Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemCommunity participation in decision making in Victorian state schools: an examination of the changing roles of school councils focussing on an analysis of responses to the report, "Taking schools into the 1990s"( 1986)For a century following the proclamation of the Education Act of 1872, Victorian State education was a service, provided by the Government, which varied little in character or content from school to school. By the 1970s a groundswell for community participation in school based decision-making had begun to be felt. School Councils were constituted as governing bodies representative of each school community. Government policy increasingly favoured greater devolution of powers to the schools so that parents, teachers and, in post primary schools, students were involved in democratic and collaborative decision-making. This study examines the developments in policy related to school governance and the attitudes of the interested parties to the changes. As an indication of the current attitude to community participation in schools, responses of Victorian Secondary School Councils to the report "Taking Schools into the 1990s" are examined. Evidence from these responses indicates that the great majority of schools cope with the roles they presently play, especially in developing policy about curriculum. However, they are not prepared for further responsibilities, particularly of a management nature, as proposed by the Ministry Structures Project Team. There is a strong concern that the proposal if implemented would have a detrimental effect on schools which are already having to cope with a great deal of change. Councils composed of volunteers feel they risk being overloaded with duties rightfully belonging to the Ministry of Education. The issue is an expression of a major concern in this thesis : that decentralization is being confused with devolution and as a result much of the collaborative work, especially in curriculum, being undertaken by councils could be endangered in the future. Time and energy devoted by school councils and school administrators to decentralized operations would very likely be at the expense of policy and curriculum initiatives.