In 1991 Australia's National Industry Education Forum released a policy statement that suggested ways to improve Australian schools. This report, an outgrowth of that statement, contains a blueprint for the decentralization of management for Australian schools. Studies were undertaken in 11 companies to draw lessons from business and industry.…

Examined is the fairly broad consensus that the break with the traditional centralism of Australian public schooling is a progressive move. The social and ideological meaning of this change in the direction of administrative policy against the background of contemporary Australian society is discussed. (13 references) (SI)

Issues raised by the devolution of decision-making to the school level in Western Australia are described in this paper. The first part provides a background of governance structures and school organization. Prior to 1980, Western Australia had the most centralized system of educational administration in Australia. The second part describes the…

This book presents ways in which school administrators can identify and redirect school funds to improve student performance. It quantifies the degree of overall financial inequality in the country using figures for all districts and shows how education dollars are currently spent, why these dollars are ineffectual, and how different and more…

The rhetoric of current blueprints for (Australian) school reform must be scrutinized to ensure a power redistribution furthering improved outcomes for more students, particularly the least advantaged. A desirable social justice outcome might be achieved through blending equality aspects ensured by the old centralized system with the progressive…

The role played by the state government in Victoria, Australia, in public education changed considerably when the Labour Party took office in the early 1980s. Seeking to redress social imbalances and inequities, the government sought broad decentralization of decision making in education, with an increased role for teachers, parents, and students.…

The nature of direct and indirect effects of local management of schools (school-based management) on learning outcomes for students has remained elusive. The findings from a 5-year longitudinal study of the "Schools of the Future" reform in Victoria, Australia, are reported in this paper. The Victoria system is the largest public school…

This volume is part of a series of monographs from Australia devoted to outlining an alternative approach, based on neo-Marxist concepts, to educational administration. The introductory essay in the volume is an argument for the democratization of education by establishing a case for changing schools: by discussing industrial democracy as a…

Summarizes a three-year Consortium for Policy Research in Education project to identify conditions in U.S., Canadian, and Australian schools that promote high performance through school-based management. Findings showed that SBM requires redesign of the whole school organization. Success depended on how schools decentralized four key resources:…

A new theme in the old tension between centralization and decentralization in the governance and administration of Australian higher education is explored. The argument is that the various major attempts to restructure Australian education systems both in centralizing and decentralizing forces have gained new strength, and that the recent stated…

This paper offers a brief overview of the Australian education system and compares it with the United States system of education. The Australian economy presents no threat to U.S. hegemony, but its education system presents an interesting contrast. The paper describes the following features of the Australian education system: governance; school…

An analysis of Australia's two conflicting trends in school governance and their effectiveness in meeting two major educational challenges is the purpose of this paper. Nationalization, which refers to greater centralization and increased national regulation; and privatization, which refers to decentralization, deregulation, and increased local…

Decentralization efforts in Australia after the publishing of the "Better Schools" report in 1987 are described in this paper. An overview of the implementation process concludes that the transition is halfway completed. However, the process has encountered strong resistance. Authority to determine the means, but not ends, was devolved…