Contending with governance and leadership as critical issues within the Maltese educational system

Abstract

In a context of reform aimed at providing a quality education for all children, governance and leadership play a crucial and central role. Hence, it has been deemed essential to study the way governance and leadership are being tackled and introduced by central authorities as they move towards greater devolution of authority to the micro level, represented in Malta through a College network system. The article takes cognisance of the fact that we are still in the initial stages of the reform and that the reflections are based on initial studies that have been carried out over the past few years and a critique presented by the authors. Striking the balance between centralized and decentralized practices, focusing on different forms of professional development, a heavy emphasis on co-operation and sharing of good practices have been identified as essential ingredients that have to be addressed in a strategic manner and sustained over time.