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ABSTRACT
This research examines local authority involvement in education as a function of local policymakers’ perceptions of education as a public service – namely, whether public education is for the benefit of society as a whole, or for individual students and parents. Perceptions of education and involvement in education were assessed through 107 questionnaires returned by mayors and heads of local education departments in Israel. The results show that (1) local policymakers tend to perceive public education as a general public service, and (2) the relationship between this perception and involvement in education varies with the locality’s centre-periphery status. In peripheral localities, perceiving education as a general public service and an understanding of ‘society’ as the local community leads to greater involvement in education. In central localities, involvement rose with a more individualised perception. Implications of the findings are discussed in line with viewing education in the spirit of new localism.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. These four areas are suggested by a review of the literature (see Dagan-Buzaglo Citation2010). They also emerged as key areas of local authority involvement in education from in-depth interviews which we conducted with senior employees of the Ministry of Education and directors of local education departments during a preliminary stage of this research. See section “Method”.
2. An extensive effort was made to reach this response rate, which is relatively high in comparison to other research projects in this area in Israel.
3. Two questionnaires were returned by seven local authorities. Because the independent variable (perspective on education) was an attribute of individuals and not organisations, we decided to include all 107 questionnaires in the analysis. Independent samples tests for Perception of education and Involvement in education found no significant differences between the groups.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Nivi Gal-Arieli
Nivi Gal-Arieli is a lecturer and researcher at Oranim Academic College of Education, Tivon, Israel. She is a lawyer, specialising in labour law, and her research and teaching fields include: education policy and law; teachers professional development; and the educational rights of children and youth at risk.
Itai Beeri
Itai Beeri is a senior lecturer and the Head of the MPA programme, ‘Local Government Administration and Policy’, at the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa, and also holds several public consultant positions. His work focuses on public administration, public management, local government and local democracy. He is also the author of many articles and book chapters.
Eran Vigoda-Gadot
Eran Vigoda-Gadot is a professor of public administration and management at the School of Political Science at the University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. He is the Herta and Paul Amir Dean of the Social Sciences Faculty and founder of the Center for Public Management and Policy (CPMP). He has published extensively in public administration.
Amnon Reichman
Amnon Reichman is a professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel, where he teaches and researches public law (constitutional and administrative). His areas of interest include theories of rights and judicial review, regulation, local and devolved government, interpretation, and comparative law. Recently, he has focused on judicial independence, rule of law and corruption and emergency regulation – all in the local-national axis.