Introduction

Statements like this nicely capture what lies behind some remarkably similar themes and patterns that are becoming evident in the educational systems of various Western countries. Around the world educational bureaucracies are biting the dust at an alarming rate, or so it seems. It looks as if there has been a wholesale dismantling of centralized educational bureaucracies and their replacement by devolved forms of school-based management. We are being confronted with a bewildering array of terms like ‘schoolbased management’, ‘devolution’, ‘site-based decision-making’ and ‘school-centred forms of education’—all of which are occurring in contexts in which the impression is being given of increased participation and democracy. But appearances can be deceiving, as the contributors to this book show.