Local Management of Schools

Since 1990, head teachers and school governors in England and Wales have had extensive powers to manage school budgets - and are responsible for all of a school's resource needs, including staff. As the school budget is dependent on pupil numbers and parents now have more choice over which school their child will attend, local management has had profound effects on how schools are managed and resourced. This text offers an evaluation of local management and contextualizes it within an international trend towards decentralized school management. It presents empirical evidence to support the government's claim that local management plays a key role in raising standards of teaching and learning.