educational planning PDF

Title educational planning
Author George Ogola Olimu
Course Education
Institution University of Nairobi
Pages 15
File Size 192.8 KB
File Type PDF
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TAP 401 EDUCATIONAL PLANNING Course outline • Introduction to general concept of educational planning • Its concept • Methodologies • Rationale etc. • Challenges facing educational planning in developing countries • Models of educational planning • Historical development of educational planning • Organization of educational planning • Major approaches to educational planning • Social demand approach • Labour requirement approach • Rate of return/cost benefit analysis • Efficiency in educational planning • Stages in the process of educational planning • Population and educational planning Mode of examination since • CAT 15% • Term paper 15% • Main examination 70% Main goals of the course • Familiarize students with educational planning as a discipline by preparing them for tasks like teaching, managing educational resources and liaising with other educational stakeholders • Sensitize learners to the essential nature of planning education so that it can serve national development Opportunities after undertaking the course • Teaching in a college or university after advancing with the course • Work in research institutions on matter of education • Work in international organizations, e.g. UNICEF, UNESCO, World Bank etc. • Work in the ministry of education planning section, and also in country and sub county level • A flat form to work in any other sector of economy

Lesson two: Reasons for studying educational planning 1. It enhances learner’s knowledge of education as a discipline 1

2. It helps to determine the objectives and goals of educational system and devises means of achieving them i.e. enable learners to internalize the process of setting educational goals and objectives which are essential for educational planning 3. It aligns our limitless needs, desires, expectations and aspirations with our available and limited resources in pursuit of desirable educational goals. I.e., equips learners with skills for efficient utilization of available educational resources 4. Enables the teachers to know their role and haw they fit into the whole area of educational studies and their contribution to human capital development 5. It helps in decision making about the education systems in terms of programmes and operations 6. Enables the learners to make a comparison of effectiveness of education in respect to other sectors of economy. i.e. planning ensures that provisions is made for different competing sectors of the education system 7. Planning helps to reduce and avoid wastage in the educational system 8. Investment made in education demands planning to ensure adequate dividends such as production of goods, well developed students and adequate manpower for the country 9. Planning in education helps to ensure that the quality of education provided meets the challenges of the global world. i.e. it makes learners aware of the effects of global social, economic and technical changes Definition of plan and planning Plan- It’s a recommended future course of action Plan – It is a guide to achieving previously established objectives in an optimum manner Planning- It’s a process that helps administrators to answer certain questions that are relevant to decision making process e.g. What is to be done, where shall it be done or when will it be done, who will do it or how will it be done? • It’s a rational process of preparing a set of decision for future actions directed at achieving objectives already set • Ackoff (1970) Is the process that involves making and evaluating each of a set of interrelated decisions before action is required in a situation in which it is believed than unless action is taken, desired future state is not likely to occur • Door 1963 is a process of preparing a set of decisions for action in the future directed at achieving goals by optimal means • Kaufman (1972) is the process of determining where to go and identify the requirement for getting there in the most effective and efficient manner possible Strategic plan- it’s a document used to communicate organizational goals, action needed to achieve those goals and all other critical elements developed during the planning exercise Strategic planning- it’s an organizational process of defining its strategy, or direction and making decisions on allocating resources to pursue the strategies Educational planning is a continuous process geared towards ensuring adequate educational services, quality control/assurances, efficient administrative and management control, adequate provision of human, financial, time and material resources to power the continued growth and development of education as a vital sector of any countries economy Deng in Mbipom (2000) viewed educational planning in terms of formulation of educational 2

policies and objectives, the compilation of various educational proposals, the projection of enrolments, compilation of school statistics, educational costing and budgeting, establishment of new schools and expansion of existing ones Educational planning according to Droor and Coombs (1969) it’s the application of rational, systematic analysis to the process of educational development with the aim of making education more effective and efficient in terms of responding to the needs and goals of the students and society at large Key terms a) Rational ● Used in reference to the planner • He/she should be rational or apply intellect • They ought to be endowed with the capacity to think about educational issues, to interpret the issues and come up with solutions to educational problems • Should be able to think about inflation rates, economic status of the society and social status of the community and their effects on cost of living and education • Need to think about societal issues and how they affect the provision of education. • Need to emphasis on the type of education to be provided to solve societal problems b) Systematic analysis in reference to education which is offered in a systematic manner • Education has been developing in an orderly manner since independence e.g. The Ominde commission other commissions are based are built on this. E.g. Ndewa report 1971, Gachathi report 1976, McKay report 1981 etc. • Curriculum implemented in a systematic manner from known to unknown • Content organized in a sequential manner, e.g. For primary, Sec and university content • Age of students in line with schooling level c) Effectiveness and efficiency • Effectiveness is achieving educational goals with minimum cost • Efficiency- Aspect of achieving educational goals at a minimum cost. Revolves around the provision of teaching and learning material class size, distribution of schools within a geographical area. d) Education to respond to changing order of the society Education to be provided should respond to societal needs. That is, it should equip learners with knowledge, skills and attitude to enable them solve the problems in the society It should also be in line with the philosophy, values and aspirations of the people on the society

