Thematic synthesis. Decentralizing and diversifying the delivery systems: involving and empowering for "school citizenship"

Of all the experiences analyzed with regard to decentralization to improve quality, contractualization and devolution of decsion-making to school level have been shown to be a powerful means for promoting the liberation of creative energy. The main mechanism in common use is still the partnership, a cooperative commitment on the part of the actors involved. The organizations taking part in this are relatively diversified.<br />The quality of learning, though improving to some extent everywhere, has still not achieved critical mass. Nevertheless, numerous results show that decentralization is helping to improve education quality. The insularity of the school, although relatively persistent, is being significantly undercut by the new dynamics and by actors who are in the main highly motivated. To develop "school citizenship", what is needed is to maximize trends and potentials while setting a framework for certain centrifugal tendencies, without gagging them.