Pressures of Managerialism and its Implications: Perspectives from the Centre and the Secondary School

Abstract

CENTRALLY prescribed managerialist practices have become part of the assumed processes of secondary school administration. But the logic which linked the new practices for central office bureaucrats was absent in the understandings of teachers in Western Australian secondary schools in 1992. There were substantial differences in the meanings attributed to key concepts and the value ascribed to the required procedures. The implications of these differences are established in this paper, using insights from central office and school personnel. Particular attention is given to the three agendas of school improvement, accountability and participative decision making. The pressure to re-norm the management of schooling has been applied through a range of discursive practices including the use of language, the presumption of meaning and the enforcement of policy. Although claims have been made that these changes have resulted in a more professional approach to teaching and learning, questions remain as to their real impact.