Linked independent junior schools : an investigation into what head teachers perceive to be the influence of autonomy on school effectiveness, in terms of shared leadership and management

Abstract

The provision of junior school education in the independent sector includes junior schools that are attached, or 'linked', to 'senior' schools (i. e. secondary schools). Within pairs of linked schools, a key issue to emerge is the degree of autonomy granted to the junior school head teacher and how this is thought to influence the effectiveness of his or her school. Head teachers sometimes use different criteria in judging junior school effectiveness and have different understandings of the concept of autonomy. Therefore they may not share the same expectation of how much, or what kind of, autonomy should be given. However, pairs of head teachers have to develop ways of sharing power and leadership through their organisational structures, as they interpret their concepts of autonomy in a mutually dependent relationship, whilst seeking to understand and support each other's aims for improving the effectiveness of the junior school. The research used a questionnaire survey and follow-up interviews to assess, from the perspective of a head teacher, how autonomy is thought to influence the effectiveness of the junior school. The main survey findings, partly validated using triangulation with interview data, showed that head teachers generally understood a high degree of autonomy to mean having decision-making power over appointing staff, setting budgets, allocating resources, selecting pupils and controlling capital development. The findings from questionnaire and interview data showed that junior and senior school head teachers sometimes used different criteria when judging junior school effectiveness but there was a good mutual understanding between the two groups. Furthermore, there was general agreement that for a junior school to be considered effective it had to have professional leadership promoting a shared vision, with good inter-personal relations operating within a well-resourced learning community that sets high expectations. In relation to these understandings of the terms autonomy and school effectiveness and within the context of this study, there was strong evidence to support the view that all head teachers surveyed generally thought that junior schools benefit from increased autonomy by becoming more effective. No significant evidence directly linked autonomy or effectiveness with particular organisational structures, but the way in which heads operated within a given structure was seen as important. With regard to professional practice, in cases of a high degree of autonomy operating, there was evidence of pairs of head teachers having a shared approach to leadership, with a collaborative and participative approach to decision-making and management