Educational_management_planning_organizi.docx

EDN/3/CC/13A

EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

ASPECTS OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT: P , , LANNING ORGANIZING

SUPERVISION, FINANCE, INNOVATION & CHANGE, DECISION MAKING AND EVALUATION

By Mikael L Chuaungo MA (Education). Mizoram University

Table of Contents MEANING OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT: ....................................................................................... 1 Educational planning............................................................................................................................... 1 Organization............................................................................................................................................ 3 Supervision.............................................................................................................................................. 4 Finance .................................................................................................................................................... 5 Innovation and Change ........................................................................................................................... 6 Levels of change .................................................................................................................................. 7 Educational Innovation ........................................................................................................................... 7 Decision Making ...................................................................................................................................... 8 Evaluation ............................................................................................................................................... 8 References .............................................................................................................................................. 9

MEANING OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT: Educational management is the theory and practice of the organization and administration of existing educational establishments and systems. Management implies an orderly way of thinking. It describes in operator terms what is to be done, how it is to be done and how we know when have done. Management is not a mystique. It is a method of operation. Go management should result in an orderly integration of education and society As body of educational doctrines, it comprises a number of principles and precepts relating primarily to the technique of classroom procedure and derives largely from the practice of successful teachers. The writers in the field have interpreted these principles and precepts in various ways, usually with reference to longer and more fundamental principles of psychology, sociology and ethics.

Educational planning. MEANING In order to understand what educational planning means, it is necessary to understand what is meant by planning and what a plan is. It is from this level that we will go into the explanation of educational planning. Adesina (1990) defines planning as a way of protecting our intentions, that is, a method of deciding what we want to accomplish. Ejiogu (1990) holds that to plan, means to project, forecast, design or make or chart our course. From these views, it can be summarized that planning refers to the act of deciding in advance what is to be done, how and when to do it, where and who is to do it in order to achieve the goals or objectives of the system. For example, when arrangements are made as to how many students are to be in a class, how many classes will be needed to accommodate all the available children seeking admission into our school system, we say we have planned the educational system. A plan is a detailed scheme, programme or method worked out before hand for the purpose of achieving a set objective. There are three basic elements in a plan, viz: it deals with the future, involves action and identifies who is to implement the future action. Planning bridges the gap between where we are and where we want to be. For example, Mizoram University did not own a B.Ed/M.Ed course before, but it got to a point at which the University felt that it needed its own. It therefore set up a committee to work out all the details about establishing and running its own B.Ed/M.Ed course. CHARACTERISTICS Educational planning has a number of characteristics. According to Adesina (1981) these characteristics are basically four. They are: primacy of planning, pervasiveness of planning, mission – oriented and future oriented. 1. Primacy of Planning Planning is the first step in management. It takes precedence over all the other managerial functions. Everybody plans even though not everybody plans well. As a teacher, you plan your 1

lessons before you go to teach them. As at present, you plan the way you want your child’s birthday ceremony celebrated, etc. It is after this planning that you can organize it, identify those people who will help you to cook, bake the cake, and do other things. It is also after this that you will look for a photographer to take pictures. 2. Planning is pervasive: By this, we mean that pln anning cuts across all levels of management and all the other managerial functions. Whether at the primary, secondary or university level of education, planning is done. For example the managerial functions of organizing, staffing, etc involve some planning. The way the birthday ceremony mentioned above is to be organized has to be planned. Also, its implementation too needs to be planned or else you find out that some of the activities may either be forgotten or that those which are to come first are treated last and vice versa 3. Planning is Mission – Oriented. Planning involves the mapping out or charting of activities in such a way that it helps to satisfy human wants. Thus, planning is goal-directed i.e planning is directed at achieving a specified goal or a set of goals. 4. Planning is Future-Oriented. Planning as said earlier on, is a process of deciding in advance what should be done in future, how it is to be done, who will do it, when and where to do it. This process takes into consideration past trends and present experiences in order to project into the future. Future, here, can be near or far. A plan can therefore be short-term, medium term or long-term depending on its duration. A shortteam, plan is that which is for a period not more than 3 years. It is a medium-term if the plan is for between 3 and 5 years. It will be called long-term if the plan is for more than 5 years. PROCESS There are three major steps in the educational planning process. 1. Statement of educational objectives. The educational objectives must be identified and clearly stated. This will ensure that there is no confusion about the objectives. 2. Identification of various activities. The various activities which are needed to achieve the stated objectives must be clearly identified. Usually, those activities relate to the supply of the human and material resources that are required. This ranges from identifying such institutions (schools, examination bodies, etc) that would have to be established for the plan implementation and monitoring, to the number of cleaners required. They also relate to the identification of the number of staff required, their qualifications and experience and the amount of money required to maintain the system. 3. Evaluation of results: Evaluation should be related to the stated objectives. The extent to which a plan meets the objectives it has established for itself can be determined by looking at the implementation in relation to those objective and outcome results

There are two basic kinds of planning.Strategic Panning and Operational Planning.

