and the principal. In Cincinnati, the state education department was reorganized and reduced, and considerable responsibility was given to the school principal, but no additional legal rights were granted; In Colorado, every school committee is required to have 1 business representative; In Minnesota, parents choose public schools, which is a controversial open enrollment plan. According to this plan, students can attend schools outside their school districts. in the south
In Carolina, decentralization to the school level, community participation in educational decision-making and the creation of more efficient schools have become the main purposes of reform. l
Contract school
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Although the United States has carried out many reforms, the "charter schools" have developed the fastest in recent years.
Charter is a written agreement signed between teachers and school districts, aiming at reorganizing some parts of the teaching plan and promoting the continuous development of teaching methods to meet the needs of students and students. At first, the charter was thought to be made by teachers and parents according to their own ideas and experiences. Parents can and often participate in the process of school education, and school districts allocate funds to schools according to their responsibilities and achievements. Secondly, the articles of association have a clear purpose and related responsibility system and supervision. Third, constantly update the articles of association, encourage innovation and experiment, so as to continuously develop various forms of excellent teaching. The core of charter schools includes the following elements: the educational choice of students, parents and teachers, democratic management of charter schools, decentralization, balance of autonomy and responsibility, and market drive. DXt3J
Australia: Local Budget and Community Participation
Australia is divided into six states and two regions, and each state and region has a high degree of independence in education. In the past 20 years, various states and regions in Australia have undergone various reconstructions to change the situation of centralized power. The decision-making power of school resource allocation is increasingly transferred to the school level, and school personnel are generally more responsible for the achievements of schools and students. Its experience shows that schools with relative autonomy, ability to solve their own problems and strong leadership are most likely to improve students' grades. The development of education management in Australia includes the following aspects:
Decision-making power related to the use of courses and resources is granted to schools and communities.
The focus and framework of policy formulation and performance responsibility system of central institutions.
It is acknowledged that the reform of education management is gradual.
Encourage schools to carry out more systematic and improved management, implement participatory decision-making and make long-term and short-term plans.
Incorporate project evaluation and school overall evaluation into the normal management process of the school.
The school is responsible to the community and the higher authorities to achieve the determined educational goals and learning priorities.
Replace the existing scattered and segmented funds with the total school funds.
Decentralization of school management is the most prominent in Victoria province, and other States and regions are taking similar reform measures and turning to school-based management. In Victoria, the implementation of the "Future School" program has entered the sixth year of the seven-year cycle. The basic idea of the plan is that only by making decisions at the local level can we ensure high-quality school education results. Next, we will focus on the reform of the province.
Victoria's "Future School" Plan
Victoria's "Future School" plan includes four components: curriculum framework, personnel framework, responsibility framework and resource framework. The curriculum framework consists of two parts: the curriculum and standard framework in eight key learning areas, and the Victorian Certificate of Education. In order to help schools formulate and implement procedures to achieve their respective goals, a curriculum and standard framework has been created. Within this framework, schools can create their own educational programs, but the sense of identity, ambition and interest of school teachers should also be taken into account. kH[。
The personnel framework involves the rank structure of teachers and principals. The personnel framework includes five elements: (1) local selection of teachers, (2) sufficient flexibility in staffing and manpower planning, (3) performance management of principals and teachers, (4) professional development and (5) new rank structure.
The resource framework directly allocates 90% of the recurrent budget of the school to the school, allowing the school to flexibly allocate all resources according to the learning needs of students. Distribute funds to schools transparently and fairly through the general budget of schools. Ac+` sign
The responsibility framework has three elements: the school charter, the annual report and the triennial inspection. The quality assurance of Victorian schools is the main mechanism to supervise the effectiveness of running schools. y
Several aspects of the reform of "future schools"
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The "Future School" reform in Victoria Province has several remarkable characteristics, including: the school charter is the school's vision for the future, and it is also a key plan and responsibility document, and the school enjoys a high degree of autonomy and responsibility; In order to supplement the school charter, the power of the school board of directors is extended to include the responsibility of short-term selection of principals, hiring non-teaching personnel and hiring teachers for specific projects; The board of directors of each school should report the effectiveness of the school to the community through a comprehensive annual report focusing on educational achievements; Every three years, an independent school inspection team should reconsider and update the school charter, which will help the school supervise and improve students' performance; The headmaster of each school chooses the teaching staff; Principals have the responsibility to promote teachers' professional development and personal growth; All the school staff decide how to make the best use of its resources.
