It analyses how the effectiveness of resource use is influenced by key features of the school system such as the distribution of responsibilities, the structure of schooling, diversity of school offerings, and learning opportunities across student groups. The chapter places particular emphasis on areas of priority for Uruguay such as the structure of education governance and equity within the school system. Almost all of the decisions about administrative and pedagogical aspects that provide the framework for the operation and organisation of schools are taken at the central level by ANEP’s Central Governing Council (CODICEN) in Montevideo and the councils for the different subsystems of the education system (the Pre-primary and Primary Education Council [CEIP], the Secondary Education Council [CES] and the Technical and Professional Education Council [CETP]). As described in Chapter 1, the CODICEN co-ordinates the work of the different councils and holds ultimate decision-making power in some administrative and pedagogical areas (e.g. approving the statutes of teachers and non-teaching staff, approving curricula, setting instruction time and the school calendar), even if in practice it works jointly with the councils in these areas.