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Organization Organization It refers to the form of the enterprise or institution and the arrangement of the human and material resources functioning in a manner to achieve the objectives of the enterprise. It represents two or more than two people respectively specializing in functions of each perform, working together towards a common goal as governed by formal rules of behaviour. “School organization” refers to how schools arrange the resources of time, space, and personnel for maximum effect on student learning. The school's organizational plan addresses those issues that affect the school as a whole, such as the master schedule, the location of staff in different rooms, and the assignment of aides to teachers or teams

Scope and Importance of Organization in Education The scope of school organization is very vast. It includes; efficiency of the institution, securing benefits of the school through practical measures, clarification of the functions of the school, coordination of the educational programmes, sound educational planning, good direction, efficient and systematic execution. It provides close collaboration and sense of sharing responsibilities, organized purpose and dynamic approach. Any organization plays a vital role in the life of human being. It plays different functions like; brings efficiency, guide pupil to receive right direction from the right teachers, enables the pupil to get profit from their learning, bring coordination of the student-teacher-parents-society. It provides well defined policies and programmes, favorable teaching learning situation, growth and development of human beings, make use of appropriate materials, effective development of human qualities, execution of the programmes, arrangement of the activities, efforts for attainment of the objectives etc. In school organization, there is a great role of economy, men, and material to achieve the desired objectives. Following there is a great role of different subject which is called the scope in the school organization.

1. Role of School Plant It is a comprehensive term which means, building, playground, furniture, equipment, library, laboratory etc. all those physical facilities which are required for achieving various objectives of the school organization constitutes the school plant. Optimum utilization of school plant helps in achieving fruitful results and desired objectives. 2. Role of Curricular and Co-Curricular Activities Kerr defined curriculum as, “all the learning which is planned and guided by the school whether it is carried on in a group or individually, inside the school or outside it”. He further states that it can be divided into four inter-related components i.e., curriculum objectives, knowledge, learning experiences and curriculum evaluation. Curricular activities involves games, sports, scouting, hiking, debates, essay writing, workshops, symposiums, naat competitions, role playing, discussion,

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seminars which play their important role for comprehensive development of the personality of the child.

3. Role of Human Resources Human resources of the school are students, teaching staff and non-teaching staff. There is no betterment without teacher in the school. Proper planning and organization of teaching learning activities can only be achieved through Cooperation, willingness, involvement, fellow feelings and devotion of teachers, students, librarians, assistants, peons, etc. 4. Role of Financial Resources Utilization and development of financial resources have its great importance in school organization. School organization requires proper budgeting, accounting and audit system because these are beneficial for making transparent policies, plans, rules and regulation.

Supervision Bernard and Goodyear (1998) offer this definition that has come to be accepted within the counselling profession: “Supervision is an intervention that is provided by a senior member of a profession to a junior member or members of that same profession. This relationship is evaluative, extends over time, and has the simultaneous purposes of enhancing the professional functioning of the junior member(s), monitoring the quality of professional services offered to the clients she, he, or they see(s), and serving as a gatekeeper of those who are to enter the particular profession.” Educational supervision is a term used to identify the work duties of administrative workers in education. Educational supervisors make sure the educational institution operates efficiently and within the legal requirements and rules. The purpose of this field is to make sure teachers and other faculty members are doing what they're supposed to be doing and that students are receiving the best education possible. Features Supervision is an intervention There are unique competencies and skills involved in supervision that allow the supervisor to help the supervisee. Models of supervision exist that provide a framework for the process. In addition, supervisors incorporate various modes and interventions to facilitate supervisee development. Awareness of these models, modes, and interventions will help the supervisee understand the underlying processes of supervision and therefore, be a more active participant in the supervision process. A dialogue can develop between supervisor and supervisee as a means to share personal styles and preferences for frameworks and interventions to be used in supervision. Supervision is provided by a senior member of a profession A clinical supervisor is more advanced, at least in some important ways, than the supervisee. During fieldwork experiences, supervisors typically include a course instructor and an individual clinical supervisor. Depending on the level of the fieldwork experience and the program, the clinical instructor may be the course instructor or other professor from the training program, a doctoral 4

