Content area
The success of public policies depends not only on their design but also on their effective implementation. This paper examines both the factors that contribute to successful policy implementation and the outcomes of such success using Israel’s Second Preschool Teachers’ Assistants Reform as a case study. By analyzing this reform, the study underscores the critical role of local governments in coordinating implementation efforts, as well as the pivotal function of lead preschool teachers as street-level bureaucrats. Using a sample of 174 staff members from 58 preschools in Israel, we found that perceptions of the teaching staff about the extent to which the local government is autonomous are related to the extent of the reform’s implementation, which, in turn, affects objective educational outcomes. The study also shows that the leadership style of the lead teacher plays a role in the relationship between the level of the reform’s implementation and the preschool's success. The study contributes to theoretical knowledge and practical strategies for enhancing policy implementation in public education.
Introduction
The success of public policies hinges not only on their design but also on their effective implementation. Therefore, we must understand the interplay between the design of a policy and its implementation (Junginger 2013). Policy failures often stem from inadequate conceptualization and the poor understanding of high-level policymakers of how the policy’s content and design will be translated into practice (Capano & Howlett 2024). Such gaps can be overcome by strengthening the focus on the implementation phase when designing policies and by robust programs supporting their actual use (Hudson et al., 2019). Thus, for policies to succeed, it is essential to consider the practical aspects of their implementation (Charbit, 2011), including their contextual adaptation, the target populations, the available resources, the culture and managerial competencies (Hudson et al., 2019; Sabatier, 1986).
Given the rise of the global knowledge economy, there is a strong impetus for policymakers worldwide to improve their educational systems (Harris & Jones, 2015; Schleicher, 2014, 2018). Recent educational reforms have underscored that merely selecting the right policies is not enough. Ensuring that they are implemented is paramount for achieving and sustaining improvements (Fullan, 2018; Harris et al. 2013). Nonetheless, policymakers often focus more on identifying effective policies than on creating the conditions necessary for their successful implementation.
Top-down reforms are typically policy instruments whose successful implementation requires effective communication between central-level policymakers and implementers at lower tiers of government. The main goal of these reforms is to create major changes in structures, processes, and/or cultures as well as to change outdated tools or methods (Pollitt & Bouckaert 2010). In other words, top-down reforms require changes in the structure and processes of organizations, with the overarching goal of improving their functioning (Pollit & Boukaert, 2004). According to Pollitt and Boukaert (2004), such improved functioning includes savings in spending, improvement in the quality of the services provided, increased efficiency of government actions, and breaking free from bureaucratic restrictions. While such reforms have been studied extensively, the field of policy implementation lacks robust theoretical development. This missing link poses a significant barrier to the successful implementation of reforms (Bouckaert & Kuhlmann 2016). To fill this gap, we must identify the factors at different government levels that can promote the implementation of top-down reforms (Van de Walle et al., 2016).
The current study is one step in minimizing this gap. We examine not only a specific factor that can promote the implementation of a new policy but also investigate the extent to which this implementation is related to the organization's outcomes. To this end, we explore the determinants of the successful implementation of a public policy using the Second Preschool Teachers’ Assistants Reform in Israel as a case study. The study highlights the crucial roles of the perceptions of the actors implementing the reform and of the leadership style of the street-level bureaucrats immediately responsible for its success.
The rationale for focusing on the perceptions of the actors involved in implementing the policy is grounded in the critical role that such perceptions play in the interpretation and achievement of reform goals (Bros et al., 2022). These perceptions significantly influence how those who are supposed to implement reforms interpret them and act to achieve their performance objectives (Karakhanyan et al., 2012; May& Winter, 2009). Accordingly, our research question is: “How do policy implementers’ perceptions about the autonomy of the local government and the leadership style of the policy implementers affect the successful implementation of a reform?”.
We begin by outlining the Israeli context, focusing on the relationship between the local and central governments, as well as the primary objectives of the reform. This outline is followed by a discussion about policy implementation and the factors that influence it. The results of this discussion inform our hypotheses regarding the direct and indirect relationships between the teachers'perceptions of the local government's autonomy, the preschool teachers’ leadership style, and the extent to which the reform is implemented. We then present the methodology and findings, and conclude with key theoretical and practical insights.
