Major changes were also made in the management of schools. Moving away from the centralised top-down system
of control, schools were organised into geographic clusters and given more autonomy. Cluster Superintendents –
successful former principals – were appointed to mentor others and to promote innovation. Along with greater
autonomy came new forms of accountability. The old inspection system was abolished and replaced with a school
excellence model. It was felt that no single accountability model could fit all schools. Each school therefore sets
its own goals and annually assesses its progress towards them against nine functional areas: five “enablers”, as
well as four results areas in academic performance (Ng, 2008).3 Every six years there is an external review by the
School Appraisal Branch of the ministry of Education. Greater autonomy for schools also led to a laser-like focus
on identifying and developing highly effective school leaders who can lead school transformation. This is also
described in more detail later.