Inter‐institutional networks and alliances: New directions in leadership

Abstract

Meeting the needs of the school community in the Australian context in current times has become a complex task, due to substantial school restructuring over the last three decades. More and more, schools are required to engage, and be accountable for developing programs that address the needs of the school community, while satisfying accountability structures of the central office. This article provides an analysis of the dominant and, at times, competing discourses of school‐based management in Australia over the last three decades, couched within the neo‐corporate bureaucratic paradigm in which educational leaders are currently operating. It suggests that it is within this complex space that inter‐institutional networks and alliances have not only become necessary but, in some cases, have flourished. One particular Education Alliance is examined here as a representative of the possible local solutions being sought by schools. Finally, this article foregrounds education alliances and networks as a possible fourth discourse of devolution.

Notes

1. This article by Paula Jervis‐Tracey was a finalist in the journal’s 2004 graduate student manuscript competition. Congratulations to Ms Jervis‐Tracey for information on the contest‐including rules, and deadlines and the numerous and varied ways to get involved contact Dr Michele acker‐Houner at [email protected]

2. The Leading School program underscored school reform and renewal, and outcomes‐based education.

3. An initiative fuelled by the Leading Schools Program and encapsulated within the School‐Based Management in Queensland Schools document released by Education Queensland in 1999.

4. The Year 2 Diagnostic Net is a process of assessment and intervention aimed at supporting children’s literacy and numeracy development during the early years of schooling in Queensland.

5. Year 3, 5 and 7 student performance data are provided to Education Queensland by the Queensland School Curriculum Council which collects them from schools as part of the Queensland testing program.