Republic of the Philippines

Commission on Higher Education

DANIEL B. PEÑA MEMORIAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION, INC.
Graduate Studies
Ziga Avenue, San Juan, Tabaco City

Subject : EDUC 205 (Economics of Education)

Name : Pamela Rose B. Belardo
Course : MAEd Administration and Supervision
Professor : ARLINE LUGO, Ed.D

SCHOOL AUTONOMY

Autonomy

Derived from word ‘Autonomous’

Self-organizing, Created by own, Ruled by own terms

Decision-making capacity

SCHOOL AUTONOMY

 The distribution of decision-making power over key areas of school management

among different levels of the education system.

 including the hiring and firing of personnel, and the assessment of teachers and

pedagogical practices.

 School management under autonomy may give an important role to the School

Council, representing the interests of parents, in budget planning and approval,

as well as a voice/vote in personnel decisions. By including the School Council in

school management, school autonomy fosters accountability (Di Gropello 2004,

2006; Barrera, Fasih and Patrinos 2009).

To be effective, school autonomy must function on the basis of compatible

incentives, taking into account national education policies including incentives for the

implementation of those policies. Having more managerial responsibilities at the

school level automatically implies that a school must also be accountable to local

stakeholders as well as national and local authorities. The empirical evidence from
 Republic of the Philippines
Commission on Higher Education
DANIEL B. PEÑA MEMORIAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION, INC.
Graduate Studies
Ziga Avenue, San Juan, Tabaco City

education systems in which schools enjoy managerial autonomy is that autonomy is

beneficial for restoring the social contract between parents and schools and

instrumental in setting in motion policies to improve student learning.

The progression in school autonomy in the last two decades has led to the

conceptualization of School-Based Management (SBM) as a form of decentralized

education system in which school personnel are in charge of making most

managerial decisions, frequently in partnership with parents and the community often

through school councils (Barrera, Fasih, and Patrinos 2009). More local control helps

create better conditions for improving student learning in a sustainable way since it

gives teachers and parents more opportunities to develop common goals, increase

their mutual commitment to student learning, and promote more efficient use of

scarce school resources.

Types of School-Based Management.

In addition to the degree of devolved autonomy provided to the school level, SBM must

define who is invested with the decision-making power at the school level .There are four

SBM models to help us define this (Barrera-Osorio et al. 2009):

Administrative control: Authority is devolved to the principal. Its aim is to make each

school more accountable to the central district. The benefits include increasing

efficiency of expenditures on personnel and curriculum and making one person more

accountable to the central authority.

Professional control: Teachers hold the main decision-making authority. This model

aims to make better use of teachers’ knowledge of what the school needs at the

classroom level. It can motivate teachers and lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness

in teaching.
 Republic of the Philippines
Commission on Higher Education
DANIEL B. PEÑA MEMORIAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION, INC.
Graduate Studies
Ziga Avenue, San Juan, Tabaco City

Community control: Parents or the community have major decision-making authority.

Under this model it is assumed that principals and teachers become more responsive to

parents’ needs and the curriculum can reflect local needs.

Balanced control: Decision-making authority is shared by the principal, teachers and

parents. The aims are to take advantage of teachers’ knowledge of the school to improve

school management and to make schools more accountable to parents.

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES?

 Allow competent individuals in the schools to make decisions that will improve

learning;

 Give the entire school community a voice in key decisions;

 Focus accountability for decisions;

 Lead to greater creativity in the design of programs;

 Redirect resources to support the goals developed in each school;

 Lead to realistic budgeting as parents and teachers become more aware of the

school’s financial status, spending limitations, and the cost of its programs; and,

 Improve morale of teachers and nurture new leadership at all levels.

HOW DOES SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT (SBM) AFFECT THE ROLES OF THE

SCHOOL BOARD AND THE SUPERINTENDENT AND DISTRICT OFFICE?

The school board continues to establish a clear and unifying vision and to set broad policies

for the district and the schools. SBM does not change the legal governance system of

schools, and school boards do not give up authority by sharing authority. The board’s role

changes little in a conversion to SBM.

 Republic of the Philippines
Commission on Higher Education
DANIEL B. PEÑA MEMORIAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION, INC.
Graduate Studies
Ziga Avenue, San Juan, Tabaco City

The superintendent and his or her district office staff facilitate the decisions made at the

school level, and provide technical assistance when a school has difficulty translating the

district’s vision into high-quality programs. Developing student and staff performance

standards and evaluating the schools are also the responsibility of the district staff.

The district office will generally continue to recruit potential employees, screen job

applicants, and maintain information on qualified applicants from which the schools fill their

vacancies. The district office may also specify curricular goals, objectives, and expected

outcomes while leaving it up to the schools to determine the methods for producing the

desired results. Some districts leave the choice of instructional materials to the schools,

whereas others may require schools to use common texts.

HOW ARE BUDGET DECISIONS MADE?

In most SBM systems, each school is given a “lump sum” that the school can spend as it

sees fit. As outlined by JoAnn Spear (1983), the district office determines the total funds

needed by the whole district, determines the districtwide costs (such as the cost of central

administration and transportation), and allocates the remaining funds to the individual

schools. The allocation to each school is determined by a formula that takes into account the

number and type of students at that school.

Each school determines how to spend the lump sum allocated by the district in such areas

as personnel, equipment, supplies, and maintenance. In some districts, surplus funds can be

carried over to the next year or be shifted to a program that needs more funds; in this way,

long-range planning and efficiency are encouraged.

 Republic of the Philippines
Commission on Higher Education
DANIEL B. PEÑA MEMORIAL COLLEGE FOUNDATION, INC.
Graduate Studies
Ziga Avenue, San Juan, Tabaco City

HOW ARE DECISIONS MADE AT THE SCHOOL LEVEL?

Most districts create school management councils at each school that include the principal,

representatives of parents and teachers, and, in some cases, other citizens, support staff,

and–at the secondary level–students. The council conducts a needs assessment and

develops a plan of action that includes statements of goals and measurable objectives,

consistent with school board policies.

In some districts, the management council makes most school-level decisions. In other

districts, the council advises the principal, who then makes the decisions. In both cases, the

principal has a large role in the decision-making process, either as part of a team or as the

final decisionmaker.