Literature review
The central and local governments in Israel
In Israel, as in other unitary countries, the central government views local governments as the implementing arm of state-standardized policies. As a result, rather than being autonomous political entities, they are required to engage in enforcing governmental policies on behalf of the central government (Sarig & Levy, 2014). Despite functioning primarily as extensions of the central government, local governments in Israel are expected to achieve functional and financial independence, often without receiving sufficient funding from the state to do so. Therefore, they must develop innovative approaches to generating independent revenue (Levy & Sarig, 2014). This situation has resulted in local governments evolving into a hybrid model that combines neo-liberal trends with centralized national policies (Eshel & Hananel, 2019). While all local governments possess limited de jure power and depend on the central government to varying degrees (Beeri, 2013), the extent of this power and dependence differs significantly among municipalities, leading to varying degrees of de facto autonomy (Tan & Avshalom-Uster, 2021). This variability creates a situation in which the financial and administrative capacity of a local government enables it to develop new revenue sources. Consequently, financially stable local governments can adapt centrally mandated top-down programs to their specific local needs by leveraging partnerships and other resources at their disposal.
Educational reforms in Israel
Israel's public administration is similar to that in underdeveloped countries (Gal-Nur, 2009). While some attempts at reforms have been made in the last decade, such as reforms regarding car licensing, the postal and telephone services, and services for new immigrants, they are too few and too specific, leaving many questions open regarding their effectiveness (Gal-Nur, 2009). Gaziel (2007) suggested that reforms in Israel’s educational system emerge for three main reasons. First, global political and economic processes place pressure on the national educational system to adapt to emerging needs. The second reason is the need to maintain a balance between socio-economic groups. The third reason is for political gain. However, from the 1970 s up to 2012 no reforms were targeted at preschool children. This situation changed when the government adopted the recommendations of a commission that looked into providing free public education for children aged 3–4 years. As a result, about 90% of these children were absorbed into public preschools.
Naturally, this change involved challenges that were reflected in the level of service. The main challenge was staffing. A single preschool teacher, assisted by a single aide, was responsible for up to 35 children, making it extremely difficult to implement pedagogical programs effectively. As a result, the Second Preschool Teachers’ Assistants Reform was introduced in 2015, which included increased preschool budgets to enable the employment of a second assistant in classrooms with 30 or more children. The reform also included an enriched curriculum, training for preschool assistants, and more support for the teachers. Moreover, a lead preschool teacher was appointed for each cluster of 15 preschools to support the educational teams, meet needs, and strengthen community relationships (Ministry of Education, 2015). The training and development programs enabled the assistants to better understand the needs of the children and the educational system, while also increasing their sense of shared responsibility in the preschools'daily operations (Ministry of Education, 2015). Note that, although this reform was mandated by the central government, its implementation varied significantly depending on the levels of managerial autonomy and resources in each local government.
Factors affecting policy implementation
Effective policy implementation is critical to the success of public policies. Failures can stem from either non-implementation or unsuccessful implementation (Hunter & Marks 2002). The literature on public policy underscores that implementation challenges often arise due to insufficient collaboration among the actors involved in a reform during the policymaking process and the absence of a shared platform for addressing problems (Hudson et al., 2019; Pressman & Wildavsky, 1984; Weaver 2020). Successful implementation relies on reciprocity among the implementers and between the implementers and policymakers based on good communication, collaboration and coordination (Goggin et al., 1990; Hudson et al., 2019). Achieving these conditions depends on the policy’s content and its ability to meet the stakeholders’ expectations that it will deliver the promised outcomes (Andrews, 2022).
In centralized governance structures such as Israel, where the central government formulates and dictates major public policies with standardized requirements across regions, the de jure autonomy granted to local governments plays a crucial role in effective policy implementation. This legal authority allows local governments to exercise discretion in adapting centrally mandated programs, tailoring implementation strategies to address the unique socioeconomic conditions, cultural contexts, and specific needs of their communities. Research across multiple governance contexts supports this contention (Honig & Rainey, 2012; Keuffer 2014; Tan & Avshalom-Uster, 2021), highlighting how appropriate levels of local autonomy can improve policy outcomes while maintaining necessary national standards. This local discretion not only enhances the relevance and responsiveness of the policy’s execution but also significantly influences the overall success or failure of its implementation.
