Teacher participation in decision making: The case of SMI schools in Hong Kong

Man Tak CHAN, Yue Chor CHING, Yin Cheong CHENG

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

Abstract

As a form of school-based management (SBM), the School Management Initiative (SMI) reform in Hong Kong provides a framework for more teacher participation in decision making. This exploratory study aimed to provide a preliminary investigation of the characteristics of participative decision making in schools after implementing the SMI scheme by using a 3-dimensional model and both quantitative and qualitative methods. There were two SMI schools, two principals, and 105 teachers involved in the study. The findings revealed a deprivation state in decision making regarding issues of managerial and technical domains at individual, group and school levels in the sampled schools, but teachers in general had shown a positive attitude towards the opportunities for more participation provided with the implementation of the SMI scheme. Also there were strong interactions between decision domains and levels of decision issues in predicting teacherparticipation discrepancies. The characteristics of participation patterns revealed are interesting and can provide useful information for facilitating implementation of the SMI scheme and teacher participation in decision making. The findings support the usefulness of the 3-dimensional model in studying the patterns of participation in a larger sample of SBM schools, if not all, in both local and international contexts. Copyright © 1997 The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)17-42
JournalEducation Journal
Volume25
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - Dec 1997

Citation

Chan, M.-T., Ching, Y.-C., & Cheng, Y.-C. (1997). Teacher participation in decision making: The case of SMI schools in Hong Kong. Education Journal, 25(2), 17-42.

Keywords

  • Decision making
  • Teacher participation
  • School management initiative

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