From Centralisation to Decentralisation: The Case of Israel as a Unique Pattern of Control in Education

Abstract

Edmund King, in his book OtherSchools and Ours (King, 1979), wrote that in discussing a theme like centralisation it is important to determine whether this is an essential aspect of a country's organisational system, the end-product of a slow evolutionary development, or a result of political change. Thus, while France represents an example of a centralised system bequeathed to the state by the Roman Catholic Church, Britain (Hewton, 1986) and New Zealand (King, 1979) can stand as examples of traditionally decentralised systems moving slowly towards centralisation. Three reasons are mentioned in the literature as the underlying factors in the chagging pattern of control towards centralisation in Britain and New Zealand. The first is that financial constraints led to educational budget cuts (Pettigrew, 1982): the assumption is that by centralising the system, it is possible to maintain the same level of performance within the growing financial constraints. The second reason is the growing inefficiency of local educational authorities in managing the system (Chartered Institute, 1982-84), leading to ineffectiveness of schools and poor performance by students (Pettigrew, 1982); the assumption here is that by centralising the system it is possible to achieve higher levels of performance effectiveness. The third factor is the non-compliance of local authorities and schools with national policies (Gaziel, 1989). This last reason is often seen as a reaction to the growing trend towards harmonisation and standardisation in public policies in general (King, 1979, p. 530). The purpose of this article is to use the history of the Israeli educational system since the late 1970s as a test case for the aforementioned assumptions regarding the move towards centralisation. Following the same logic, we would expect the Israeli system, which was traditionally centralised, to move for the same reasons towards greater concentration of power in the hands of the central government and tight control of the education input processes. However, although Israel had experienced the same circumstances as other Western countries namely, financial constraints, poor school performance, and non-implementation of central policies-it has gradually decentralised rather than centralised its control patterns. This trend is particularly puzzling when we consider the fact that the country is small and therefore logistically easy to control (Inbar, 1986). In the following sections the Israeli educational system's evolution towards decentralisation will be described and analysed in terms of its phases, causes and implications. The summary will attempt to explain and integrate this unique phenomenon within the existing body of theory.