Perceptions about the local government’s autonomy and successful policy implementation
Wolman et al. (2008) maintained that local autonomy refers to the ability of local governments to manage and implement local affairs with minimal interference from central governments. This autonomy is influenced by several factors, including the legal constraints imposed by the central government, limits on fiscal discretion, and the local governments'goals for financial expenditures (Uster & Cohen, 2023). Pratchett (2004) outlined three dimensions of local autonomy that significantly impact policy implementation: freedom from, freedom to, and local identity."Freedom from"denotes the extent to which central governments allow local governments to operate independently."Freedom to"involves local governments’ ability to initiate activities and influence policies in ways that benefit their communities. Finally,"local identity"refers to the local governments'ability to engage in practices that reflect their unique local characteristics.
Thus, having greater autonomy is likely to help local governments enact managerial and political reform initiatives by enabling them to adapt these policies to their specific contexts (Yombi et al., 2019). Moreover, if street-level bureaucrats can use their discretion to adapt and execute policies effectively, policies are more likely to be implemented successfully (Tummers & Bekkers 2014). Reducing constraints and increasing the use of local discretion allows for policies that are better tailored to local conditions, leading to better outcomes and more responsive governance.
Another theory that is useful in this regard is the principal-agent theory. According to Eisenhardt (1989), an agency relationship is one in which one of the parties depends on another party who acts on its behalf. Depending on the principal and the agent involved, the relationship may require different levels of monitoring (Pratt & Zeckhauser, 1985). Agency relationships are common in the public sector. One such relationship is between the central government, the principal, and a decentralized local government, the agent (Gyorgy, 2012). According to the multifaceted view of agency as combining three interconnected aspects– obligation, government and autonomy–(Vongalis-Macrow, 2007), highly autonomous parties, meaning those requiring little monitoring, can act on their own and are more likely to change when needed. Thus, local governments with more political and financial autonomy have the power and financial capability to steer a reform in a direction that is better suited to their communities (Levi & Sarig, 2014). Moreover, they are likely to have the means to implement more elements of any given reform.
Given our focus on teachers'perceptions about the local government's autonomy in implementing an educational reform, we need to clarify the relationship between teachers and the local government. In the Israeli education system, teachers are employees of the Ministry of Education but work within frameworks overseen by local governments. While teachers are not part of the local government, their perceptions about its autonomy are crucial because they directly affect the environment in which the policy will be implemented. Consequently, we draw on the literature linking perceived organizational autonomy with positive outcomes such as heightened motivation, reduced turnover, increased satisfaction, and improved performance (Dysvik & Kuvaas, 2011, 2013; Johannsen & Zak, 2020; Spivack & Milosevic, 2018). Applying these insights to our context suggests that when teachers regard the local governing body as more autonomous, they are likely to be more committed to reform efforts, as they believe the governing body can adapt and apply reforms in ways that better align with their specific contexts and needs. Thus, we hypothesize:
H1: There will be a positive relationship between perceptions about the local government’s autonomy and the extent to which a reform is implemented, such that the greater the perceived autonomy the more extensively the reform will be implemented.
The relationship between the implementation of the reform and preschool success metrics
As mentioned above, the implementation process plays a pivotal role in a policy’s success (Selepe, 2023). In other words, the better the policy implementation process, the more likely it will result in positive outcomes. Therefore, we hypothesize that:
H2: There will be a positive relationship between the extent to which a reform is implemented and the actual success of the reform.
We also suggest that there is an indirect relationship between a teacher's perceptions of the local government's autonomy and a reform's success through the extent to which the reform is actually implemented. Previous research has shown that greater autonomy prompts a stronger commitment to implementing change, and that organizations use their autonomy to coordinate and delegate resources (Stewart et al., 2015). Therefore, it is likely that such commitment and allocation of resources will result in better implementation of the reform's elements, which, in turn, will result in more success for the organization. We thus hypothesize that:
H3: The extent of a reform’s implementation will mediate the relationship between the teachers'perceptions of the local government's autonomy and the success of the organization. The greater the perceived autonomy, the more extensively the reform will be implemented and the greater the organization’s success.
