ABSTRACT
In the opening paragraph of this book we asked whether and how decentralisation matters to the ‘real’ world of teaching and learning in schools. We hope that at the heart of this book, therefore, has been a concern with that question and with evidence on how decentralisation is actually affecting teaching and learning. It provides the principal theme of our closing chapter, in which we review evidence from our comparative studies and the case study of England and Wales. We draw out the implications of our data recognising the diversity of policies of decentralisation, as well as equally important differences in the direction of change. Understanding diversity and difference are essential components for any reliable analysis of the impact of decentralisation and, in that respect, the first section provides a pre-condition for the evaluation of decentralisation in the second main section of the chapter. In that evaluation we attempt two things. Structured around the four criteria of autonomy, accountability, efficiency and equity, we review the national case study and the international material and reflect upon the evidence for an assessment of the state of decentralisation. We go further than this, however, and in the third main section consider how policies related to decentralisation might be developed to meet some of the conditions implied by the four criteria for developing and improving schools. It is here that we comment most critically on the concept of decentralisation as it is embodied in a practice which, typically, places institutions and institutional leaders at the centre of decision-making. We ask instead whether it is learners and learning which should be at the centre of policies of decentralisation and, if so, what this means for the development of policy and practice.
