Influence of Decentralization of Education on the Autonomy of Heads of Public Secondary Schools in Decision Making

Influence of Decentralization of Education on the Autonomy of Heads of Public Secondary Schools in Decision Making | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Influence of Decentralization of Education on the Autonomy of Heads of Public Secondary Schools in Decision Making Reuben Bihu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9708351/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This paper determined how decentralisation of the education system influences the autonomy of the heads of the public secondary schools. A quantitative research approach was adopted with a questionnaire survey design. The study was guided by the rational comprehensive decision-making, incremental decisions, and mixed-scanning decision-making models. Questionnaires were administered to 49 heads of all public secondary schools in Bukoba District, Tanzania. The findings show that 93.9% of the participants indicated the autonomy of the heads of secondary schools was higher before decentralisation than the post-decentralisation era; the magnitudes of both political influences and the higher authorities’ professional interventions were high; and the political influences had the relative negative effect while the professional interventions had the relative positive effects. Generally, decentralisation imposed more negative aspects than a positive improvement on the autonomy of the heads of the schools in decision making. The heads of schools suggested granting them more power in decision making; and a close monitoring of schools in decision making by education stakeholders in a meaningful way, among others suggestions. The study recommends the heads of schools be granted more power to run the schools through clear lines of responsibilities. Educational Philosophy and Theory Educational Psychology City Management and Urban Policy Social Policy Leadership and Ethics Central government Decision making Education decentralisation Local government authority School heads’ autonomy Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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