Lesson three: Characteristics of planning It focuses on future while drawing enlightenment from the present. It’s a dynamic concept which provides a reasonably detailed update of information in order to link the past with the present. Requires embracing changes that society faces. • •

It is action oriented, i.e. It involves formulation of plans as well as adoption and implementation It involves application of effort (resources) in the entire exercise of formulating adopting and implementation of the plan. I.e. Addresses the aspect of allocation of resources, 3

human, financial and physical Its interdependent on certain variables-it works in conjunction with another aspect, i.e. To be an effective planning process, must be closely tied to the decision making process and operations • It’s a scientific process- it revolves around the research procedures which involves need assessment, data collection, analysis, decision making and setting of objectives. 2. Functions of educational planning •

• Decision making • Technical function • Implementation function • Control function a) Decision making It's carried out by politicians, high ranking influential citizens and professionals in the country. For instance, in Kenya it is carried out by cabinet secretaries and other professionals. It involves goal setting and goal approval. For instance, during independence, the government first set national goals of education which would guide the country on educational development b) Technical function It focuses on formation of plans, identification of targets and evaluation of required resources It is carried out by designated planners who are technicians well trained in statistics and social sciences The technicians as found in the Ministry of education and they deal with both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of educational planning NB. Give examples of quantitative and qualitative aspect • Implementation function Refers to procedures for fulfilling the plan targets. It's performed by administrators of the system the national. County and sub county level The administrators oversee and coordinate the implementation of plans • Control function It leads to the discovery of discrepancies between actual and planned achievement as well as identifying the errors and problems experience during the implantation stage It calls for subsequent modification of plans It calls for close interaction between administrators and planners Dimensions of educational planning • Educational planning must be significant to the community for which they are being made • Educational plans should be feasible/realistic in relation to technical appropriateness and cost • Educational plans must be relevant in order to facilitate appropriate implementation • Educational plans should be definitive/ conclusive i.e., They should specify the maximum number of contingencies to be given prior consideration • Educational plans are described as parsimonious. That is, they must be outlines in the simplest manner possible • Planning has time dimensions divided into long term, medium term and short term • Long term planning- it’s also called forecasting and usually take 20 years to be implemented. The objectives are stated in general terms and materials covered in a 4





general nature. Medium term - referred to as actual planning. They are derived from the long term plans and they specify when the full results are expected to be achieved. They cover a period of five years Short term planning – they are referred to as programming. They obtain direction from the medium level plans. They break down resources and strategies to be used. They are usually annual

Lesson four : Historical background and rationale of educational planning The development of educational planning Education in any country responds to the social, economic, and political objectives of the country This theory has roots in traditional societies more particularly in the ancient civilization of the Nile, Athens (capital of Greece) and Sparta (prominent city in Greece) In these societies, education was meant to suit the aspiration of people and achieve the goals of the society There was a relationship between education and the philosophy of the society e.g. In Sparta the aim of education was to produce an ideal citizen soldier who was honest, loyal and courageous. Therefore, the education offered included skills in gymnastics, sports and games, dancing and military training. Education aimed at producing people who would defend the state. The development of education planning in Europe started in the 20th century. The concept of education planning is traced in the young Soviet Union after 1917 5

After the revolution in 1923 the Soviet Union developed a five-year development plan. It was one of its kind in which education plan was included. Before then education was dominated by philosophy whose view was to produce catechists or priests Education was also viewed as a means of promoting moral values into the people In African countries, colonies provided education geared towards producing enlightened labor force, hence provided education to acquire skills in simple arithmetic, writing and reading useful on Masters’ farm. Since African education was only meant towards achieving white collar jobs. This indicates that there was no organized education planning until 1917. Characteristics of education planning before 2rd world war • Education planning was short range. It only focused on the one-year budget plan • It was fragmented- that is different parts of education were planned independently • It was non-integrated - planning of institutions did not have linkages with the economy of the society. • It was static- there was no dynamism and education system would not adapt the prevailing social circumstances Development of educational planning There are four phases of educational planning, they include: • Reconstruction phase • Manpower phase • Rapid expansion phase • Innovation phase • • •

