Educational decentralization is a worldwide phenomenon, but as a concept it hides more than it reveals. It often refers to the devolution of some authority to the local school and community level, but two large problems remain. First, in all cases, key aspects of authority are retained at the regional and central
level. In this sense, decentralization is a misnomer. Second, when decentralization does occur, it usually refers to structural elements (such as sitebased councils), thereby missing the day-to-day capacities and activities that would make it work for school improvement.