Professor Angela Thody, The University of Lincolnshire and Humberside

Suburban Guerillas: the new model school councillors for self-managing schools

Throughout the world structural reforms in education systems have witnessed
the development of school councils. This paper addresses the questions of:
Which way are schools councils and school councillors developing? Are
school councillors control freaks, disputing for leadership position with
beleagured school principals? Have they become democratic representatives
for the many stakeholders now permitted to influence the development of
educational institutions and policies? Do they passively accept the
directions taken by school leaders? Can they really have any effect on
teaching and learning? This paper considers how the international
equivalents of Australian school councils are developing. The paper draws
on research about the traininhg of school councillors, of new groups
co-opted into serving on English governing bodies, and suggests a new
formulation for the role of school councils. School councillors have grown
in leadership sophistication, often with the guidance of school principals.
The development of their powers has been encouraged by training courses and
readily available distance teaching materials. Exemplars from New Zealand,
England, Victoria and South Africa demonstrate how powerful school councils
can be, yet at the same time indicate that passivity can still be the main
mode of operation. Somewhere between the extremes of belligerence and
bovine contemplation, lies an appropriate new model for school councils and
councillors which will be outlined in the paper. This new model of school
governence is an admirable contribution to democracy, but is it so good for
education?