• • • •

There was an urgent need to plan education system and relate them to the whole economic development plan in each country The politicians and planners had realized the importance of planning education in order to meet manpower needs of their economies after the havoc cause by war Educational planning was considered as the only means through which scarce resources can be allocated in education in a prudent manner in order to achieve educational goals Countries like Britain adopted a 5-year development plan where education was given priority in development plans Planners focused more on the relationship between education and economic development of the country. It led to massive development of educational structures as well as reconstruction of destroyed facilities. It led to enrolment of learners and recruitment of teachers. The manpower phase • It dominated in 1950s • Economist developed interest in educational planning • It let to increase of literature on the relationship between education and economic development • Universities started to offer courses in economics and educational planning • Europe and America needed a large number of trained manpower to meet 6

the needs of the post war economies Planners began to address issues of student’s intake and output to match the manpower requirement and prevent surplus and shortage of manpower • Planners began to sought bigger budgets to meet manpower requirements • It led to intensive recruitment of manpower/labor force in all sectors of the economy Rapid expansion phase • It saw popular demand for education and higher education in particular • The challenge was particularly directed at the relevance of education to existing occupational opportunities, for instance, in France they integrated educational planning with overall economic development planning to cope with demand of manpower • In Kenya in 1980s there was the introduction of crash program on expanding education institutions and also entire education system in order to meet growing demand for job opportunities in the modern sector of the economy by school leavers. • Education was regarded as avenue to better jobs and lives • It led to increase in enrollment in secondary school and university levels • It led to the development of Harambee schools, double intake in university and change of the education system from 7-4-2-3 to 8-4-4 •



• • • •

The innovation phase There was a realization that planning was needed to solve problems like over production of graduate leading to unemployment, lack of resources for institutional development, shortage of teaching force and aspect of quality. Planning was to serve the strategy of education changes and adaptation of technology New policies needed to be developed to meet demands of education e.g. Costsharing program Rural orientation type of education designed to provide the school leavers with practical skills for self and salaried employment in rural and urban areas It led to teaching with the use of technology in order to increase efficiency of education.

Lesson five: 5. Factors affecting educational planning in developing countries The factors affecting educational planning revolve around social, economic, political and psychological • Existing educational policies. Most of educational policies in Kenya are based on political patronage rather than technical grounds. This affects planning e.g. Establishment of schools in many developing countries is determined on the basis of political patronage rather than technical grounds such as concentration of schools, age, population, location size of existing schools, transportation and other infrastructural facilities. The interference of politicians frustrates the effort of educational planners which would have brought change desired by the majority of people. For instance, the 7

development of CDF schools grossly ignores the suggestion of educational planners. •

Inadequate funds Most developing countries have no adequate resources to allocate in various sectors of the economy. For instance, in Kenya 30% of the national budget is allocated to education sector which has to be distributed to all the three sectors of education. Even within the sector, the funds have to be distributed for infrastructure, teaching and learning materials, salaries and teachers’ education. The challenge facing the planners is how much should be in each sector and section of education This leads to thinly spread of education resources, hence having little impact, hence affecting the quality of education





Inaccurate population data In most cases, data on population is inaccurate because individuals tend to give wrong information on their ages e.g. Women tend to underreport their age, while men tend over report their ages. Either way it works to their advantage. This makes it difficult for education planners to adequately forecast school enrollment by age and even by sex. Hence difficult to estimate the number of classrooms, books, desks, and teachers that will be needed for the planning year. They also cannot determine the amount of money required, where it will come from, how and when they will be spent. Shortage of physical facilities/resources

With an absence of funds leads to minimize development because other facilities and resources cannot be acquired. For instance, due to scarcity of funds some schools in pastoralist, arid and semi-arid areas or in slums have semi-permanent building Science based subjects lack well equipped laboratories. This affects the quality of education • Non-involvement of educational planners of government At independence, there was a shortage of qualified personnel e.g. The inspectorate and other people charged with supervisory roles. However, Currently the major problem is non-involvement of the planner by politicians • Time element Producing people with skills requires time. This means that as people undergo training work will not be done. As graduate trainees undergo training the number of enrollment increases, hence surpassing the number of graduate being trained. • Slower economic growth in less developed countries • Ever increasing social demand for education • Lack of political will and support • Lack of collaboration between labor market institutions and training organizations

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Possible solutions • Political authority to create an enabling environment for educational planner and adapt their recommendations • Educational planner to have a clear idea as to what their responsibilities are • Serious attention should be directed towards the development of clear educational policies and priorities so that educational planners have a better notion of what they are planning • Policy makers must refrain from creating the development alternatives and political decisions rather than a technical matter. • Educational administrators must actively support changes in educational planning. • Generally, there should be mutual coordination of all those concerned with the development of education as a whole • Reduce corruption • Public sensitization t...


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