This booklet is about «school-based management» – a field that has become a very popular movement over the past decade. But what exactly is school-based management? Where has it been implemented – and with what success? How is it connected with decentralization, and to what extent is it embedded within certain political and/or ideological preferences and orientations? What contextual conditions and capacity building programmes are required in order for it to be implemented successfully? Is there any evidence that it has a positive impact upon student learning – in either developed or developing countries? These are some of the important policy questions that have been addressed by this issue of the Education Policy Booklet Series. The booklet addresses these questions by bringing forward a set of propositions about school-based management – and then seeking to clarify these on the basis of research and accumulated professional experience. The main objective of the discussion has been to provide senior-decision makers with sound foundation knowledge about the key concepts and related research in this area so that they can engage in informed debate on whether or not school-based management has been a “success” – or whether it is just another passing fashion in the field of educational administration. The initial applications of school-based management occurred in Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. Many governments and agencies associated with developing countries have also become increasingly interested in this management approach as they seek to explore alternatives for placing educational resources, decision-making, and responsibilities “closer to the action” – and at a distance from the control of centralized authorities.
