Unit 5: Bureaucracies Lectures

The relevant bureaucracies usually comprise multiple administrative agencies with different and sometimes overlapping functions (e.g., both the curriculum authority and the examinations board influencing what is taught). [...] This is particularly the case with the ‘middle tier’ of bureaucrats (e.g., district education officers) who can play a key role in maintaining alignment between the central government, and teachers and schools on the frontline. [...] After completing the unit, students should: • Understand the multiple levels and multiple functions of education bureaucracies; • Explain the limitations of conventional bureaucratic structures in implementing complex service delivery in education; and • Understand the importance of alignment with a shared purpose and supporting and trusting bureaucrats with autonomy in improving the complex work. [...] Rewriting the Grammar of the Education System: Delhi’s Education Reform (A Tale of Creative Resistance and Creative Disruption). [...] Further Readings • On the limitations of narrowly standardized, top-down management and the value of purpose-aligned, empowered autonomy in improving education bureaucracies: o Aiyar, Y.