A Comparative Study On School-running Autonomy Of Principals In Primary And Secondary Schools

The implementation of school-running autonomy will play a key role in promoting the independent development of schools and stimulating the vigor of school running.The principal is the core of the school management and operation.Whether the school-running autonomy of principal is sufficient and whether the principal can make good use of the autonomy is one of important elements of accelerating the construction of modern school institutional system and improving the governance system of basic education.According to the studies focusing on the school-running autonomy of principals conducted after 1980 s,the main trend is to lay emphasis on education management decentralization and school-running autonomy expansion.However,in terms of the current status of practices and demand,the implementation of the autonomy in running schools still needs to be improved.Research on the autonomy of principals conducted by international organizations such as OECD and The World Bank shows that most countries are turning to governance models that give schools more autonomy.The study conducts an empirical study focusing on the school-running autonomy of primary and secondary school principals from the perspectives of international comparison and local practice.It attempts to solve problems as follow:(1)The study of school-running autonomy structure of principals by analyzing the data from the international education survey;(2)The performance of school-running autonomy of primary and secondary school principals in different countries in different international surveys;(3)The analysis on the current situation of school-running autonomy of principals in local practice by detailed questionnaires and interviews under the situation of international research and to further reveal their expectations for autonomy;(4)The autonomy of principals in running schools should be paid more attention to,and the strategy and methods of principals to make better use of their autonomy in running schools.Focusing on the above-mentioned issues,we have studied and analyzed the surveys on the school-running autonomy in the internationally influential survey and evaluation projects TALIS,PISA,and SABER in recent years.The conceptual framework,thematic indicators,implementation methods and other aspects are elaborated.By comparing the international data of TALIS2018 and PISA2015 principals' autonomy in running schools,it is found that the principal autonomy presented by the two has almost the same trend of difference.The autonomy in teaching materials,personnel,and teacher salaries is relatively low,and the autonomy in student discipline policies,budget allocation,enrollment,and appointment is relatively high.In the SABER2014 evaluation,it was found that Shanghai principals have relatively high autonomy in school budgets,personnel management,and school and student evaluation,and relatively low autonomy in playing the role of school council and school accountability.Comprehensive researches were conducted on large-scaled international education survey,but there was a shortage of in-depth research on the school-running autonomy internationally,only the current situation of the school-running autonomy of principals in various countries were shown.Therefore,this study conducted a more detailed questionnaire on the status and expectations of primary and secondary school principals of public schools in 16 administrative regions in Shanghai.According to different variables,this thesis produced a data overview on the Shanghai primary and secondary school principals' school-running autonomy based on the questionnaire items and the dimensions,and provided various reference for future researchers to conduct empirical comparative studies in different countries and regions.As the research shows,the school-running autonomy of Shanghai school principals,from different perspectives,can be divided into three degrees: high,moderate and low.Principals have relatively high school-running autonomy in school image,development planning,teaching practice,and education and scientific research;principals have moderate school-running autonomy in organizational leadership,student moral education,curriculum development,and teacher cultivation;and principals have a low degree of school-running autonomy in personnel management and school financial and property management.The level of difference in school-running autonomy between expected and real situation is high in personnel management and school financial and property management among principals in Shanghai;the level of difference moderate in organizational leadership,teacher development,student moral education,curriculum development,and educational scientific research;the level of difference low in school image,developmental planning,and teaching practice.Based on theoretical research and data demonstration,the application strategies and political advice are to be put forward to principals' school-running autonomy;we need to expand principals' autonomy in personnel,property and finances;to balance norms and vitality;to strengthen curriculum teaching and educating ability;to seek the endogenous power of running schools;to enhance the autonomy of principals to plan the development of schools and create unique culture of education;to optimize the internal management and leadership;to emphasize the responsibility of performance;to implement the autonomy of principals and teachers for their professional development;and to focus on the guidance of education and scientific research.Based on the above results and conclusions,the study further proposes government's thinking about the role of principals and the construction of the principal teams,focusing on the principals' school-running autonomy in crucial areas and putting more efforts to enhancing the ability of principals to make good use of the school-running autonomy.