Projects per year
Abstract
Purpose: This paper studies how performance funding of education is perceived by principals, teachers and administrative staff and management. The dysfunctionality of performance measures often reflects how the measures prevent an organisation from achieving its goals. This paper proposes that perceptions of dysfunctionality can be analysed by separating the perceptions of the programme's intentions, of the school-level actions and of the outcomes for students. Design/methodology/approach: Following a qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers, school management, staff specialists and top management in a large Danish municipality when outcome-based funding was introduced. Findings: The performance-funding programme affected teaching by changing educational priorities. Different perceptions of the (dys)functionality of intentions, actions and outcomes fuelled diverging responses. Although the performance measure was generally considered incomplete, interviewees' perceptions of the financial incentivisation and the dysfunctionality of actions depended on interpretations of the incentivisation and student-related outcomes of the programme. Research limitations/implications: Dysfunctionality can be contested; the interpretations of the intention of a performance-funding programme affect the perceived dysfunctionality of reactions. Both technical characteristics of funding schemes and administrators' and principals' mediating roles are essential for the consequences of performance funding. Originality/value: The paper examines conditions for dysfunctionality of performance measures. We demonstrate that actions can be perceived as dysfunctional because of a measurement's intentions, actions themselves and the actions' outcomes. Further, the paper illustrates how the reception of performance funding depends on how consequences are enacted based on educators' interpretations of the (dys)functionality of intentions, actions and outcomes.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | 267-294 |
Number of pages | 28 |
ISSN | 1368-0668 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 10 Jan 2023 |
Keywords
- Dysfunctionality
- Incentives
- Intentions and actions
- Performance funding
- Public sector
- Unintended consequences
- Children
- Education
- Inclusion
- Basic education
- Social investments
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Dive into the research topics of '(Dys)functionality of intentions or outcomes? Performance funding of Danish schools'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Projects
- 1 Finished
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Performance funding of Danish public schools
Bukh, P. N., Christensen, K. S. & Poulsen, M. L.
01/01/2018 → 31/12/2022
Project: Research
Activities
- 1 Conference presentations
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Den økonomiske styring af specialundervisnings-området: Udfordringer og muligheder
Per Nikolaj Bukh (Lecturer)
2 Dec 2021Activity: Talks and presentations › Conference presentations