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The push towards greater autonomy is one of the three main trends in every modern educational policy, alongside quality assurance and quality evaluation techniques and the need to devote attention to special - and often disadvantaged - target groups. It is, however, difficult to derive a unified concept of `autonomy' from the comparative indicators which are published on a regular basis and it has emerged that there are significant differences depending on the specific area and the administrative organisation of education in the country in question. During the discussions of the annual Congress of the European Association for Education Law and Policy (ELA) in Salzburg (1998) it was apparent that autonomy has to be considered in its various applications.
Autonomy for school boards is realised through management, administrative mechanisms, management of staff and pedagogical options. Autonomy of administration requires competence, the willingness to establish an autonomous administration and awareness of each party's responsibility in the educational process.
The contents of this Yearbook are an answer to the question of how legislatures are responding to the trend towards greater responsibility, decentralisation and autonomy. It is an overview of the efforts made by the Member States of the European Union to apply the principle of subsidiarity.
List of contents
The legal and philosophical meaning of autonomy in education, W. Berka; the concept of educational autonomy, C. Glenn; deregulation versus regulation - a European perspective, R. Standaert; synoptic review of the country reports, H. Penneman; academic freedom and autonomy of educational institutions - conflicts and concordances, W. Mantl; decentralization of higher education and autonomy, E. Hackl; opportunities and limits of institutional autonomy in public universities -- a comparison of governance structure regulation, B. Dorbeck-Jung; the European Union programmes and school autonomy - a reciprocal process, C. Onestini; education law and legal methodology, A.P.B. Homem. Approach of issues: "Autonomy" versus "centralization", J. De Groof; university autonomy in Spain, A.E. Irujo; the autonomy of the teacher - education law and educational standards in England and Wales, N. Harris; la politique centraliste et l'autonomie des ecoles en France, A. Legrand; Lisbon and the new model of autonomy and school management - the municipal perspective, A. Abreu; some ideas on autonomy in education, H. Visser; autonomy in education in South Africa - a legal perspective, E. Bray; questionnaire - ELA Conference - "Autonomy in Education", Salzburg, December 1998; autonomy in the university and non-university sectors in higher education - Austrian report, M. Geistlinger; autonomy in education in the Flemish community of Belgium - Belgian report, B. Steen.
About the author
Walter Berka, geb. 1948; seit 1994 Universitätsprofessor am Institut für Verfassungs- und Verwaltungsrecht der Universität Salzburg.
