What is good governance in schools
School autonomy is essential but must be accompanied by good governance principles such as strong accountability, clear roles, and responsibilities, clear rules, monitoring and self-evaluation mechanisms that are aimed at school improvement.
The principles of good school governance improve decision- making quality through empowerment of teachers, delegation of authority, and encouragement of shared decision-making.
How important is school governance?
Strong and effective governance is a vital element in the running of any successful school or academy
Martin Hodgson, a school governor for over 10 years, looks at the latest guidance
The Department for Education (DfE) has published a new March 2019 version of its popular Governance Handbook
What makes a good school government?
If the school principals do not have human relations skills, technical skills, and conceptual skills, the good school government practices will be ineffective
The leadership skill is one of the essential factors in implementing the principles of good school governance
Another is the availability of a budget
Good governance in education is concerned with how a school system composes policies, produce funds and expend funds, teacher preparation for teaching, scheming curricula and administration of school population (Khalique, 2010). This means school governance is responsible for school effectiveness, quality, and accountability.The governance of educational institutions has a large impact on student and teacher success by defining and regulating relationships both within schools as well as between schools and outside agencies. Institutional rules and policies determine how educators train and operate, and ultimately determines how students learn.Good governance in education systems promotes effective delivery of education services. Critical are appropriatestandards, incentives, information, and accountability, which induce high performancefrom public providers (Box 1).
Public school system of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia.
Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 190,000 students.