student from the training program, and/or a professional counselor affiliated with the site at which the student is engaged in the fieldwork experience. It is important that the supervisee understand the roles and expectations of each supervisor. Supervision is a relationship that extends over time The process of supervision occurs within the relationship established between the supervisor and supervisee. It is important to keep in mind that both the supervisor and supervisee contribute to the relationship and have responsibilities within the process. As assumption of supervision is that it will last long enough for some developmental progress of the supervisee. Supervision is differentiated from brief interactions (such as workshops), and consultation that, by definition, is time and session limited, although all of these interactions share common goals (e.g., training in a skill, clarification of process, regaining objectivity). The fact that supervision is ongoing allows for the relationship to grow and develop. The importance of the supervisory relationship has received much attention in supervision literature. Need for Supervision 1. Supervision is needed to provide expert technical assistance 2. Supervision is needed for growth of teachers 3. Supervision is needed to help prepare teachers for learning 4. Supervision is needed to keep teachers up to date 5. Supervision is necessary to provide democratic professional leadership

Finance Educational finance is the financing of educational institutions and, depending on their ownership, they can be either privately or publicly financed. Privately owned institutions receive funding from tuition fees, sponsors' contributions, private donations and grants, while governments directly allocate funds to public institutions. Financing provided by the governments is especially common in developing countries therefore it is subject to the economic situation of the country and its fiscal resources. Investment in education, in turn, boosts economic growth and employment and affects the future prosperity of the nation as a whole. By investing in human capital each country aims at increasing individual productivity and thus raises students' future earnings which will result in higher tax payments. Educational institutions are mainly funded by students and their parents, employers from the private sector, government tax revenue or they rely mostly on private donors. Funding can be direct, that is through recurrent grants, capital grants and taxes or through student tuition fees and other charges which are the main source of revenue for institutions. A small number of institutions are funded through loans. A school or university can choose between one or more of those funding sources. Public institutions are usually funded by national governments through direct transfers of tax revenues. Therefore, public universities are either absolutely free or charge low tuition fees regulated by the state or federal governments. Often such institutions are owned and administered by the state, but in some cases they maintain their institutional autonomy to decide on governance, tuition and student enrolment. Some private universities may also receive public funding in the form of tax breaks and government loans and grants for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Similarly, private donations are given to students who choose to attend public educational institutions.

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Private educational institutions are funded mainly by the fees they charge students, research grants and contracts and private donations from alumni and philanthropists as a result of commercial activity and fundraising campaigns. Public funding of private institutions occurs in cases when the government provides students with tax-funded vouchers as a way to maintain equitable access to education. Students decide where to spend those vouchers but they usually choose private institutions where tuition fees are considerably higher and they cannot afford them without financial aid. Often the students who receive the vouchers come from poorer households and have limited opportunities for access to education. In those cases private institutions receive both direct tax funding from the state and private funds even though they are not run by the government. Since private institutions rely mainly on private funding and not on state aid, they are independent and have control over their curriculum, student admissions and tuition fees. The educational challenges that each country faces are to provide equal access to education for students from different economic backgrounds and to increase funding sources for institutions. Since a considerable number of educational institutions rely on funding coming from tuition fees governments need to provide sources for funding students Governments also provide tax-funded scholarships or grants for economically disadvantaged students or the institutions themselves give scholarships based on merit and achievements. Philanthropists or private foundations donate not only to the institutions, but they also sponsor individuals of their choice throughout the course of their education. Factors Influencing Educational Finance 1. Demand for Education 2. Characteristic of Population 3. Importance given to Education 4. Country’s Economy 5. System of Administration 6. Type of Educational Organization 7. Resource for Education

Innovation and Change In all walks of professional life, innovation and change is, paradoxically, an unavoidable constant. It is also quite possibly the hardest thing to manage, as change can provoke resistance and even fear in many people, while at the same time being, almost by definition, a journey into the unknown. No field has been more subject to innovation than education, although educational innovation is not necessarily successful simply because it is in the context of an educational institution. Attitudes to Change Change seems to come at us from all directions and our response to it may be partly determined by whether:  we think the change is a good idea  the reason for the change is clear  we feel we have the resources to deal with the change  we are involved in the process  We are confident that the change will be introduced successfully. 6

All these factors play into our attitude to change and innovation. There are a number of reasons why people might resist change:  there is a lack of support from key people  the purpose of the change is not made clear  the details of the change are poorly communicated  people affected by the change are not involved in the planning of the change  the change is introduced too quickly or too slowly  key job characteristics are changed  fear of failure  people affected feel change reflects badly on their past performance  lack of confidence in people’s capacity to implement the change

