Conceptualizing curriculum management in an effective secondary school: a Western Australian case study

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the linkages between management processes and the curriculum using an academically effective secondary school as a case study. The aims of the study are twofold. First, in view of the acknowledged importance governments and others place on the quality of school leadership and management on the one hand and curriculum, teaching and learning reforms on the other, there is a need for empirical data as to how school leaders and managers work to secure improvements in curriculum, teaching and learning. This study purports to provide such data. The second aim acknowledges the need to develop conceptual frameworks and data collection instruments as aids to better understanding of complex relationships within school organizations. In order to achieve these aims, the investigation was structured around two guiding questions. The initial question centred on the roles and functions of school staff at each of three levels senior management, middle management and teacher ‐ in providing instructional leadership and curriculum management. The second guiding question concerned the ways in which school managers, particularly at the senior and middle management levels, influence and affect the processes and outcomes of teaching and learning. These questions lead to the postulate that a school experiencing high levels of academic effectiveness will be characterized by proactive school‐site management linking with, and supporting, teaching and learning. The objective was to clarify the perceptions, thoughts, understandings and behaviours of principals, middle managers and teachers by using a range of data collection methods which would yield thick descriptions of practice. One school was selected as a case‐study to allow for in‐depth analysis and the development of a research framework suitable for possible wider application in future. There are four main findings that can be drawn from the analysis. First, none of the senior managers is directly involved in curriculum management. Second, the principal and two deputy principals do play an indirect and important part in promoting academic performance by reinforcing school values in a wide variety of ways. Third, curriculum management is the responsibility of senior teachers and there is tight linkage between both senior teachers and teachers and high quality teaching and learning. Finally, the loose linkage between departments, and also between departments and senior management, provides little opportunity for a school‐wide approach to curriculum matters. It is evident that a whole‐school curriculum management perspective is absent in this school.