Principals and Teachers’ perceptions of School-Based Management

Abstract

The study aims to examine the perceptions of a sample of Hong Kong principals and teachers of the extent to which school-based management (SBM) has been effectively implemented in primary schools. More specifically, the purpose of this study is to investigate the following research questions, as perceived by principals and teachers: (1) Which features of SBM are being implemented in Hong Kong primary schools; (2) To what exten are they being implemented? (3) What is the difference between the perceptions of teachers and principals towards SBM? The features of school-based management implemented in Hong Kong primary schools include (1) leadership competence and work relationships, (2) staff coordination and effectiveness, (3) financial planning and control, and (4) resources and accommodation. A quantitative, survey questionnaire was adopted in this study. A total of 322 respondents (83 principals and 239 teachers) out of 83 primary schools responded to the questionnaire. The means, standard deviation and t-test were used to analyze the results. The finding shows that all four features of school-based management are perceived as being implemented in Hong Kong primary schools, but the degree of their implementation is not the same. The most adopted elements of school-based management are ‘financial planning and control’ and ‘leadership competence and work relationships’. The moderate adopted element is ‘resources and accommodation’. The least adopted element is’staff coordination and effectiveness’. In addition, there are significant differences between the perceptions of principals and teachers towards the areas of SBM.