School Effectiveness And School-Based Management

A Mechanism For Development

Yin Cheong Cheng

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135784195
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación general

The aim of this book is to bridge the widening gap between ongoing educational reforms and the lack of advances in knowledge, research and practice. Included is a description of new mechanisms in fields such as leadership, staff development and curriculum change.

Part I

School Effectiveness

Chapter 1

School Functions and School Effectiveness

School effectiveness is still a very vague concept even though it is often used in the literature of school management and improvement. To different people, the definition of school effectiveness may be very different. Also, school effectiveness is often confused with school efficiency. The critical elements of effectiveness conceptualization such as what criteria, whose criteria, effective for whom, who to define, how to evaluate, when to evaluate, and under what environmental constraints are often problematic because there seem no standard elements accepted by all concerned constituencies for evaluation. A school is an organization in a changing and complicated social context, bounded with limited resources and involving multiple constituencies such as education authorities, school administrators, teachers, students, parents, taxpayers, educators, and the public (Cheng, 1993j). In such a social context, understanding school effectiveness is quite difficult without discussing school functions. Schools may have different performance and effectiveness for different functions or goals. For example, some schools may be good at helping students’ personal development, whereas some may be excellent in producing competent technicians for the needs of the community. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify the aims and functions of schools before we can discuss what is school effectiveness.

School Functions at Multi-levels

Twenty years ago, when reviewing school effectiveness in the USA, Averch, et al. said that ‘most of this century, public schools in the United States have been viewed as carrying out five important functions: socialization, a unifying and disciplinary force in a society of diverse origins; sorting, identifying people’s future socioeconomic roles; custody, the childsitting function; knowledge and skills training, developing a literate popular, with at least a minimum of job-related skills and encouragement of such individual attributes as creativity and self-reliance’ (1974: 3). In 1989, the President of USA convened the Education Summit with the nation’s Governors and they embarked on a historic venture to change the national educational emphasis. They initiated six national education goals as a framework for action:

1 By the year 2000, all children in America will start school ready to learn;

2 By the year 2000, the high school graduation rate will increase to at least 90 per cent;

3 By the year 2000, American students will leave grades four, eight, and twelve having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter, including English, mathematics, science, history, and geography; and every school in America will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our modern economy;

4 By the year 2000, US students will be first in the world in science and mathematics achievement;

5 By the year 2000, every adult American will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in a global economy and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; and

6 By the year 2000, every school in America will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning (The National Education Goals Panel, 1992: 4–5).

From these goals, the functions of US schools should offer a disciplined environment, help American children or students be ready to learn, graduate successfully, acquire competency in academic subjects, particularly mathematics and science, and be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in a modern global economy. In drafting these goals, the National Panel emphasized the contribution of the education system to the nation’s strength and international economic competition (1992: 2).

For the case of Hong Kong, the fundamental aim of school education service is to ‘develop the potential of every child, so that our students become independent-minded and socially-aware adults, equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitudes which help them to lead a full life as individuals and play a positive role in the life of the community’ (Education and Manpower Branch, 1993: 8) and therefore the schools and their support services should aim to deliver the following services (pp. 14–22):

1 To the individual, ‘every school should help all its students, whatever their ability, and including those with special educational needs, to develop their potential as fully as possible in both academic and non-academic directions’ (p. 14), including literacy, numeracy, learning skills, practical and technical skills, social, political and civic awareness, personal growth, physical development, and aesthetic and cultural development; and

2 To the community, ‘school education should aim to meet the community’s need for people who can contribute to Hong Kong’s social and economic development’ (p. 14).

In addition to the above formal goals related to education of students, schools also serve other implicit or explicit functions at different levels in the society according to both Functionalism or the Conflict Theory in sociology (Blackledge and Hunt, 1985; Cheng, 1991a). For example, Functionalism suggests that school education can facilitate social mobility and social change but the Conflict Theory argues that school education reproduces class structure and maintains class inequality at the society level. In the light of commonly espoused education goals and organizational studies and development studies (for example, Bolman and Deal, 1991a; Kazamias and Schwartz, 1977; Townsend, 1994), we may classify the potential school functions into five types: technical/economic functions, human/social functions, political functions, cultural functions, and educational functions, as shown in Table 1.1.

Technical/economic functions refer to the contribution of schools to the technical or economic developments and needs of the individual, the institution, the local community, the society and the international community. At the individual level, schools can help students to acquire knowledge and skills necessary to survive and compete in a modern society or a competitive economy, and provide staff job training and opportunity. At the institutional level, schools are service organizations providing quality service; also they serve as a life-place or workplace in society for clients, employers and all those concerned. At the community and society levels, schools serve the economic or instrumental needs of the local community, supply quality labor forces to the economic system, modify or shape economic behaviors of students (future customers and citizens) (McMahon, 1987) and contribute to the development and stability of the manpower structure of the economy (Hinchliffe, 1987). At the international level, school education supplies the high quality forces necessary in international competitions, economic cooperation, earth protection, and technology and information exchange.

Human/social functions refer to the contribution of schools to human developments and social relationships at different levels of the society. As indicated in nearly all formal education goals, at the individual level schools help students to develop themselves psychologically, socially and physically, and help them develop their potential as fully as possible. At the institutional level, a school is a social entity or social system composed of different human relationships. The quality of social climate and relationships in it often determines the quality of work life and learning life for teachers and students. At the community and society levels, according to the perspective of Functionalism, schools serve the social needs or functions of the local community, support social integration of multiple and diverse constituencies of society, facilitate social mobility within the existing class structure, reinforce social equality for all people of different backgrounds, select and allocate competent people to appropriate roles and positions, and contribute to social change and development in the long run (Cheng, 1991a). From the alternative view of the Conflict Theory, it is possible that schools reproduce the existing social class structure and perpetuate social inequality (Blackledge and Hunt, 1985). Due to the growing global consciousness (Beare and Slaughter, 1993), schools are expected to play an important role in preparing students for international harmony, social cooperation, global human relationship, and elimination of national, regional, racial, and gender biases at the international level such that both the local community and the international community can benefit in the long run.

