Liberal Policy Document
Empowering School Communities

Executive Summary

The Liberal Party acknowledges that not all schools are the same and this needs to be recognised. That is, schools should be given the opportunity to respond to the unique demands of the local community. Members of a school staff and community need to feel that they have the authority to make decisions necessary to improve teaching and learning, although school communities vary in how much authority they need.

We recognise that the school community is best placed to set directions for their school to ensure every young person has the greatest opportunity to achieve in education and in life.

The Liberal Party vision, as for schools in Victoria, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and Canada, is to give greater responsibility for student achievement to school leaders and communities. This will be within a framework for a system of public schools where policy and budget will be determined for implementation locally, for those schools that are equipped to do so.

The problems associated with a highly centralised system of governance with our schools has long been recognised. These views were reinforced by the Carpenter Government commissioned Twomey Report into Workforce Education Initiatives, which emphasised strong and consistent criticism of the Department of Education and Training, with beliefs that it is:

“…too large, too remote and bureaucratic, often unresponsive and focused too much on issues of process and compliance rather than on aiding and facilitating the learning workplace.” (page 80)  

Twomey also stated that:

“...it is the general view of the Taskforce that there ought to be greater diversity within the system and that more issues need to be delegated to local levels (ie to schools, districts or clusters of schools in an area).”  (page 81)

With this perception, delegation of centrally-held powers becomes just one strategy of achieving a school’s goals. Others include increased flexibility through regulatory reform and policy review.

A Liberal Government will provide the opportunity for schools to be empowered with the authority to make decisions that reflect the needs and aspirations of the individual school and the local community.

For schools to be able to respond quickly to market forces, they should be given the choice to make all the necessary decisions themselves: that is, they should be as autonomous as possible. It is therefore critical that centrally-held powers affecting the ability of a school to respond quickly to market forces be devolved to the schools.

The Move Towards Greater Local Empowerment

The Liberal Party believes in putting students first. That means trusting and empowering school communities to establish appropriate and relevant directions for their schools based on the educational, social, emotional and physical needs of their students.

Government school principals, teachers and staff want to work with parents, local businesses, community groups, local government and the wider community to improve learning outcomes for Western Australian public school students. The unnecessary red tape that currently inhibits principals from being innovative will be removed.

The Twomey Report states that teachers were critical of the Department of Education and Training’s policy development and implementation. Particularly, they argued that:

“...too many policies had been developed by people too remote from schools...”

(page 80)

Teachers believe policies were not reviewed often enough to take into account the changing circumstances and conditions within their particular classroom, school and community.

The Gerard Daniels Australia report of March 2007 also described a litany of complaints against the DET and supports the reviews expressed in the Twomey Report. 

Advantages of a Devolved System of Education

The major advantage of a devolved system of education is that a school is able to individually tailor its decisions to achieve the best outcome for its students and teachers. Those at the coalface – teachers, parents, administrators and students – are best placed to make the vital decisions that produce a quality educational environment. This is as opposed to a centralised system of decision making, whereby policy is determined by bureaucrats who are removed from the day-to-day operations of a school.

It also allows those schools that are equipped to manage a single line budget to be given the opportunity to do so. They will be in a position to direct resources to the most appropriate areas, doing away with the onerous and unnecessary accountability procedures that currently exist under a centralised structure.

A devolved system of education instils a sense of belief and ownership when schools are making decisions based on the best outcomes for their school community. It also allows for a more targeted and appropriate recruitment of teachers, and the ability to retain teachers who feel involved and linked to their school.

This system is particularly significant when addressing behaviour management issues. Public schools with greater autonomy can determine an effective behaviour management program that reflects the values of the local school and community. The school will not be constrained by a bureaucracy that is out of touch with the specific issues within a school community.

Liberal Party Commitment

Community Schools

• A Liberal Government will encourage the creation of community schools or clusters of schools, which will have overall responsibility for school governance. In each school that is equipped to do so, this extends to streamlining the function of school councils to oversee roles such as appointing a principal, approving the school budget, developing a school charter and administering the implementation of recommendations from external education reviews. However, the school council will not replace the important role of Parents and Citizens’ Associations.

• The school principal will be responsible for implementing and assessing the curriculum, together with the areas of finance, marketing/sponsorship, community relations and facilities, while also having the authority to decide the organisational structure and profile of teaching staff for the school. The principal’s decisions will be in accordance with the relevant industrial agreement, the school development plan and the resources available to the school.

External School Review Unit

• A Liberal Government will create an External School Review Unit (ESRU) to undertake regular comprehensive reviews to ensure that individual schools are meeting the highest standards in teaching and learning. The unit will be independent of the line management structure which links schools to the Director General of Education. The external reviews will be designed to foster amongst the staff of the school the responsibility for identifying performance gaps and taking action to improve student learning.

Education Districts

• A Liberal Government will streamline the existing structure of district education offices. We will reduce the number of education districts from the current 14 to six – two in the larger metropolitan area and four in country regions – in order to promote greater efficiencies within the system and allow greater decision making on a local level, with the savings put back directly into the schools.