Policy for all? The impact of centrally developed, universally applied policy on decision-making in Western Australian public schools

Paper


Trimmer, Karen. 2012. "Policy for all? The impact of centrally developed, universally applied policy on decision-making in Western Australian public schools." Fan, Si, Le, Thao, Le, Quynh and Yue, Yun (ed.) 2012 International Conference: Innovative Research in a Changing and Challenging World (AUAMII 2012). Phuket, Thailand 16 - 18 May 2012 Launceston, Tasmania.
Paper/Presentation Title

Policy for all? The impact of centrally developed, universally applied policy on decision-making in Western Australian public schools

Presentation TypePaper
Authors
AuthorTrimmer, Karen
EditorsFan, Si, Le, Thao, Le, Quynh and Yue, Yun
Journal or Proceedings TitleInternational Conference: Innovative Research in a Changing and Challenging World: Conference Proceedings (A)
Journal CitationA, pp. 165-174
Number of Pages10
Year2012
Place of PublicationLaunceston, Tasmania
ISBN9780646582689
Web Address (URL) of Paperhttp://www.auamii.com/proceedings_Phuket_2012/index.html
Conference/Event2012 International Conference: Innovative Research in a Changing and Challenging World (AUAMII 2012)
Event Details
2012 International Conference: Innovative Research in a Changing and Challenging World (AUAMII 2012)
Event Date
16 to end of 18 May 2012
Event Location
Phuket, Thailand
Abstract

In many organizations, policies and procedures are developed to be followed and complied with by all managers and staff in each branch, geographical location and community. These centrally developed governance frameworks are deemed to apply to all decision-making regardless of contextual circumstances that apply locally. Government schools are no exception. In Western Australia (WA) principals of public schools are provided with guidance for their decision-making by centrally developed educational policy and procedures included on a regulatory framework. Policy writers within the central office have worked under the assumption that policies and procedures can be developed that will apply universally to all schools and circumstances.
This paper considers the impact of this assumption on risk-taking in decision-making by principals in schools that have different characteristics within the school community. The paper reflects on a study of principals in a stratified random sample of 253 WA public schools. It was found that principals of schools where local circumstances were different, including geographical and cultural factors, were more likely to take risks in decision-making. As a consequence these principals were not compliant with the Departmental regulatory framework.
Interviews with principals also indicated that policies created centrally were often not applicable to schools in remote locations or with different cultural characteristics, such as high proportions of Indigenous students or students from a wide range of cultural backgrounds with English as a second language. The dilemma for principals is to be able to translate locally identified needs into a local educational program within a school and simultaneously comply with all State and Commonwealth departmental requirements.

Keywordsgovernance, decision-making, principals, schools
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020390403. Educational administration, management and leadership
Public Notes

Copyright 2012 by Australian Multicultural Interaction Institute.

Byline AffiliationsFaculty of Education
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
Permalink -

https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q1997/policy-for-all-the-impact-of-centrally-developed-universally-applied-policy-on-decision-making-in-western-australian-public-schools

