Abstract:
This paper, which reports on part of a larger research project Monitoring Today's Schools undertaken by Waikato University, focuses on the perceptions of parent trustees, principals and teachers on selected issues concerning school charters and policies. The tension between the role of the charter in maintaining national education goals including equity, and its role as an expression of local values and goals is considered. Ways in which the roles and responsibilities for governance and management have settled between parent trustees, principals and teachers is examined in the context of school policy development.