Paper title: School Decentralization Policy In Hong Kong: Same mechanism , unintended Outcome
- Li, Benjamin Yuet-Man, Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Paula Kwan, Department of Educational Administration and Policy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
A 200 word description of your presentation for the conference program:
Two research paradigms, prescriptive and critical, dominate the study of education decentralization and school empowerment. The prescriptive perspective assumes that schools are relaxing bureaucratic hierarchies with the representation from all stakeholders on the governance system. The critical perspective attempts to bring the state back to the analysis, arguing decentralization and empowerment is a new form of governmentality, which in turn, improves the state capacity in controlling local schools.
Although these two paradigms co-contribute a worth of scholarship that help illuminate the complexity in implementing the education decentralization policy initiatives, neither one of the approaches, however, can account for the unintended consequence of educational decentralization policy initiatives (as known as Incorporated Management Committee, IMC) in Hong Kong. In the light of the unique characteristic of the Hong Kong system, in which schools are run by School Sponsoring Bodies (SSB), we argue that the school controlling power will be shifted from the principals to SSBs rather than to various stakeholders in the wake of decentralization. Drawing on fieldwork in Hong Kong, SSBs are found micro-managing the schools as IMC policy requires all frontline participants to document all decisions made to SSBs.Future research suggestions and policy implications are discussed in the light of our finding.
Full Abstract:
Two research paradigms, prescriptive and critical, dominate the study of education decentralization and school empowerment. The prescriptive perspective assumes that schools are relaxing bureaucratic hierarchies with the representation from all stakeholders on the governance system. The main research focus is on minimizing the gap between policy initiative and actual practices and aligning the interests of various stakeholders. The critical perspective attempts to bring the state back to the analysis, arguing decentralization and empowerment is a new form of governmentality, which in turn, improves the state capacity in controlling local schools.
Although these two paradigms co-contribute a worth of scholarship that help illuminate the complexity in implementing the education decentralization policy initiatives, neither one of the approaches, however, can account for the unintended consequence of educational decentralization policy initiatives (as known as Incorporated Management Committee, IMC) in Hong Kong. In the light of the unique characteristic of the Hong Kong system, in which schools are run by School Sponsoring Bodies (SSB) instead of local authorities, we argue that the school controlling power will be shifted from the principals to SSBs rather than to various stakeholders in the wake of decentralization.
Drawing on fieldwork in Hong Kong, we maintain that these two paradigms fail to recognize the change in the power dynamics among stakeholders during the implementation process. Under the new policy, all schools have to form a governing committee (IMC), in which the majority of members are from the SSB, to manage the school. With a view to ensuring that the power of managing schools rests with the IMCs, the state has introduced many rules and procedures to be strictly followed by the IMCs so that the discretionary power of the school principal can be minimized. In this connection, the IMCs are found micro-managing the schools. As SSBs usually possess valuable first-hand school information, an increase in the influences of SSBs may contradict the original policy intention in bringing null effect on school empowerment.
This paper contributes to the literature by delineating an offsetting mechanism underlying educational decentralization initiatives in Hong Kong. We envisage that similar offsetting mechanisms may occur in any school system when education decentralization policy is implemented. Future research suggestions and policy implications are discussed in the light of our finding.