Reframing School Governance in India: Autonomy, Accountability, and the Logic of Intelligent Professionalism

Pinki Sheokand

Reframing School Governance in India: Autonomy, Accountability, and the Logic of Intelligent Professionalism

Author(s)	Dr. Pinki Sheokand
Country	India
Abstract	The governance of school education remains suspended between two enduring imperatives: the professional autonomy of educators and the public accountability demanded by the state. Over decades, policy reforms have attempted to reconcile these competing forces, yet most have merely replaced trust with compliance. This paper contends that the chronic instability in educational quality stems not from insufficient accountability, but from its reduction to a bureaucratic instrument of surveillance. Grounded in governance theory and informed by comparative analyses of global and Indian reform trajectories, the study reconceptualizes this autonomy–accountability dialectic through the lens of Intelligent Professionalism. The proposed framework integrates five structural pivots: (1) reciprocal accountability among policymakers, administrators, and practitioners; (2) capacity-oriented oversight that develops, rather than audits, professional practice; (3) diversified metrics encompassing learning growth, school culture, and well-being; (4) “tight–loose” leadership that upholds shared values while enabling contextual discretion; and (5) professional learning communities (PLCs) as the locus of internal accountability. Drawing on cases such as Finland’s trust-based model, the United Kingdom’s inspection regimes, and India’s National Education Policy 2020, the paper advances a governance architecture where accountability functions as stewardship and professional ethics, not control. The argument situates Intelligent Professionalism as a paradigm shift—transforming the accountability discourse from external enforcement to collaborative capacity building. By reframing school governance as an ecology of trust, moral responsibility, and professional intelligence, the study offers a theoretically grounded and context-sensitive framework for balancing autonomy and accountability in contemporary education systems.
Keywords	school governance, professional autonomy, public accountability, educational reform, intelligent professionalism, teacher professionalism, capacity building, NEP 2020, organizational trust, India.
Field	Sociology > Education
Published In	Volume 17, Issue 1, January-March 2026
Published On	2026-02-19

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Reframing School Governance in India: Autonomy, Accountability, and the Logic of Intelligent Professionalism

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