Insight: school-based management brings opportunity and risk

The policy of school-based management was introduced on the rationale that devolving decision-making powers to schools may result in better decisions in terms of quality and attention paid to the school context. The powers concern mainly financial, personnel, curriculum matters and the school purpose.

Given that an aided school spends tens of millions of dollars every year, it is hoped that such devolution of powers will enhance efficiency.

The policy requires the establishment of an incorporated management committee (IMC) as a legal entity in every aided school for governance and implementation of central education policies. Each IMC comprises various stakeholders, including members of the school sponsoring body, teacher, parent and alumni representatives, as well as an independent member from the community. The IMC's role is to dispense resources from the government properly, within prescribed boundaries, and to deliver quality education.

After the ongoing legal wrangles over the issue have been resolved, all aided schools which have not started the process have to form their IMCs within pressing time frames set by the authorities. Under this new form of school governance, Hong Kong now needs thousands of school managers - each school needs around a dozen managers on its IMC and no person can serve consecutively on more than five.

To achieve the desired improvements, it is imperative that decision makers understand the nature as well as impact of the decisions they make, especially in terms of their educational effects.

Since the IMC's decisions can directly affect teachers' quality of life and the quality of the education they provide, this new power in the educational landscape needs close scrutiny. If managed improperly, the new IMCs, being highly autonomous and powerful, can become mere talking shops or, worse still, battlefields in which different interest groups clash. Incessant conflicts of views might waste valuable meeting time and, at worst, undermine the quality of the school's education. .

Moreover, as most of the members may not have much experience in the education sector, it is worrisome they may put efficiency, economy and productivity above educational considerations, and so adversely affect the educators' morale or hurt the school's work environment.