Information technology and control in educational management

The use of information technology in educational management offers many advantages to schools, but in this paper we will argue that it also serves a role in acting to control schools. School systems in Victoria, Australia and Ontario, Canada have in recent years decentralised many of their administrative functions, and similar decentralization appears to have occurred in other countries. At the same time that many countries have been decentralising their educational administration, however, they have often also strengthened central control in other areas, most notably in curriculum and overall accountability. In this paper, the authors examine the use of information technology in educational management (ITEM), and argue that this technology may play a significant role in tightening the coupling between schools and central education authorities. We will argue that this leads to greater standardisation and control over the way that schools perform their administrative functions.