Download files


Accepted Version
Trimmer_AMII_2012_AV.pdf
File access level: Anyone

  • 1810
    total views
  • 287
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 0
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Innovative School Leadership: Impacting Aboriginal Student Outcomes into the Future
Trimmer, Karen and Dixon, Roselyn. 2023. "Innovative School Leadership: Impacting Aboriginal Student Outcomes into the Future." Moodie, Nikki, Lowe, Kevin, Dixon, Roselyn and Trimmer, Karen (ed.) Assessing the Evidence in Indigenous Education Research: Implications for Policy and Practice. Switzerland. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 141-160
Trauma-informed behavior support with youth in flexible learning and vocational education settings: Exploring the acceptability of an online trauma-informed education program
Gavin, Tessa, Krishnamoorthy, Govind, Ayre, Kay, Bryce, India and Trimmer, Karen. 2024. "Trauma-informed behavior support with youth in flexible learning and vocational education settings: Exploring the acceptability of an online trauma-informed education program." Preventing School Failure. 68 (1), pp. 8-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2022.2132197
Roadblocks and Enablers for Teacher Engagement in Professional Development Opportunities Aimed at Supporting Trauma-informed Classroom Pedagogical Practice
Collier, Simone, Trimmer, Karen, Bryce, India and Krishnamoorthy, Govind. 2022. "Roadblocks and Enablers for Teacher Engagement in Professional Development Opportunities Aimed at Supporting Trauma-informed Classroom Pedagogical Practice." Journal of Graduate Education Research. 3, pp. 51-65.
Validating the barriers and enablers for teachers accessing professional development of trauma informed pedagogy
Collier, Simone, Bryce, India, Trimmer, Karen and Krishnamoorthy, Govind. 2022. "Validating the barriers and enablers for teachers accessing professional development of trauma informed pedagogy." Social Sciences & Humanities Open. 6 (1), pp. 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssaho.2022.100332
The Need for an Understanding of Education Law Principles by School Principals
Butlin, Mark and Trimmer, Karen. 2018. "The Need for an Understanding of Education Law Principles by School Principals." Trimmer, Karen, Dixon, Roselyn and Findlay, Yvonne S. (ed.) The Palgrave handbook of education law for schools. Switzerland. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 3-21
Educational innovation: challenges of conducting and applying research in schools
Trimmer, Karen, Donovan, Jennifer and Flegg, Nicholas. 2020. "Educational innovation: challenges of conducting and applying research in schools." Donovan, Jennifer, Trimmer, Karen and Flegg, Nicholas (ed.) Curriculum, schooling and applied research: challenges and tensions for researchers. Cham, Switzerland. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-17
Evaluating frameworks for practice in mainstream primary school classrooms catering for children with developmental trauma: an analysis of the literature
Collier, Simone, Bryce, India, Trimmer, Karen and Krishnamoorthy, Govind. 2020. "Evaluating frameworks for practice in mainstream primary school classrooms catering for children with developmental trauma: an analysis of the literature." Children Australia. 45 (SI4), pp. 258-265. https://doi.org/10.1017/cha.2020.53
Indigenous postgraduate education
Trimmer, Karen, Hoven, Debra and Keskitalo, Pigga. 2020. "Indigenous postgraduate education." Trimmer, Karen, Hoven, Debra and Keskitalo, Pigga (ed.) Indigenous postgraduate education: intercultural perspectives. Charlotte, NC, United States. Information Age Publishing. pp. 3-14
TQM's presence within legal systems: example of impact on Australian higher education
Padro, Fernando F., Trimmer, Karen, Chang, Heejin and Green, Jonathan. 2024. "TQM's presence within legal systems: example of impact on Australian higher education." The TQM Journal. 36 (7), pp. 1845-1864. https://doi.org/10.1108/TQM-12-2019-0307
Towards a Culturally Inclusive Model of Care: Quality Practice and Care Through the Lens of a Practising Nurse
Goldman, Natalie and Trimmer, Karen. 2019. "Towards a Culturally Inclusive Model of Care: Quality Practice and Care Through the Lens of a Practising Nurse." Trimmer, Karen, Newman, Tara and Padro, Fernando (ed.) Ensuring quality in professional education volume I: human client fields pedagogy and knowledge structures. Cham, Switzerland. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 123-149
School leadership and Aboriginal student outcomes: systematic review
Trimmer, Karen, Dixon, Rose and Guenther, John. 2021. "School leadership and Aboriginal student outcomes: systematic review." Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education. 49 (1), pp. 20-36. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2019.1685646
Skilling up: evaluation of a design-based research methodology
Trimmer, Karen. 2020. "Skilling up: evaluation of a design-based research methodology." The Australian Educational Researcher. 47 (2), pp. 357-375. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00336-0
The need for case studies to illustrate quality practice: teaching in higher education to ensure quality of entry level professionals
