High school managements resources allocation in an era of reforms

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine considerations employed in decision-making processes by Israeli high school leaders, when implementing the “Courage to Change” reform. The reform gave schools large supplementary resources in the form of “weekly instruction time” and they decided how to exploit these additional hours. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative analysis focused on data from interviews with staff from 19 high schools. Findings The research identified three types of consideration adopted by managerial staffs: “Hasty,” “Conservative” and “Path-breaking.” Findings contribute to theory concerning incremental decisions in schools concerning the allocation of resources, in line with the institutional approach, and also inform other schools coping with similar tasks. Originality/value The research is original both in its topic and context. Further conclusions and implications are discussed.