Governance and management

Quality can be enhanced by better management practices, transparency in the use of resources, and accountability mechanisms to communities and other stakeholders.
Mechanisms for promoting ownership and accountability through participatory planning deserve increased attention. Issues of governance go beyond ensuring better management of the public sector.They include a concern for increasing ownership by different stakeholders at different levels.

One strand of the research focuses on centralization/decentralization to answer questions about what responsibilities within education systems (such as recruitment of teachers, control of budgets, design of curricula) are most appropriately located at national,
provincial, district and/or school levels in countries of different sizes and cultures. The
research also takes into consideration the distribution of responsibilities within particular levels, e.g. at the national level between national ministries of basic education, higher education, finance, planning, etc.

A second strand focuses on management of skills development and training. Expansion of opportunities for young people who have completed basic education does not imply exclusive attention to traditional models of formal education. Attention is given to alternative models and to non-formal modes which can serve out-of-school youths. Learners in modes of post-basic education pay attention to the demands of the labour market. This requires examination of the types of skills offered by different modes of training for both in-school and out-of-school youth.

Systems of higher education also require attention. The issues of governance include
mechanisms for governments to achieve appropriate accountability and coherence even in societies which grant high degrees of autonomy to higher education systems. Planning and management are also needed within institutions of higher education, some of which are very large and operate on multiple campuses. The forces of globalization and the availability of new technologies are having a particularly marked impact on this sector.

Finally, within all education systems, teachers are the most important resource and
typically consume over 80 per cent of recurrent budgets. New tools are available for planning teacher demand and supply, but these tools must be used within political and social contexts that vary in different settings. The research focuses on the appointment and deployment of teachers, including headteachers, at the levels of primary and secondary education. The following research topics are addressed under this heading:

• design and operation of administrative structuresfor ownership, efficiency and accountability;
• policies and management in skills development and training schemes;
• design and management of higher education systems; and
• appointment and deployment of teachers.