ABSTRACT
Based on a review of international studies and the findings of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Teaching and Learning International Study (TALIS), the conceptual limitations of traditional research on school autonomy are identified as follows: (1) internal school autonomy is insufficiently differentiated; (2) too little attention is paid to cultural autonomy and internal structural autonomy at individual and group levels; (3) autonomy is measured only as perceived by principals, with no attention to the perspectives of other key stakeholders; and (4) conceptual links between school autonomy and learning outcomes are missing, leading to inconsistent findings on the effects of school autonomy on student learning. To redress these limitations, a new framework for research is developed. School autonomy is reconceptualized as a combination of functional autonomy, structural autonomy, and cultural autonomy. Leadership is also reconceptualized by categorizing three types of leadership activity. This reconceptualization may help to strengthen the relevance of school leadership and autonomy to student learning in future research and practice.