Table 1.1: School functions at multi-levels

Political functions refer to the contribution of schools to the political developments at different levels of society. At the individual level, schools help students to develop positive civic attitudes and skills to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. At the institutional level, schools act as a place for systematically socializing students into a set of political norms, values and beliefs, or for critically discussing and reflecting on the existing political events. Schools often become a political coalition of teachers, parents, and students that can contribute to the stability of the political power structure. At the community and society levels, schools play an important role to serve the political needs of the local community, legitimize the authority of the existing government, maintain the stability of political structure, promote awareness and movement of democracy, and facilitate the planned political developments and changes (Thomas, 1983). The growing awareness of international dependence reinforces the need for the contribution of school education to international understanding, global common interest, international coalitions, peace movements against war, and elimination of conflicts between regions and nations. It seems that the political functions of schools should also be important at the international level for the long term benefit of the world.

Cultural functions refer to the contribution of schools to the cultural transmission and development at different levels of society. At the individual level, schools help students to develop their creativity and aesthetic awareness and to be socialized with the successful norms, values and beliefs of society. At the institutional level, schools act as a place for systematic cultural transmission to and reproduction of the next generation, cultural integration among the multiple and diverse constituencies, and cultural revitalization from the outdated traditions. At the community and society levels, schools often serve as a cultural unit carrying the explicit norms and expectations of the local community, transmit all the important values and artifacts of the society to students, integrate the diverse subcultures from different backgrounds, and revitalize the strengths of the existing culture such that the society or the nation can reduce internal conflicts and wastage and build up a unifying force for national benefits. Of course, the Conflict Theory provides an alternative view that for different classes of the society, schools socialize students with different sets of values and beliefs — different cultural capital such that some people may benefit more from the prestige cultural capital but some suffer from the poor culture (Apple, 1982; Cheng, 1991a; Collins, 1971; Giroux, 1981). In other words, schools reproduce and perpetuate cultural inequality within the society. Obviously, Functionalism and Conflict Theory have different views on the cultural functions of schools at the society level. At the international level, schools can encourage appreciation of cultural diversity and acceptance of different norms, traditions, values and beliefs in different countries and regions, and finally contribute to the development of global culture through integration of different cultures.

Education functions of schools refer to the contribution of schools to the development and maintenance of education at the different levels of society. Traditionally, education is often perceived as only a means for achieving the economic, social, political, and cultural values and goals. Due to the rapid development and change in nearly every aspect of the world, people begin to accept education in itself as an important value or goal. Education represents learning and development. Like economics, politics, culture, and social relationship, education becomes a necessary component of our life particularly in an era of great change and transformation. The content, system, and structure of education need to be developed and maintained. At the individual level, it is important for schools to help students to learn how to learn and help teachers to learn how to teach. Also, facilitating teachers’ professional development is one of the key education functions at this level. At the institutional level, schools serve as a place for systematic learning, teaching, and disseminating knowledge, and as a center for systematically experimenting and implementing educational changes and developments. At the community and society levels, schools provide service for different educational needs of the local community, facilitate developments of education professions and education structures, disseminate knowledge and information to the next generation, and contribute to the formation of a learning society. In order to encourage mutual understanding among nations and build up a global family for the younger generation, schools can contribute to the development of global education and international education exchange and cooperation. At the international level, schools can make an important contribution to education for the whole world.

As shown in Table 1.1, there may be 25 categories of school functions in a typology composed of five types of functions at five different levels. Taking the time span into consideration, school functions may be further divided into two types: long-term functions and short-term functions. Long-term functions refer to the contributions or effects of schools that happen and continue in a long time (more than a few years). These functions are often very important even though they may not be so obvious to people’s perception. Short-term functions refer to those contributions or effects of schools that occur explicitly in a short time (a few months or less than a few years). In general, for each type of the technical/economic, human/social, political, cultural or educational functions, there may exist both longterm and short-term functions even though short-term functions may be often more easily identified at the individual level or the institutional level.

To different people or constituencies, the expectations of school functions are often different. Some people may be more concerned with the technical and economic functions but others with the political functions. Some people may pay attention to the functions at the individual levels, but others may focus more on the functions at the community level or society level. Even though in the past years school functions at the international level might not attract much attention, there seems to be a growing concern about it in recent years (Beare and Slaughter, 1993).

To different academic disciplines, the emphasis on types and levels of school functions may be different too. For example, school functions at the individual level may receive more attention in educational psychology. For the sociology of education, school functions at the society level, particularly those related to social mobility, equality and class stratification, may attract more concern. Obviously, economics of education often focuses on the economic functions of schools at different levels. In the field of school management or organizational behavior, school functions at the institutional level are inevitably the major topic of study.

Based on different beliefs and emphases on the types of school functions, different strategies or policies are usually proposed for school management and improvement. Traditionally, people often focus narrowly on a few categories of school functions, such as technical functions and social functions at the individual levels, and ignore the other categories. The ignorance of a wide spectrum of school functions inevitably sets a tight limit to policymaking and management effort for school improvement. Therefore, it is not a surprise that an educational reform policy mainly based on the beliefs about technical functions at the individu...