Horizontal performance in the case of network governance: management by objectives and school performance

Abstract

Performance management has good impact on school performance, but studies indicate that contexts as well as management matter. An analysis of performance management and educational performance measured by national tests in a sample of 121 high- and low-performing primary and lower secondary schools in Norway showed that schools where the municipality used a great deal of performance management and where the head teacher had school management qualifications used more management by objectives than other schools. There was, however, a negative relationship between past performance and the use of management by objectives. However, schools where the head teacher had management qualifications and where the municipality had lots of performance management did not have significantly better performance than other schools, except for schools in the City of Oslo which had responsibility for primary as well as secondary education. The chapter discusses possible implications of how such hybrid, multi-level governance may impact horizontal school performance.