Description
* What is the impact of local management on how schools are managed? * Are schools now able to use resources more efficiently? * Has local management improved the quality of teaching and learning in schools? In Local Management of Schools, Rosalind Levacic offers an evaluation of this new form of management and contextualises it within an international trend towards decentralised school management. Since 1990, headteachers and school governors in England and Wales have had extensive powers to manage school budgets – and are responsible for all of a school’s resource needs including staff. As the school budget is dependent on pupil numbers and parents now have more choice over which school their children will attend, local management has had profound effects on how schools are managed and resourced. The book presents original empirical research on local management and concludes that while schools are now able to use resources more efficiently there is little evidence to support the government’s claim that local management plays a key role in raising standards of teaching and learning. The Author Rosalind Levacic studied economics at London University and taught economics at a technical college, polytechnic and at the Open University before taking up a lectureship in educational management in the School of Education where she is now Senior Lecturer in the Centre for Educational Policy and Management. She has been principal investigator for an ESRC funded study on ‘The Impact of Formula Funding on Schools.’ She has worked as a consultant on several projects concerned with the financing of schools and is a school governor. She has also written widely on the financial and resource management in education. Preface Decentralised school management the UK experience in an international context Examining the case for local management The locally managed school as an open system Normative models for local management Decision making in locally managed schools Key roles in local management The impact of local management on resource allocation efficiency, effectiveness and equity Quasi-markets and management control Local management an overview