The role of leadership style in the relationship between the reform’s implementation and the preschool's success
The role of school professionals in policy implementation can be understood through the lens of street-level bureaucracy theory (Lipsky, 1980), with educators serving as street-level bureaucrats (Lipsky, 2010; Taylor, 2007). Educational reforms increasingly position schools as centers of planning and administration, endowing their professionals with new responsibilities. Such school professionals, including principals, teachers, educational teams, and administrative staff, are public agents who translate and implement policies conceived at higher governmental levels (Ball et al., 2012). They must ensure that all members of the school are committed to both everyday tasks and new initiatives, so that the school runs smoothly and effectively. They also mediate between centrally driven imperatives and local implementation, connecting the operational core of their organization with higher management levels (Oberfield 2021). This position requires them to anticipate and plan for new challenges, adapting and innovating their actions to meet organizational goals, meaning exercising their leadership capabilities.
Transformational leadership is particularly relevant in this context as it entails working with and through others to inspire and mobilize collective action toward shared goals. Transformational leadership is a leadership style in which the leader and followers have a meaningful and creative exchange in guiding the latter through a vision-driven change (Bass, 1985). Those who utilize this leadership style articulate a compelling and intellectually stimulating vision for their followers and provide them with individualized consideration (Bass, 1985; Klein & House, 1995). Researchers have investigated the extent to which transformational leadership contributes to the followers’ commitment to change (e.g., Herold et al. 2008; Oreg & Berson 2011). They have documented how the use of this leadership style prompts followers to go beyond their individual motivations and interests, indirectly stimulating them to support organizational change (Bass, 1985).
In our case, the preschool teacher is the principal in charge of an autonomous educational unit, who is required to combine various leadership elements in his/her role. Unlike many systems where multiple classrooms operate under a single head administrator, the Israeli system gives each preschool teacher considerable administrative autonomy. In addition to direct teaching, s/he provides pedagogical leadership, manages the staff, engages with the community, interacts with parents, and serves as a role model for the children, the preschool assistants, the parents, and the broader community where the preschool is located (Mevorach, 2017).
We claim that the relationship between the extent to which a reform is implemented and the preschool's success will depend on the leadership style of the preschool's leader. In preschools in which the leader is a role model willing to sacrifice himself/herself in to enhance the professionalism and well-being of the staff, the latter are more likely to adopt the reforms the leader proposes, resulting in improvements in the preschool’s performance (Avolio & Bass, 1995). Thus, we hypothesize that:
H4: The preschool teacher's leadership style will moderate the relationship between the reform's implementation and the preschool's success. The more transformational the teacher's leadership style is, the stronger the relationship between the reform's implementation and the preschool's success.
The research model is presented in Fig. 1.
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Fig. 1
Conceptual research model
Method
Participants
To test our hypotheses, we gathered information from 174 preschool teachers and assistants who work in 58 preschools in the north of Israel. All respondents were female, which is characteristic of the population of preschool teachers in Israel. We collected our data using an online structured questionnaire that the participants filled out anonymously. Each preschool was assigned a number, so that the answers provided by the preschool teacher and the assistants could be tied to the same specific preschool.
Procedure
We received official approval from the Chief Scientist and the Head of the Preschool Department at the Ministry of Education to conduct the study, and sought the necessary approvals from key education officials at both the central and local levels to distribute the questionnaires. This process included obtaining consent from the city council, the head of the education division within the local government, and the manager of the preschool education department in the relevant local governments. After receiving the phone numbers of the teachers and the assistants, we contacted them and explained our research and the questionnaires, and provided them with the link to participate. The ethics committee of our university approved the questionnaires, and all of the teachers who agreed to participate signed consent forms. We ensured that the identities of the teachers and their assistants remained anonymous. The data are available upon request.
All preschools in Israel were supposed to implement the reform. Of our sample of 58 preschools, six (10%) were located in the Jezreel Valley, 18 (33%) in the Gilboa Valley and 34 (57%) in the city of Acre. With regard to their demographics, 88% of the preschools were secular and 12% served religious communities. In addition, 84% were Jewish and 16% were Arab.
