International Journal of Research in Social Sciences

This study aimed to identify the effectiveness of the transfer of Senior High School and Vocational High School management from district to provincial government. The study was conducted at a Senior High School and a Vocational High School in Timor Tengah Utara (TTU) district, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. In-depth interviews were used to collect the data from the participants. Data were analysed using a qualitative data analysis framework. Results indicated that the transfer of Senior High School and Vocational High School management from district to provincial government led back to centralisation of services and increased span of control of provincial education department, causing ineffective service management and delivery. Such transfer also increased the size of provincial education department, the size of work unit at provincial education department and the workload of this department, which caused ineffectiveness of work performance of its staff. Limited availability of staff or human resources, increased complexity of work, instability in problem solving and risk were the consequences of the transfer of Senior High School and Vocational High School management from district to provincial government, leading to ineffectiveness of service delivery. These results indicate the needs for the establishment of Technical Implementation Unit (TIU) in each district to improve the management of Senior High School and Vocational High School, and service delivery.