ERIC Number: EJ1112153
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Sep
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1741-1432
EISSN: N/A
School Autonomy as "The Way of the Future": Issues of Equity, Public Purpose and Moral Leadership
Keddie, Amanda
Educational Management Administration & Leadership, v44 n5 p713-727 Sep 2016
This paper presents interview data from research conducted in two public high schools in the state of Queensland, Australia. The research was concerned with exploring issues of equity and diversity. Both schools had recently converted to "independent" status within a new state policy reform--the Independent Public Schools initiative. This reform was seen as having a significant effect on matters of equity and diversity and so became an important focus of the research. Within current accountability parameters, there were concerns expressed by key personnel at the schools about how converting to an Independent Public Schools was both enabling and constraining student equity in terms of resource distribution and school access, and undermining schools' focus on their public purpose in relation to imposing an excessive focus on narrow external accountability measures. These concerns bring to light the significance of moral leadership within autonomous schooling environments--shaped as they are by regimes of accountability and competition that can clearly compromise student equity and delimit schooling purposes.
Descriptors: Institutional Autonomy, Accountability, Educational Change, Educational Policy, Moral Values, Competition, Instructional Leadership, Foreign Countries, Equal Education, Student Diversity, School Administration, High Schools
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A