Measures
Dependent variable
The dependent variable was the preschools’ success. We measured changes in this variable using items taken from"MABATIM,"a Ministry of Education guide to assessing the children's success. The preschool teachers rank each child in the middle and at the end of each year to indicate their progress in four areas: cognitive, motor abilities, communication, and socio-emotional. To create the scores, the teacher responds to each item on a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 5, where 1 is equal to “not at all” and 5 is equal to “always.” The assessment is used to indicate the extent to which a preschool child is ready for school. To assess the preschools’ success, we averaged the scores of all of the children. The internal reliability of the success indices was high (α =.92). Scores in each of the areas were also adequately reliable: the cognitive index (α =.92), the motor ability index (α =.84), the communication index (α =.80) and the social-emotional index (α =.67).
Independent variable
The independent variable was the preschool teachers’ perceptions about the level of the local government’s autonomy. We measured this variable by averaging the preschool teachers’ answers to items from three separate sources. Two items came from Torgier et al. (2010) scale about perceptions regarding the local government’s autonomy in making financial budgeting decisions. Four items came from Wohlstetter et al. (1995) scale regarding its autonomy in making decisions about internal procedures and the educational agenda. Finally, we used one item from Fleurke and Willemse’s (2007) scale about the local government’s autonomy in making decisions regarding educational reforms in preschools. Responses to all items were based on a 1–5 Likert scale, where 1 indicated “very little” and 5 indicated “a great deal.” Cronbach’s alpha was 0.65.
Mediating variable
The mediating variable was the degree to which the reform was implemented. We asked the lead preschool teacher for his/her assessment of this issue using a scale adapted from Raz, Ben-Artzi, Peldi and Wartzberger (2017). The items related to whether or not the elements of the reform such as the training of the teaching staff and the receipt of an additional budget actually occurred. Each component that was properly implemented was assigned a point value, with a maximum of 14 points. The total score for each preschool indicated the extent to which the reform elements were implemented.
Moderating variable
The moderating variable was transformational leadership, which we assessed using the 20 items from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5X Short; Avolio & Bass, 1995) that deal with this leadership style. The participants indicated the frequency with which the teacher behaves as described in each item. We averaged the responses to arrive at our measure of transformational leadership. All items were based on a 1–5 Likert scale, where 1 means “never” and 5 means “always.” We calculated the mean level of the answers. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.75.
Control variables
To ensure that the proposed variables were related to the success of the reform beyond other variables we controlled for the preschool's location: Gilboa Valley, Jezreel Valley, or Acre (i.e., two dummy variables with Acre as the reference category). The first two are governed by regional councils that serve multiple small communities and villages spread across a larger geographic area, while Acre has a city municipality. The importance of this variable lies in Jazreel Valley’s socio-economic status that is higher than the Gilboa Valley’s, and Acre’s being the lowest. In addition, we controlled for the religious sector to which the preschool belongs (secular or religious), its national sector (Jewish or Arab), and the preschool teacher's seniority.
Analytical procedure
All data were aggregated to the preschool level. We used hierarchical regression models to test Hypotheses 1 and 2. For Hypothesis 1, we created Poisson regressions because the dependent variable was a count variable (i.e., number of reform elements implemented). For Hypothesis 2 we conducted linear regressions because the dependent variable was a continuous variable related to the preschool's success. Hypothesis 3 suggested an indirect effect in which the relationship between the local governments'autonomy and the reform’s success is mediated by the extent of the reform's implementation. Therefore, we used the PROCESS macro, which is based on the bootstrapping method, to examine the proposed mediation effect (Preacher & Hayes 2004, see model 4). We also used this approach to test Hypothesis 4. In this case we used model 14 to investigate the significance of the conditional indirect effects at different values of the moderator variable (i.e., transformational leadership). In addition, following Preacher and Hayes (2004) guidelines for estimating indirect effects and probing moderating effects, we analyzed three slopes of transformational leadership, one for each of level of leadership [i.e., high (+ 1 S.D), average, and low (− 1 S.D)].
