The question posed in this study is whether the
participatory philosophy is working in practice in the ACT
school system. In particular, at the local level, does
the parent community have the power in decision-making
that is accorded them in theory?
The field study begins by setting out some
aspects of bureaucratic theory and contrasting models of
participation. It goes on to look at the philosophy
underlying the new ACT system of education and its
deliberate rejection of the traditional, highly
centralized systems of the States in favour of a
particular participatory model, participation as decisionmaking.
Such a model involves putting decision-making in
the hands of those most affected by the decisions. In
individual schools this means the parents, the teachers,
the students and the community.
The bulk of this study is devoted to
documenting a case study of a school in conflict with the
Schools Authority because it is during conflict that the
realities of power in a system are revealed. The crisis
in this case revolved around the proposal by the Schools
Authority to move an alternative secondary school into a
semi-vacant former infants building of an inner-city
primary school. The majority of the parent community at
the primary school were against the proposal. After
several joint meetings between the Boards of the two
schools and the Schools Authority, the Schools Authority
decided to go ahead with the move despite the opposition
of the primary school community.
The final section of this study deals with an
analysis of the participatory processes that were enacted
at both the school level and the Authority level, in the
resolution of the conflict. It would certainly appear
that in this particular example both parties to the
dispute moved outside the model of participation as
decision-making. The Schools Authority appeared to be
operating under the rationale of administrative expediency
and using a participatory model foreign to the intention
of the system, in which no real power was accorded to the
parent community. The school, having lost faith in the
participatory model as used by the Schools Authority,
resorted to familiar bureaucratic lobbying practices.
The study concludes that the real system in
this case deviated from the participatory model of its
founders. It raises the issue of how typical this case
study might be of the system as a whole, and what the
implications of this would be for the future of the ACT
Schools Authority.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219427 |
| Date | January 1983 |
| Creators | Warhurst, Joan, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Joan Warhurst |
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