英國學苑之研究

A Study of Academies in the UK

英國的學苑是一種由中央直接撥款，享有高度校務自主權的獨立公立學校，為近年快速興起的一種學校類型，其辦學宗旨主要在提升績效。學苑的前身為八○年代保守黨執政時期創辦的城市技術中學，工黨政府在2002年將部份城市技術中學改為學苑，此後學苑數量逐年增加。2010年聯合政府上台後又通過學苑法案，讓一般公立學校轉型為學苑，此後學苑增加的速度更快。本研究分析英國教育部、國會官方文件以及其他相關文獻，探討學苑的制度與成效，發現學苑的自主性對教育人員確有正面意義，對學生的表現方面也有初步的正面效果，但學苑制度的全面與長期效果尚未清楚。根據研究結果，提出了結論與建議。

Academies in the UK are independent state schools which are directly funded by central government and enjoy high level of autonomy. They are a fast growing school type in recent years， aiming at enhancing school performance. The predecessors of academies are City Technology Colleges built under the Conservative government in the 1980s. In 2002， some of the City Technology Colleges are transformed into academies and ignited the steady growth of this new school type by the New Labour government. The Coalition government passed Academies Bill in 2010 and accelerated the growth. The present study analyzes documents from Department for Education of the UK and the UK Parliament and other related literature to explore the administrative system of academies and their performances. The findings suggest that school autonomy has positive meaning to educators and preliminary effect on enhancing students’ performance. The comprehensive and long-term effect of academy school system， however， remains vague. Conclusions and recommendations are proposed according to the findings.