Findings
Tables 1 and 2 present the descriptive statistics, reliability indices, and correlations of the study’s variables. To test our first hypothesis, which stated that there will be a positive relationship between the perceptions about the local government’s autonomy and the extent of the reform’s implementation, we ran two models. One included only the control variables. The other model added the level of perceived autonomy as well. The dummy variables related to the location of the preschools, their religiosity, and ethnic composition were not significantly related to level of implementation of the reform (Table 3, Model 1). However, in Model 2 the teachers'perceptions of the local government's autonomy were related to the level of implementation (estimate = 0.17, S.E. = 0.08, p < 0.05(. Based on the Δ- 2loglikelihood, Model 2 fit the data better than Model 1. Therefore, Hypothesis 1 was supported.
Table 1. Means, Standard deviations and internal validity of research variables
Variable | Mean | Standard Deviation | Cronbach Alpha |
|---|---|---|---|
General success | 4.18 | .41 | .92 |
Implementation | 11.13 | 2.03 | |
Autonomy | 3.78 | .51 | .65 |
Leadership | 3.80 | .32 | .75 |
Seniority | 10.40 | 6.82 | |
Secular/religious | .88 | .33 | |
Jewish/Arab | .83 | .38 | |
Gilboa vs. Acre | .31 | .47 | |
Jezreel valley vs. Acre | .10 | .31 |
N = 58
Table 2. Pearson correlation coefficient of the research variables
Variable | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. General Success | |||||||||
2. Implementation | .53*** | ||||||||
3. Autonomy | .52*** | .48*** | |||||||
4. Leadership | .36** | −.005 | .18 | ||||||
5. Seniority | .19 | −.01 | −.08 | .10 | |||||
6. Secular/Religious | .003 | −.16 | −.11 | −.02 | −.07 | ||||
7. Nationality (Jewish/Arab) | .06 | .08 | .19 | .03 | −.18 | −.17 | |||
8. Gilboa vs. Acre | .18 | −.08 | .10 | .18 | .08 | .13 | −.19* | ||
9. Jezreel Valley vs. Acre | .09 | .15 | .08 | .25 | −.09 | .13 | .15 | −.23 | |
N = 58
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
Table 3. Poisson regression with extent of implementation as the dependent variable
Model | Estimate | SE | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Intercept | 2.47*** | .16 | |
Gilboa vs. other | .01 | .09 | ||
Jezreel valley vs. other | −.09 | 0.13 | ||
Religiosity (secular vs. religious) | .09 | .12 | ||
Nationality (Jewish vs. Arab) | −.01 | .10 | ||
Seniority | −.001 | .01 | ||
−2loglikelihood | 1823.3 | |||
2 | Intercept | 1.78*** | .38 | |
Gilboa vs. other | .04 | .09 | ||
Jezreel valley vs. other | −.06 | .13 | ||
Religiosity (secular vs. religious) | .06 | .12 | ||
Nationality (Jewish vs. Arab) | .03 | .11 | ||
Seniority | 0.001 | 0.01 | ||
Autonomy | .17* | .08 | ||
−2loglikelihood | 1827.7 | |||
Δ−2loglikelihood | 4.4* | |||
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
In the first stage of testing Hypothesis 2, which posited a positive relationship between the level of implementation and the level of the preschool's success, we included only the control variables (location, teacher's seniority, secular/religious, and ethnicity). In the second stage, we included the level of the reform's implementation. The results appear in Table 4. As the table indicates, none of the control variables in the first model had a significant relationship with the preschool’s success. However, in Model 2, the level of implementation was related to the preschool’s success (b = 0.11, S.E. = 0.02, p < 0.001). Model 2 explained 39% of the variance in the preschool's success and 30% more of this variance than the model with only the control variables. Therefore, Hypothesis 2 was supported.
