Establishing School Decision-Making Groups: Problems Confronted by Three Secondary Schools in Australia.

Central to restructuring efforts in Australia was the establishment of school decision-making groups (SDMGs), which gave school staff and community representatives more autonomy over decisions concerning educational policy and school development. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the responses of three secondary schools to the mandated establishment of school decision-making groups and school-development planning. The three secondary schools were located in Perth, Western Australia. Interviews were conducted with school district superintendents, school-development officers, principals, deputy principals, and school-based decision-making steering committees. Findings indicate that context exerts the most pronounced influence on the implementation process, and that change should be viewed as context dependent. In particular, the existence of a collaborative approach toward administrative decision making was strongly related to positive reception of the SDMG implementation. In addition, the level of the principal's commitment affected the school community's attitude toward school-based decision making. Participants in decision making considered concerns other than rational costs and benefits in evaluating the organizational fit of innovatio.....s to schools. In conclusion, the unique nature of each school's organizational characteristics appeared to influence not only receptiveness to restructuring and reform but the type of change strategies adopted, the range of information and assistance used, and most importantly, the degree to which members of the organization would persrvere with the implementation process. Contains eight references. (LMI) --*****************7%A.%A********************************************* Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** Establishing School Decision-making Groups:Problems confronted by three Secondary in Australia Graham B. Dellar© Faculty of Education Curtin University Perth, AUSTRALIA U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office or Educatronal Research and Improvement ECU ? TIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) fros document has been reproduced as recerved trom the person Or Organization orvnallnij It r Wow changes have been made to rroprone repcluctron duality Pmnts Ot ',new or oproons slated rn tnrs docu ment do not necesscoly represenr ottrcral OF RI DoSaton or policy 2 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC).Background and Rationale Over the last decade many Central Education Authorities in Australia, New Zealand, Britain and the United States have embarked on a process to devolve decision-making and to establish school based management within their respective schooling systems. In Western Australia a far reaching restructuring program titled Better Schools (1987) was launched to transform a highly centralised government school system through the creation of self-determining schools. Central to the restructuringendeavours was the establishment of school decision-making groups (SDMG's). These groups were to serve as the basis af an approach to school-based management which permitted school staff and community representatives to exercise more autonomy over decisions concerning educational policy and school development Some five years after the initial pronouncement of Better Schools, progress towards the establishment of self determining schools has been erratic. In June 1993 the Ministry of Education released a discussion document designed to rekindle debate on school based management. Devolution: the Next Phase (1993) raised a number of issues concerning the nature of site based management. Central to these issues was the enhanced role of the School Decision-making Group with respect to School Development Planning, Financial Planning and Management and, Accountability. The re:?..ase of this discussion document led to renewed concern by educators and the teachers union about the implications for such changes on the nature of schooling and terms and conditions of their employment. At a system level, many of the continuing difficulties associated with school restructuring and reform appear to stem from a lack of understanding about how school level personnel respond to and implement change. The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed account of the responses occurring at three secondary schools to the mandated establishment of school decision-making groups and school development planning. By so doing, it is hoped the cross-case analysis will illuminate the dynamics and difficulties associated with such change. Such insights into the realities of restructuring and reform might led to more sensitive and informed actions by both policy makers and schoollevel implementors alike. Theoretical Perspectives In the 1980's literature concerned with planned educational change suggested the process is more complex and dynamic than previously thought; and subject to the influence of many factors over a long period of time. This realisation led researchers to consider not only the characteristics of the innovation itself but also contextual explanations of the change process. Researchers such as Huberman (1983) and Fullan (1985), have advocated focusing on the local or micro implementation process. Here the change process is viewed as being influenced by the social or cultural characteristics of the setting. From this perspective, change involves alteration to the