School Governance: An International Comparison

To improve school’s quality and autonomy, it is necessary the switch from “school government” models characterized by higher powers to “school governance” models which produce consent around their own choices, on the basis of a wide involvement of stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to verify if there is a governance model which is able to build, manage, and develop school network, analysing the actual situation about the relationships between school and its stakeholders and the actors’ role in the educational decision-making processes (as condition for the establishment and development of network and their managing through new governance models) in some European countries (such as Greece, Italy, Romania, Sweden, and the Netherlands). The analysis reveals beyond the differences in the educational systems of all countries involved, the weakness of an effective governance model where each key actor shares a common purpose and collaborates to draw on individual strengths, respect a variety of perspectives, and actively promote learning opportunities and economic development.