Abstract
Theaim of this research is to examine the autonomy in education systems in England, New Zealand and the People's Republic of China and to determine the factors that cause school autonomy and the indicators of school autonomy.The research was carried out with the documentary review design of the qualitative research approach.In this context, 51 works, including 31 articles, 4 papers, 14 books and 2 official articles, were examined.The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis.According to the main findings of the research, while school autonomy in England is carried out for the purpose of ensuring competition and school diversity at national and international level, the driving force of reforms for school autonomy in New Zealandand the People's Republic of China is to cope with economic depressions.Indicators of school autonomy are the ability of schools to create their own curricula, implement their own accountability practices independently of the central government, the authority to hire and fire personnel, the authority to choose their own students, financial independence from the local education authority, and the representation rate of parents, foundations, religious or commercial groups in school management.Based on the results of theresearch, it is suggested that the central structure of the Turkish education system should be alleviated.However, autonomy needs to be gradually shared between local and regional education authorities and school boards in terms of supervision, financing and education programmes.