Decentralizing Schools
The Australian Thursday, June 14, 2007
Identifying and promoting good teachers is a necessary step forward for schooling. But there is a failure of quality control in state-run school systems: no one at the operational level is able to take full responsibility. Too much power is held by the amorphous "department".
A better standard of service is delivered when there is a visible human being in charge: "the buck stops here". Yes, teacher evaluation processes are helpful - the most important being external assessment of student progress. But the final decision should go to the principal. (Unions and bureaucrats will push for an easily-rorted mechanical system of promotion, defeating the purpose.)
Yes, this elevates the authority of the principal. But empowering a 1000 professional educators will yield a superior service than the present monolith run by a few invisible gods.
Philip O'Carroll