Controlled autonomy: Experiences of principals under two school funding regimes in Kazakhstan

This article focuses on the experiences of the autonomy of principals to make decisions for the development of their school under two different regimes of funding. In the context of Kazakhstan, this research explores how formula-based per-capita funding (PCF) compares to historically existing incremental line-item funding concerning decision-making autonomy for meeting the needs of the school. It also examines whether these two public school funding modes lead to a different managerial accountability experience for principals. Evidence in this paper comes from a concurrent mixed methods study. Quantitative data consists of an online survey of 498 mainstream school principals representing schools with and without PCF. Qualitative data includes 15 semi-structured interviews with principals at schools with PCF. This research finds that principals at schools with PCF feel they have more freedom to make decisions about the development of their schools than their counterparts with incremental school budgets. This, however, is due to more adequate funding in the scope of PCF. Regardless of the mode of school funding, principals feel overregulated, and experience managerial accountability demands similarly. This research concludes that school principals work in the context of 'controlled autonomy'. Governmental authorities control schools by limiting funding and requiring compliance.