School Governance in Switzerland: Tensions between New Roles and Old Traditions

Abstract

This article analyses school governance in Switzerland. It elaborates on the different actors involved, their roles and functions, and how these change as school governance in the cantons changes. Quality management is identified as a core activity at all levels and for all actors involved in school governance. In these re-structuring processes, various conflicts and tensions between and within groups of actors become evident. In particular, the governing body experiences an overlap of its tasks with those of other actors. Models to modify the roles and functions of the school governing body on the meso-level are discussed as it becomes clear that all the other actors at both macro- and micro-levels are professionalizing and becoming more differentiated in their functions.