Newman, Tara, Trimmer, Karen and Padro, Fernando F.. 2019. "The need for case studies to illustrate quality practice: teaching in higher education to ensure quality of entry level professionals." Trimmer, Karen, Newman, Tara and Padro, Fernando F (ed.) Ensuring quality in professional education volume I: human client fields pedagogy and knowledge structures. Cham, Switzerland. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-17
How about professionalism, professions and standards: the creation of acculturated professionals
Padro, Fernando F., Kek, Megan Y. C. A., Press, Nona, Trimmer, Karen, Green, Jonathan H., Hawke, Michael F. and Hawke, Laurie. 2019. "How about professionalism, professions and standards: the creation of acculturated professionals." Trimmer, Karen, Newman, Tara and Padro, Fernando F. (ed.) Ensuring quality in professional education volume II: engineering pedagogy and international knowledge structures. Cham, Switzerland. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 1-28
Retention of Indigenous pre-service teachers enrolled in an Australian regional university
Trimmer, Karen, Ward, Raelene and Wondunna-Foley, Linda. 2018. "Retention of Indigenous pre-service teachers enrolled in an Australian regional university." Teaching and Teacher Education. 76 (Special Issue), pp. 58-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2018.08.006
Using the QFD matrix as a major continuous improvement tool to improve organizational quality
Mohsin, Ahmed Mansour, Padro, Fernando F. and Trimmer, Karen. 2018. "Using the QFD matrix as a major continuous improvement tool to improve organizational quality." Krishnan, Archana (ed.) Cases on quality initiatives for organizational longevity. Hershey, PA, United States. IGI Global. pp. 1-34
Meeting the cultural and service needs of Arabic international students by using QFD
Mohsin, Ahmed Mansour and Trimmer, Karen. 2018. "Meeting the cultural and service needs of Arabic international students by using QFD." Padro, Fernando F., Erwee, Ronel, Harmes, Meredith A., Harmes, Marcus K. and Danaher, Patrick Alan (ed.) Postgraduate education in higher education. Singapore. Springer. pp. 315-336
Development of a questionnaire to measure risk-taking in decision-making by school principals
Trimmer, Karen. 2017. "Development of a questionnaire to measure risk-taking in decision-making by school principals." Athens Journal of Education. 4 (3), pp. 223-251.
Reinventing Another Unaipon: Indigenous Science Leaders for the Future
Trimmer, Karen, Gower, Graeme and Lock, Graeme. 2018. "Reinventing Another Unaipon: Indigenous Science Leaders for the Future." The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. 47 (2), pp. 216-225. https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2017.14
Master teachers as leaders in school-based action research
Trimmer, Karen, Donovan, Jennifer, Findlay, Yvonne S. and Mohamed, Kamariah. 2017. "Master teachers as leaders in school-based action research." Leading and Managing. 23 (2), pp. 1-12.
The impact of public policy on support services for indigenous families with children with special education needs
Trimmer, Karen and Dixon, Roselyn. 2017. "The impact of public policy on support services for indigenous families with children with special education needs." The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. https://doi.org/10.1017/jie.2017.17
Researching in-betweens: blurring the boundaries of mainstream and marginal education research
Riddle, Stewart, Black, Alison L. and Trimmer, Karen. 2015. "Researching in-betweens: blurring the boundaries of mainstream and marginal education research." Trimmer, Karen, Black, Alison L. and Riddle, Stewart (ed.) Mainstreams, margins and the spaces in-between: new possibilities for education research. Abingdon, Oxford. Routledge. pp. 1-12
Decision-making by school principals and education researchers: the dilemma of reverse coding in structural equation modeling and its resolution in a study of risk-taking in decision-making for school principals
Trimmer, Karen. 2013. "Decision-making by school principals and education researchers: the dilemma of reverse coding in structural equation modeling and its resolution in a study of risk-taking in decision-making for school principals." Papanikos, Gregory T. (ed.) 15th Annual International Conference on Education (ATINER 2013). Athens, Greece 20 - 23 May 2013 Athens, Greece.
Political pressures on international social research and evaluation
Trimmer, Karen. 2016. "Political pressures on international social research and evaluation." Research Intelligence. 131, pp. 28-29.
The pressures within: dilemmas in the conduct of evaluation from within government
Trimmer, Karen. 2016. "The pressures within: dilemmas in the conduct of evaluation from within government." Trimmer, Karen (ed.) Political pressures on educational and social research: international perspectives. Oxon, United Kingdom. Routledge. pp. 180-191
The pressures of the political on rigorous and ethical research
Trimmer, Karen. 2016. "The pressures of the political on rigorous and ethical research." Trimmer, Karen (ed.) Political pressures on educational and social research: international perspectives. Oxon, United Kingdom. Routledge. pp. 3-9
