Teacher participation in the management of schools

Abstract

Participation - the idea of having a share in management and in profits - could be considered as the new concept to be applied in the Maltese Economy as far as the 'employed' are concerned, in the 1980s. The principle, when it comes to Education, may be examined in terms of various sectors - students, parents, teachers, private schools, local state schools, national policy and government. It is therefore pertinent to note what has been said so far as regards Teacher Participation. It has been claimed that it "is not incompatible with a sound educational policy". Far back in 1969, CASE (England) declared that teachers should have a right to be involved at all levels of planning and consultation on matters of vital educational concern. For the teacher's role in education is changing: he cannot act in an authoritarian atmosphere. He has to be accepted as the social operator who collects ideas, hypotheses and changes and makes them known to the masses. He is an animator and promoter of ideas, necessities and cultural and social fermentations.