School Governance: Its Characteristics and Policy Implications

Background/purpose. School governance seems to be the most exciting research topic for many researchers these days; it can be because it provides the best ways of organizing schools in more complex contexts than ever before, and conversely, it can be so sophisticated that it can meet all the challenges of the contexts.

Materials/methods. By employing the bibliometric method and extracting 227 documents from the Web of Science, this paper focuses on the primary features of the picture of school governance that have been researched by scientists over the past four decades.

Results. The main findings show an increasing trend in publications, with the United States and England serving as research hubs. Wermke Wieland, Verger Antoni, and Hartley David are the most influential scholars. Educational Management, Administration, and Leadership is the most relevant source. Five research themes in SG are School governance and its contexts, Leadership roles, Internal governance, New public management, and Autonomy. Moreover, topical topics in recent years related to the Principal and the School board.

Conclusion. The findings also insight into further research in terms of power and authority in schools, or the differences and similarities of school governance in different cultures and social-economic conditions, or should be seen in the scope of the regions or global that can find out effective models to meet the demand of how to be of smart learners these days.

Keywords: School governance, bibliometric method, governing body, governing board

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