Shifting decision-making authority to lower levels of education systems may serve different purposes such as enhancing efficiency and improving financial control, reducing bureaucracy, fostering greater responsiveness to local communities, enabling more creative management of human resources, encouraging innovation, and creating conditions that provide better incentives to improve the quality of schooling. However, despite long-standing goals to place more decision-making authority at lower levels of education systems, many countries have strengthened the influence of central authorities in setting standards, curricula and assessments.
School autonomy
Decision-making power of schools significantly impacts teaching and learning. It involves finding a balance between meeting local needs while adhering to the priorities and standards set by higher levels of the education system.
Key messages
The allocation of decision-making responsibilities across various administrative levels in different areas such as instructional organisation, personnel management, planning and infrastructure, and resource allocation indicates "functional decentralization”. This approach recognises that decision-making may be decentralised in some activities while centralised in others, aiming to efficiently manage education resources and ensure quality education services for all students.
Context
Decision-making for public lower secondary education
Decisions about diverse aspects of public lower secondary education are most commonly made either at the school level, or the central or state level. In 2017, decisions are most often taken at the school level in 16 of 38 countries and other participants with available information, and at the state or central level in 11 out of these 38 countries and other participants.
Percentage of decisions taken at each level of government in public lower secondary education (2017)
Level of decision-making varies according to domain
In most countries, decisions on the organisation of instruction are predominantly taken at the school level, while resource allocation decisions are more often made at school or local level. Decisions related to planning, structures and personnel management are typically made at higher levels of authority. However, there is considerable variation among countries in this regard.
Percentage of decisions taken at each level of government in public lower secondary education in OECD countries, by domain of decisions (2017)
