The Unintended Outcomes of Decentralization: How the Middle Tier May Be Influencing Teacher Recruitment and Retention

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: Equity and Social Inclusion in School Policy and Practice

Abstract

This paper draws from our school leader study in London, New York City and Toronto. In each city we observed several possible unexplored influences of district- or school-level management of teachers. We spotted differences in how teachers and leaders were hired, diversity within the teacher and leader workforce, and the scale of non-governmental actor engagement working in the educational arena. We believe these factors influenced and are influenced by system-level decentralisation/centralisation patterns. These factors may also strongly relate to a system’s overall ability to attract and retain its overall teacher workforce. Our primary focus is to highlight how the degree of decentralisation/centralisation may influence overall teacher workforce.

Author

• Karen E. Edge, UCL Institute of Education