Levels of change Systemic All organisations, including educational systems, have concerns that are addressed by attempts at organisational renewal. Productivity (class sizes, teaching periods per day), cost effectiveness, capital utilisation, market, organisational renewal and viability are primary of importance for all organisations. Whole School As individual schools have unique cultures, practices and traditions, it is self-evident that an individual tailoring that is context-specific is required. The leadership style of the administrator will to a large extent determine the types of change that are likely to occur, together with the ultimate success of their implementation and subsequent improvement to learning outcomes. A whole school approach is necessary, with the need for shared decision-making and collaborative practices being paramount. At Classroom Level Individual teachers and teacher librarians are in an ideal position to instigate innovative practices and processes. Whilst their "self-imposed isolation" (Smith & Scott, 1990) has numerous drawbacks, it does allow the freedom to experiment with innovation. It may be hoped that by individuals taking risks by developing educational practices that embrace the concepts of information literate learning communities, gradual change to some of the barriers may occur, thereby laying the foundations for a whole school approach. Fullan et al (1990, 14) view this approach as a catalyst for innovation, linking classroom practice to school improvement. While this is to be viewed as a long-term goal, the nature of change and the resistance to it makes this option a more pragmatic strategy. However, innovation implies risk taking. Current educational practices do not support unsuccessful outcomes (Santos, c1998). The nature of accountability in government schools determines to a large extent the school principal's response to suggestions of innovation at the local (school) level. However, these "unsuccessful experiments" are part of the learning process itself.

Educational Innovation The following are the important points to keep in mind while brining innovation and change • Change is a learning process (and therefore needs to be regarded as such) • Change is a journey, not a blue print – it involves not just one-off solutions, but continuous planning and adjusting 7

• Problems arise from the change process; these are natural and expected and must be identified and solved • Change is resource hungry (to be successful, this fact must be recognised, and, implicitly, provision must be made) • Change requires local power to manage it; it can't be managed by remote control from a central power source • Change is systemic: it involves linkages and interconnections among many systems and issues in the organization.

Decision Making All educational managers are required to take decisions in many situations. Decision maiing is the most critical aspect of educational management. Sometimes, the way the decision is made may have several far reaching consequences. Decison making is considered the “heart of administration”. It is the process through which administrators work to accomplish their tasks. In other words it means making choice of one from among two or more alternatives to achieve an objective. Types of Decisions 1. Institutional Decisions- decisions related scheduling or policy making concerning programmes and activities and curricula. They include allocation decisions, expenditure decisions, planning decisions, facilities decisions, and so on. Quality of an institution largely depends upon these decisions 2. Strategy Decisions- After the institutional decisions are made, it remains to see how it should be implemented. This calls for identifying appropriate strategies or tactics to move the institutions from one existing to another expected situation. Strategy decisions are about who should be involved in what, when and how 3. Administrator’s Behaviours Decisions- No administrator can have a random manner. His own behaviour is important in all situations. Hence all new administrative situations require specific, relevant and meaningful behaviours for success. To take decisions about one’s own response and behaviours, administrators must know themselves well and also others. Depending upon what will happen to the goal and objective as consequences of the decision taken, decisions may be classified as follows a) Status Quo Decisions- This emerge when administrators decide not to change the situation b) Deferred Decisions- It means not decide at this time.(Postponement) c) New Course Decisions- It implies starting a whole new direction d) Response Decision – It implies actual response to the situation

Evaluation

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Evaluation is a systematic determination of a subject's merit, worth and significance, using criteria governed by a set of standards. It can assist an organization, program, project or any other intervention or initiative to assess any aim, realisable concept/proposal, or any alternative, to help in decision-making; or to ascertain the degree of achievement or value in regard to the aim and objectives and results of any such action that has been completed. The primary purpose of evaluation, in addition to gaining insight into prior or existing initiatives, is to enable reflection and assist in the identification of future change. Educational evaluation is the evaluation process of characterizing and appraising some aspect/s of an educational process. Evaluation is needed every time, when we consider some kind of change. As all sides of education are in a continuous change nowadays, we need to evaluate our educational projects regularly. It is especially true when we'll try to introduce some new learning methodology and after first enthusiastic experiment want to set it on a regular bases, so that this new method becomes well designed, well organised, well run and effective, usable not only by ourselves, but also by our colleagues near and far. Formative evaluation begins during project development and continues throughout the life of the project. Its intent is to assess ongoing project activities and provide information to monitor and improve the project. It is done at several points in the developmental life of a project and its activities. The purpose of Summative evaluation is to assess a mature project’s success in reaching its stated goals. Summative evaluation (sometimes referred to as impact or outcome evaluation) frequently addresses many of the same questions as a progress evaluation, but it takes place after the project has been established and the timeframe posited for change has occurred

References 1. http://edchat.blogspot.in/2011/01/scope-and-importance-of-school.html 2. http://soe.syr.edu/academic/counseling_and_human_services/modules/Preparing_for_Sup ervision/definition_and_components_of_supervision.aspx 3. http://www.questia.com/library/education/educational-administration/educational-finance

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