PowerPointPrsentation

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School Improvement And New Education
Governance Educational change via school
improvement plans reconsidered in terms of new
education governance Dr. Martin Heinrich
Institute of Pedagogy Psychology University of
Linz, Austria
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Education governance as a synonym for
bureaucracy and control? There is a need for
a systemic view which simultaneously takes
cognizance of processes taking place on the
micro-, meso- and macro-levels of the education
system! ? Education governance, not as an
obstacle to, but as a force promoting school
development!
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New Education governance by means of
Steering ? Steering means taking actions
and making decisions which influence further
actions and decisions of relevant actors in a
particular direction.
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• To talk of steering does not imply
• that steering intentions might be translated
  directly and unchanged into corresponding
  follow-up actions,
• that steering actions take place without side
  effects or do not generate transintentional
  effects
• that steering actions take place, as it were,
  automatically, without individual and social
  mediating steps.

 
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To talk of steering, however, implies an attempt
grounded by a certain (steering) logic or a
(steering) concept to diminish the
contingency or arbitrariness of follow-up
actions.
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Central strategic value of internal and external
evaluation in the search for new steering models
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• The concept of evaluation has changed over
  time
• Concepts of self-evaluation of schools
• External evaluation ideas (school inspection,
  peer review, benchmarking), but related to
  internal evaluation measures.
• External evaluation measures establishing
  education standards and obtaining information on
  system output from related tests.

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• The current situation as an implicit new steering
  model evaluation-based steering concept
• It is the isochronous combination of
• school autonomy
• school development by means of quality
  management
• implementation of education standards
• involvement in international large-scale
  assessment tests and
• efforts to establish system monitoring.

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• The twofold function of evaluation within
• the evaluation-based steering concept
• On the one hand encouraging teachers to undertake
  the formulation and self-evaluation of their
  goals in school improvement plans in order to
  stimulate development potential and creative
  will.
• On the other hand external evaluations to provide
  higher levels with data and intervention
  possibilities for their steering concepts.

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? By means of this twofold function of evaluation
the prima facie plausible idea of an
evaluation-based steering concept generates
confusion different concepts of evaluation and
control clash, which disturbs the apparent
consensus
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When we say that we may evaluate the evaluation
and if that then had the same consequences as our
evaluation, then I would do it. That means that
after he the school inspector has done it, he
must reveal his criteria of evaluation and, in my
opinion, must indicate how he regards our school,
how he evaluates it, and he must also give proof
of the fact that he has information about our
school, that he also comprehends particular
circumstances and then also sees certain
limitations. However, if he cannot give proof of
that, then it will turn out that his evaluation
is in a sense worthless.
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Yes, that is undeniably domineering and
patronizing. That also tends to indicate the
unseriousness of the whole business. And if they
really believe in this, they themselves would
also have to be included. Because if they dont,
they implicitly set out with the assumption that
what they set in motion is completely justified
and correct and that they are basically an
organization which always is right, which they
are not. They would have to allow themselves to
be called into question. However, that would
basically reflect what I am asking for if one
carries out reforms only in a limited area that
will not be enough.
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Basically, one also has to reform the frame
conditions even the authorities which give
rise to this reform wave must call themselves
into question because they must become the object
of their own reform. But that would require a
lot, in fact, a tremendous amount of work on all
levels and for that reason one would perhaps once
more lose sight of what its all about the
students.
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• Acceptance problems of the ideas of an
  evaluation-based steering concept
• in many places the idea of evaluation-based
  quality development internal to the organization
  has still not prevailed
• where it has prevailed the skepticism towards the
  competence of external expertise has been
  maintained
• in this situation education policy is pushing
  ahead with external control, without being able
  to give proof that it possesses the necessary
  competence in terms of evaluation information
  which is also utilizable at the grassroots.

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• Summary Revival of centralized control?
• The new governance formation is being generated
  by a mixture of factors and mechanisms which are
  new in this constellation and, because of their
  heterogeneity and different points of departure,
  cannot be reductively described as centralist
  control
• But until now no consistent concept of new
  education governance insufficiently
  thought-through innovative governance talk and a
  collision with traditional action

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My current state-of-the-art analysis new
education governance talk partially innovated
and challenged traditional governance action
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Discussion to session 4A Professional
Learning and Management of Change Discussant
Dr. Hans-Guenter Rolff (Professor of
Education/University of Dortmund,
Germany) Chair Dr. Heinz Guenter Holtappels
(Professor of Education/University of Dortmund,
Germany)