Table 4. Linear regression with the preschool’s success as the dependent variable
Model | Success | B | SE |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Intercept | 4.36*** | .22 |
Gilboa vs. other | −.19 | .12 | |
Jezreel valley vs. other | −.18 | .18 | |
Religiosity (secular vs. religious) | .01 | .17 | |
Nationality (Jewish vs. Arab) | −.12 | .14 | |
Seniority | .01 | .01 | |
R2 | .09 | ||
2 | Intercept | 3.03*** | .33 |
Gilboa vs. other | −.19 | .10 | |
Jezreel valley vs. other | −.06 | .16 | |
Religiosity (secular vs. religious) | −.11 | .14 | |
Nationality (Jewish vs. Arab) | −.11 | .12 | |
Seniority | .01 | .01 | |
Implementation | .11*** | .02 | |
R2 | .39 | ||
ΔR2 | .30*** |
*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001
The bootstrapping procedure that we used to test Hypothesis 3, which contended that the level of the reform's implementation mediates the relationship between the level of perceived autonomy and the preschool’s success, revealed a significant indirect effect (indirect effect =.15, bootstrap CI = [0.05,0.28]). Therefore, Hypothesis 3 was supported.
In testing Hypothesis 4, which posited that leadership would moderate the relationship between the level of implementation and the preschool’s success, the overall conditional indirect effect was not significant. However, there was a significant indirect effect for both low and medium levels of leadership. More specifically, there was a significant positive indirect relationship between the teachers’ perceptions of the local government’s autonomy and the preschool’s success via the extent of implementation of the reform when the transformational leadership style of the preschool’s lead teacher was rated low or medium (CI = [0.07,0.47] and CI = [0.06,0.30], respectively), but not when the leadership style was rated as high.
To understand this result further we conducted a simple slopes analysis for the interaction between the extent of implementation and leadership style. As Fig. 2 indicates, when the level of transformational leadership was low or medium, there was a positive, significant relationship between the level of implementation and the preschool's success (b =.13, S.E. =.03, p <.001; b =.09, S.E. =.02, p <.001 respectively). However, when the level of transformational leadership was high, no such relationship existed. To summarize, while a significant interaction effect was found, the nature of this interaction was different from what we had originally hypothesized.
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Fig. 2
The extent of implementation and the preschool’s success by leadership
Discussion
Relying on the policy implementation framework, this study examined how teachers'perceptions of the local government's autonomy and the leadership style of the lead teachers as street-level bureaucrats influence the extent of policy implementation and success of an educational reform. Doing so identified several factors that drive successful policy execution at the local government level. First, our results underscore the significance of perceptions about the local government’s autonomy in the success of policy implementation. According to the policy implementation framework, local autonomy plays a crucial role in facilitating or hindering the execution of centrally designed policies (Van de Walle et al., 2016). We found that preschools located in areas where the teachers felt that the local governments were autonomous implemented more elements of the reform and achieved better outcomes. This finding aligns with previous research indicating that local autonomy enhances the commitment to and effectiveness of policy implementation (Stewart et al., 2015). It seems that when street-level bureaucrats see their local government as having the ability to be flexible in spite of its dependency on the central government, and as being able to adapt and align reforms to local needs, they implement reforms more fully.
While these results are related to a specific reform in a specific country, they shed light on the possible factors that are in play when top-down reforms are implemented. More specifically, as in other countries such as Japan (Jacobs, 2003), despite moves over the past few decades towards decentralization, many reforms are top down. They are initiated by the central government but leave local governments to provide the services. While reforms implemented to improve quality must be consistent across communities, they should encompass enough flexibility to align with the needs of the specific community. The three local governments in our study varied with regard to perceptions about their autonomy. Our findings accord with previous research indicating that local autonomy enhances the commitment to and effectiveness of policy implementation (Stewart et al., 2015). However, they also go beyond previous studies in demonstrating that it is not just the actual autonomy of the local government that is important. Perceptions about the local government’s autonomy are also important to the implementation of the reform, because such perceptions are related to the extent to which the reform is actually implemented.
