SCHOOL AUTONOMY - PROBLEMS OF DECISION-MAKING FROM A POLITICO-ADMINISTRATIVE POINT-OF-VIEW

At present the issue of ''autonomy of schools'' is being widely discussed in the Federal Republic of Germany. The author describes it as greater independence within a framework of tasks which still have to be defined and accounted for politically and legally. Greater independence refers to educational questions as well as to questions of finance and of organization. The call for more autonomy of schools is linked with overall trends in the management and leadership of large organizations within the public sector and elsewhere. The author also stresses possible consequences of these trends which have not yet been sufficiently discussed. Among them the question of responsibility for results, which is inseparably connected with the concession of more freedom for action, is of special relevance.