What can New Zealand learn from Edmonton?

New Zealand has had self-managing schools for 18 years now - long enough to identify the strengths and weaknesses of our approach.

To get some insight into ways we might build on our strengths and improve our system, chief researcher Dr Cathy Wylie paid a visit earlier this year to Edmonton Public Schools, a large, urban district in Alberta, Canada. She outlines for us how Edmonton operates self-managing schools and maintains school choice in the face of some challenges it has in common with New Zealand. Of particular interest to New Zealand is the way it has tackled school leadership capacity and supply, the way it shares responsibilities and its more formative approach to school accountability.