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| 1. | The National Schools Network (NSN) was one of the three major outputs of the National Project on Quality Teaching and Learning (NPQTL) that was framed by teachers unions, school employing authorities, the Commonwealth and the Australian Council of Trade Unions in early 1993. It was one of the most unique attempts at education reform initiated in the country since it successfully established a collaborative venture composed of disparate bodies: ranging from more than 300 Australian schools nationwide, the Commonwealth, and States, and the larger community (parents associations, universities and teachers unions). When the new Australian government came into power in 1996, financial support for the NSN from the Commonwealth ended. Despite this apparent setback, most of the 300 Australian member schools, various university bodies and individual members of the NSN decided to continue the existence of the NSN. | |
| 2. | Objectives of the study
The study looks at the NSN as an organisational innovation in two ways. On the one hand, it is a national organisation, trying to situate itself in a state level policy domain. (Teacher Quality in education). The other is that it is an organisation built around the professional community, rather than one based on bureaucratic authority or dictated by prevailing market forces. | |
| 3. | Findings | |
| 3.1 | The NSN membership and scope of activities support the assertion that it is indeed a national organisation. Furthermore, the major programs and projects it undertakes prove that it situates itself in a state level policy domain. | |
| 3.2 | The NSN is an organisation that was originally established on bureaucratic authority and conceived as a response to prevailing market forces. However, as time has passed it has evolved into a network organisation built around the professional community. | |
| 4. | Conclusions | |
| 4.1 | The NSN is an innovation in carrying out reform in the history of Australian education. | |
| 4.2 | The NSN is a unique organisational configuration that encompasses all the significant stakeholders in the education system. | |
| 5. | Areas for Further Research | |
| 5.1 | A full blown investigation into two organisational aspects of the NSN would be a truly notable project. These aspects are:
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| 5.2 | Another worthwhile research undertaking would be the careful selection of case studies of NSN sites where the actual network interplay of the various stakeholders can be mapped and monitored. | |
| Contact person: Vicente C. Reyes, Jr. Email: v.reyes@student.unsw.edu.au Voice: +61(0)2 9662 6199 Fax: +61(0)2 9662 2992 Please cite as: Reyes, V. C. (2000). The National Schools Network: A case study of organisational transformation in the Australian education system. In Flexible Learning for a Flexible Society, Proceedings of ASET-HERDSA 2000 Conference. Toowoomba, Qld, 2-5 July. ASET and HERDSA. http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/gen/aset/confs/aset-herdsa2000/abstracts/reyes-abs.html |