Maths challenges for pre-service teachers
Flegg, Nicholas and Trimmer, Karen. 2015. "Maths challenges for pre-service teachers." Trimmer, Karen, Black, Alison L. and Riddle, Stewart (ed.) Mainstreams, margins and the spaces in-between: new possibilities for education research. Abingdon, Oxford. Routledge. pp. 181-194
Measurement and modeling: sequential use of analytical techniques in a study of risk-taking in decision-making by school principals
Trimmer, Karen. 2016. "Measurement and modeling: sequential use of analytical techniques in a study of risk-taking in decision-making by school principals." Teacher Development. 20 (3), pp. 398-416. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2016.1155477
Evaluation as an educational development to improve practice: teacher ICT knowledge, skills and integration
Trimmer, Karen. 2015. "Evaluation as an educational development to improve practice: teacher ICT knowledge, skills and integration." Lock, Jennifer, Redmond, Petrea and Danaher, Patrick Alan (ed.) Educational developments, practices and effectiveness: global perspectives and contexts. Basingstoke, UK. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 93-110
The business of schools: the application of strategic management theories to risk taking in decision making in public schools
Trimmer, Karen. 2015. "The business of schools: the application of strategic management theories to risk taking in decision making in public schools." Baguley, Margaret M., Findlay, Yvonne S. and Kerby, Martin C. (ed.) Meanings and motivation in education research. New York, United States. Routledge. pp. 179-191
Impacts on awareness, access and utilisation of early intervention support services for Indigenous families living in rural and remote areas: the National Disability Insurance Scheme
Trimmer, Karen, Dixon, Roselyn and Stubbs, Kerry. 2015. "Impacts on awareness, access and utilisation of early intervention support services for Indigenous families living in rural and remote areas: the National Disability Insurance Scheme." Trimmer, Karen, Black, Alison L. and Riddle, Stewart (ed.) Mainstreams, margins and the spaces in-between: new possibilities for education research. Abingdon, Oxford. Routledge. pp. 195-208
Decision-making by school principals and education researchers: the dilemma of reverse coding in structural equation modeling and its resolution in a study of risk-taking in decision-making for school principals
Trimmer, Karen. 2014. "Decision-making by school principals and education researchers: the dilemma of reverse coding in structural equation modeling and its resolution in a study of risk-taking in decision-making for school principals." Athens Journal of Education. 1 (1), pp. 69-82.
Principals' voices via modelling? Issues of voice in quantitative studies and the use of complexity theory
Trimmer, Karen. 2014. "Principals' voices via modelling? Issues of voice in quantitative studies and the use of complexity theory." Midgley, Warren, Davies, Andy, Oliver, Mark E. and Danaher, Patrick Alan (ed.) Echoes: ethics and issues of voice in education research. Rotterdam, Netherlands. Sense Publishers. pp. 197-209
Gender differences in tertiary entrance scores
Peck, Bob and Trimmer, Karen. 1995. "Gender differences in tertiary entrance scores." Jeffery, Peter L. (ed.) Association for Research in Education Conference (AARE 1994). Newcastle, Australia Melbourne, Australia.
The late birthday effect in Western Australia
Peck, Bob and Trimmer, Karen. 1995. "The late birthday effect in Western Australia." Issues in Educational Research. 5 (1), pp. 35-52.
Synthesising the literature concerning math anxiety to inform a project on pre-service teacher retention rates
Flegg, Nicholas, Mohamed, Kamariah and Trimmer, Karen. 2013. "Synthesising the literature concerning math anxiety to inform a project on pre-service teacher retention rates." Veenstra, Cindy P. and Standridge, Charles R. (ed.) 2013 ASQ Advancing the STEM Agenda Conference. Grand Rapids, United States 03 - 04 Jun 2013 Milwaukee, WI. United States.
Independent public schools: a move to increased autonomy and devolution of decision-making in Western Australian public schools
Trimmer, Karen. 2013. "Independent public schools: a move to increased autonomy and devolution of decision-making in Western Australian public schools." Childhood Education. 89 (3), pp. 178-184. https://doi.org/10.1080/00094056.2013.792703
Walking the labyrinth: a metaphorical understanding of approaches to metaphors for, in and of education research
Midgley, Warren and Trimmer, Karen. 2013. "Walking the labyrinth: a metaphorical understanding of approaches to metaphors for, in and of education research." Midgley, Warren, Trimmer, Karen and Davies, Andy (ed.) Metaphors for, in and of education research. Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 1-9
Butterflies and black swans: metaphors that provide new perspectives to understand quantitative models in educational research
Trimmer, Karen. 2013. "Butterflies and black swans: metaphors that provide new perspectives to understand quantitative models in educational research." Midgley, Warren, Trimmer, Karen and Davies, Andy (ed.) Metaphors for, in and of education research. Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 173-188