The study also explored the mediating role of the extent to which the reform is implemented in the relationship between perceptions about local autonomy and the preschools’ success. The policy implementation framework suggests that the successful execution of a policy is contingent on various mediating factors (Pressman & Wildavsky, 1973). In our context, the extent to which the reform was implemented served as a mediator in this relationship. Thus, our finding not only indicates a new antecedent but also takes another step towards demonstrating its relationship to the success of the reform. This mediating role of the extent of the reform's implementation is important because it opens up a new theoretical avenue for understanding the mechanisms through which local government autonomy affects reform outcomes. While previous research has established connections between actual local government autonomy and various outcomes (Jacobs, 2003), our findings reveal that teachers'perceptions of this autonomy play a crucial role in reform implementation effectiveness. This suggests that the benefits of decentralized governance may partly operate through what stakeholders perceive as decentralized, beyond what is or isn’t actually decentralized. More specifically, it seems that perceptions of autonomy enhance reform implementation, which in turn may contribute to the positive outcomes associated with local government autonomy in the broader literature.
We also found an unexpected, yet intriguing, result regarding the role of the teacher's leadership style in the reform's success. Transformational leadership has been recognized as one of the most influential leadership styles in education (Jiang & Lu, 2020) and in driving changes in an organization (Wofford & Goodwin, 1994). Therefore, we expected leaders who favored a transformational leadership style to be more strongly committed to enacting the changes required by the preschool reform than leaders who made less use of this leadership style. However, contrary to our hypothesis, we found that transformational leadership plays a compensating role. When the preschool teacher was highly transformational, the relationship between the extent of implementation and the preschool's success was not significant. Indeed, it was in the preschools in which the teachers did not utilize a transformational leadership style that the extent to which the reform was implemented was related to its success. If replicated in additional studies, these results may make a significant contribution to the literature on both reforms and leadership. They suggest that the effect of transformational leadership in leading change may be less relevant in contexts where policies are implemented successfully. In other words, when policy implementation goes well, outcomes are good regardless of the leadership style of the teacher.
From a practical perspective, our findings suggest that the relationship between perceived autonomy and implementation effectiveness may be an important factor for policymakers to consider when designing reform initiatives. The mediating role of implementation effectiveness in this relationship indicates that understanding how street-level bureaucrats perceive local government autonomy could provide valuable insights for reform success. Based on these findings, policymakers might consider assessing how implementers perceive local government autonomy before launching reforms, as these perceptions appear to influence implementation outcomes. Second, clear communication about the scope of local discretion within reform frameworks may help implementers understand their role and responsibilities. However, these suggestions require further research to validate their effectiveness in practice, as our study focused specifically on teachers'perceptions rather than testing the impact of different intervention strategies.
Limitations
As in any study, our study too suffers from a number of limitations. First, while the sample included both secular and religious preschools and both the Jewish and Arab sectors, it may be limited because all of the preschools were located in the northern part of Israel and included only three local authorities. The sample, therefore, may not be representative of all the other preschools throughout the country. Second, all of the respondents were female. Even though women make up the majority of preschool teachers, including only females in the study may lead to gender bias. We recommend that future studies include male preschool teachers, if possible. Finally, we sent our questionnaires to the participants'mobile phones, and the data were collected through an online questionnaire. Thus, preschool teachers with limited technological proficiency may have experienced difficulties completing the digital questionnaire, potentially skewing our sample toward more technologically savvy educators.
Conclusions
While reforms such as the one discussed in this study are important for providing the public with high-quality services, they are implemented in diverse ways. Our findings indicate that the extent of this implementation varies, and that this variance is, at least partially, explained by the extent to which the governing body is perceived as autonomous. When implementers view the governing body as having greater independence, they trust that this body will support and assist them in finding effective ways to implement more components of the reform. Moreover, we used objective performance measures rather than simply expressions about the sentiments of those involved about the success of the reform, thereby providing empirical evidence about the extent to which reforms are successfully implemented. Thus, despite cynicism about and criticism of central and local government reforms, top-down reforms can work and meet the public’s needs. However, our findings reveal that prescribed implementation strategies may not be the only pathways to success. Success also depends on the extent to which the street-level bureaucrats implementing the reform perceive the local government as having the autonomy to carry it out.
Acknowledgements
None
Author contributions
Equal
Funding
None.
Data availability
Data will be provided upon request from the authors.
Declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The study received approval from the ethics committee of the University of Haifa and all participants filled out consent forms before answering the questionnaires.
Consent for publication
Both authors consent.
Competing interests
None.
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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