Brussels, 22/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - The education information network, Eurydice has published, with the support of the European Commission, a report on school autonomy in Europe. The information focuses on 2006/07 and covers primary and secondary education. The study also provides a history of over 20 years of reforms linked to school autonomy.
The most striking fact is that the variety of reforms put into practice is very diverse in its aims. In some countries, schools have obtained significant levels of autonomy, in the distant past, like Belgium and the Netherlands or more recently like the Czech Republic, Estonia and Sweden. At the other end of the spectrum in counties in southern Europe (Greece, Spain, France and Portugal), transfers of competencies have remained limited. Elsewhere, the different countries differ in the way they allocate competencies (teaching methods, management of financial and human resources). Some of them have benefited from the transfer of competencies in the area of financial and human resources like Estonia, Ireland, Latvia and the United Kingdom. On the other hand, some countries have focused on pedagogical autonomy, like Italy. Eurydice explains that no country has given complete autonomy in a given domain or completely restricted freedoms in another. A geographical reading would suggest that some areas are coherent. This is the case for most of southern Europe, which has not been keen on school autonomy and Nordic countries where the freedom of local actors responds to a logic of decentralisation. Other areas are characterised by political dissonance. The English-speaking world (Ireland, England and Scotland) have adapted reforms that vary from region to region. In a similar way, in some countries in central and eastern Europe a strong political will for school autonomy has already developed (Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania) while others are proceeding more slowly. Certain bordering countries of continental Europe are different in their policies which are historically supportive of school autonomy (such as Belgium and the Netherlands), and other countries, such as Germany, which are lagging behind. The report also notes that: 1) in most countries, schools are autonomous on spending on the running of schools, including the purchase of computer equipment. If school property is considered, schools have complete autonomy in all these areas in three countries: Belgium, Latvia and Sweden. In five others, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Romania and, for the primary sector only, Ireland and France, schools have no autonomy; 2) seven countries have no autonomy in whether to use private funding: Germany, Greece, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Ireland and for the primary sector only, Ireland and France; 3) more than half of all countries refuse any autonomy to schools on choosing school heads. Only Belgium (French and German speaking countries only in the subsidised sector), Ireland, (secondary) and Slovenia grant total autonomy in this area. Greater autonomy is granted to personnel management, except in Cyprus and Malta; 4) the head of the school is responsible for human resources. However, electing teachers is not the responsibility of schools in almost half of all countries. The most autonomous are Belgium, Spain, Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom and, for the secondary sector only, Ireland. The report is available on: (http: //http://www.eurydice.org/portal/page/portal/Eurydice/showPresentation?pubid=090FR ) (I.L.)