As a part of the responsibility framework, the school charter is a formal document prepared by the school and its directors in cooperation with all school staff. Each school has prepared its own articles of association, outlining how the school hopes to provide quality education for its students with existing resources. Through the articles of association, all school employees will have the opportunity to decide the future characteristics, atmosphere and goals of the school. The articles of association include course introduction, practice guidelines, students' code of conduct, performance responsibility system, budget summary, and agreement to ensure the school to achieve its goals within the existing resources. The school charter defines the development direction for three years, provides the basis for a detailed action plan, and considers how to measure the realization of goals and priorities related to curriculum, school environment, management, resource allocation and performance monitoring. Each goal has corresponding indicators to measure the realization of the goal, and the focus of the school is based on planned continuous improvement. This requires the school to analyze its own achievements and performance, and use the results of the analysis to determine the focus of improving students' achievements. Schools should report to the education department and the local community on the realization of goals and priorities every year. Every three years, the school inspection office should inspect the school and help the school to formulate new articles of association. The school inspection office can ask the school to rewrite the articles of association, and the goals that have not been completed in one year will continue to be completed in the next year.
The responsibility framework involves system and local responsibilities. At the institutional level, the subject committee provides curriculum guidance and assistance to the school according to the actual situation of the school, while the school inspection office supports the school's efforts to improve the teaching quality. Subject Committee is responsible for curriculum development and evaluation, curriculum evaluation and student performance evaluation; The school inspection office is responsible for coordinating and managing the implementation of the performance responsibility system. At the local level, the school board has the right to decide the school's education policy within the framework of the school charter. The Committee is responsible for maintaining the school buildings and venues, hiring non-teaching staff and signing contracts with teachers to teach special subjects. The board of directors is responsible to the local community. The main purpose of the responsibility framework is to meet the government's expectation of being responsible for the results of school education, and to help schools and teachers improve students' learning level.
The curriculum and standard framework covers arts, English, non-English languages, mathematics, science, technology, social and environmental studies, health education and physical education, including provisions on curriculum content and learning outcomes. Students' progress is evaluated through the Learning Assessment Project (LAP). The learning assessment program evaluates English and mathematics in grades 3 and 5 every year, while other key subjects are evaluated every five years. The report submitted by the learning assessment project to parents focuses on the control of students' progress information. It provides parents with objective feedback information about their children, schools with feedback information about their achievements compared with other schools, and education authorities with information about the educational achievements of the whole school. b
The reform of resource framework has implemented a new financing method: school general budget (SGB). The general budget of a school is basically a formula-based funding model, including a basic budget (all schools are treated equally) and a fair budget (based on the characteristics of enrollment), which generally includes the salaries of faculty and staff, recurrent expenses and school maintenance fees. At the same time, the total budget of the school also tries to match the funds with the learning needs. The needs of students involve the needs of disabled or disabled children, students in rural or remote areas, students with poor academic performance and students who can't speak English. Therefore, some people call the total school budget a demand-based and activity-oriented funding model. The purpose of devolving financial management power to local level is to empower principals and school boards to decide and allocate resources according to local priorities.
Within the framework of personnel, the selection of teachers is decentralized to the local level, and the professional development provided is to improve the ability of principals to assume a wider role and enhance the ability of teachers to implement curriculum reform. However, in most places, school staff are still employed at the provincial level. However, schools have more autonomy in choosing teaching staff and deciding the combination of professional teachers, quasi-professional teachers and auxiliary staff. The implementation of school-based management needs to provide professional development for all school personnel (principals, teachers and school directors). Principal's professional development includes general budget, leadership and management. The training of administrative personnel is mainly to improve their understanding of the new computer system, total budget process and personnel management; Teachers' participation in training mainly involves curriculum leadership; The training of school directors is mainly to help them understand the process of formulating the articles of association and the implementation of the "future school" plan.