ABSTRACT
Educational decentralisation has been implemented globally. However, few studies have compared the effects of different decentralisation strategies on students’ academic achievement in diverse cultural contexts. Using data from 49 countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015, this study attempts to fill this research gap by examining the relationship between three delegation strategies (school autonomy, teacher participation and parental involvement), student achievement and societal culture. Our findings suggest that teacher participation in school management is the most effective educational decentralisation strategy for enhancing students’ mathematics, reading and science performance. This strategy is particularly effective in countries with high power distance. The findings indicate that parental involvement does not have a significant effect on student academic achievement and that its effect is suppressed by a culture of uncertainty avoidance. Furthermore, school autonomy does not have a significant effect on students’ academic achievement in any of the societal cultures examined.
Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. This study employs Hofstede’s original framework with four cultural dimensions rather than the latest framework with six dimensions because the original framework may be stronger than the latest framework, as the original framework has been widely applied and verified (Troung, Hallinger, and Sanga Citation2017). Moreover, the newly added two dimensions of Hofstede’s cultural framework concern the degree of emphasis on virtues related to the future or the present and past (long-term orientation vs. short-term orientation) and the degree of freedom allowing people’s gratification of needs (indulgence vs. restraint), which are less likely to influence the effect of school decentralisation.
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Notes on contributors
Yuan Teng
Yuan Teng is an Assistant Professor of Faculty of Education in Central China Normal University.
Kwok Kuen Tsang
Kwok Kuen Tsang is the Associate Dean and an Assistant Professor of College of Educational Administration in Beijing Normal University.