A Major Issue In Educational Management Education Essay

A major(ip) Issue In commandmental Management procreation EssayEducation is the concern of each and all(prenominal) individual. It is the backbone of every civilized society. In its centre lies the discipline. Since the birth of civilization, the develop has been a major concern for the rulers and governments. The Education for every(prenominal) (EFA) operation launched at Jomtien, Thailand in 1990, had as mastermind to mold the benefits of education to every citizen in every society (World Bank two hundred9). The movement brought a naked dimension to education. Developing countries started to invest huge number of money for the betterment of their education system which they consider as the rouge to their prosperity. In this process, the shallow was subjected to great reforms so as to cater for the goals of individuals, societies and nations.The give lessons is a complex open hearty system. It provides a balance among scientific way and human relations approach. The system is extremely dynamic. In this system the structure is a key element in transforming inputs into outputs. The structure, in like manner called the bureaucratic expectations, defines our role and responsibilities. It has been organized in such a stylus so as to fulfill the organizations goals (Hoy and Miskel 2004). This oration will be establish primarily on the bureaucratic part which is a major publicise in educational prudence.The world is flat, Friedman (2005) right said. We ar witnessing the flattening of structures in all settings and at diametrical levels. The Weberian model of bureaucracy is organism questioned. The pyramidal specify structure is meet irrelevant. Even the school setting has not been left apart. All schools do not follow the same structure nearly look at an enabling or productive structure whereas others still have a coercive or hindering structure (Hoy and Miskel 2004).Schools are social organizations with set objectives together with their human, financial, material and physical resources (Dash and Dash 2008). Therefore, school focus is a crucial and complex matter. The one trustworthy for managing these resources is usually refer on one person who is called the full stopmaster or principal or rector. He has the certificate of indebtedness of both the internal and external focus of the school. This point no longer holds good. Reforms were necessary in different spheres, settings and levels in launch to bring change and transformation in school management.School management is a cooperative human endeavor, as Dash and Dash (2008) rightly pointed out. For an effective school management, teachers, parents, students and compensate the community members have to cooperate with the detail of school (Dash and Dash 2008). This is the description of the concept of decentralization in school management which has been the driving force of educational reforms in the 1990s. Many schools follow this school- base refo rm in many developing countries (Ng and Chan 2008). School-based management then came to light. The scotch Note (2007) defined School-based management as the systematic decentralization to the school level of authority and responsibility to make decisions on significant matters colligate to school operations within a centrally determined mannikin of goals, policies, curriculum, standards, and accountability. It ensures significant, systematic, and sustained change as well as improving outcomes for every students in whichever settings and contributing socially and economically to a country (Caldwell 2005).decentralization or school-based management varies from country to country and it can take different shapes (Economic Note 2007). One way of achieving this decentralization is through distributed leadership. leadership is the clean trend in education worldwide. It is crucial for all transformation and purpose (Spillane, Halverson and Diamond 2004). It is about empowering other s as partners in leadership (Huber 2004). This concept was meant with the drift of de-loading the duties and responsibilities of the rector. Everyone now share the different responsibilities in managing the school.School management is not a simple task even in a pure country like Mauritius, with a population of about 110,000 substitute students and 200 lower-ranking schools. The concept of school-based management has been implemented to some period even in our topical anesthetic schools. As early as Future in our hands by K. Jagatsing (1979), up to the recent Education and Human Resources dodge Plan 2008-2020 report, stressed were laid on the concept of decentralization in school management. Our Honorable Minister of Education, Dr. V.K.Bunwaree, talked about the decentralization of school management in these terms While the School Development Plan is on tap(predicate) in all institutions as an indication of the direction to follow, the Rector require support and resources t o make critical decisions on a day-to-day basis. These decisions may well relate to pedagogical matters as much as to disciplinary cases. Nevertheless, it is similarly vital to understand that a Head of School cannot do it alone. He/She will have to resort to some delegation of responsibility and especially know when and how to do it (School Management Manual, 2009). New posts were created and distributed leadership is becoming more and more a reality.1.1 Problem statementThe Mauritian education system is very hierarchical where all decisions are centralized on very few individuals. This rigid Weberian model of bureaucracy was inherited from our British colonial past. It had a quite coercive structure which is gradually being changed in an enabling one at all levels from pre-primary to tertiary education. This dissertation will consider the model which has been opted for by the Ministry of Education at secondary school level.There are three types of secondary schools in Mauritiu s videlicet State Secondary Schools and State Colleges, Private Secondary Schools and Fee nonrecreational Schools (Ministry of Education and Human Resources 2012). The Private secondary schools can be get ahead classified into cliquish aided and private un-aided schools. These schools are under the protective cover of the Private Secondary School Authority (PSSA). Another classification of these schools is based upon their related confessions (PSSA 2012).At secondary school level, all managerial activities are centered on the rector. He is the only one responsible for the collected running of the school. In the decentralization process of school-based management, the government created some new posts sharing the complex responsibilities of the rector. These posts as well as the duties and responsibilities they are entrusted with, are not the same in state secondary schools and private secondary schools.In Private secondary schools, we have the Head of Department HoD and the a ir division Leader posts that bring about the distributed leadership in the school-based management process. The HoD is in the main concern with academic issues of the school. Teachers are divided into various departments according to the subjects they teach. The head of department provide leadership to the department. He helps the rector in monitor teaching and learning in his department (PSSA 2010).The post of Section Leader is a rather new one which has been appointed in 2010 pursuance the Pay Research Bureau recommendations of 2008. This post is exclusively found in Private secondary schools. It is mostly an administrative post. The branch leader is responsible the rector in resolving power indiscipline issues absences, etc. He moldiness assist the rector in planning, organizing and coordinating activities. Pastoral care is also under his responsibility. He is to assist the rector in conducting examinations, preparation and diffusion of time-tables (PSSA 2010).This disserta tion will analyze to what extent are the heads of department and the section leaders helping the rector in school management. The relevance, potential and qualification of these posts in private secondary schools will be dealt in depth.1.2 Aims and objectives1.2.1 AimsThe aim of the study is to find out the efficiency, effectiveness and relevancy of distributed leadership in school-based management in private secondary schools in Mauritius with special propagation to the role of section leaders and heads of department.1.2.2 ObjectivesTo evaluate the clash of distributed leadership in private secondary schools.To find out whether distributed leadership is considered as a solution to the various issues facing private secondary schools.To measure the extent to which the posts of section leader and head of department have decrease the cogitation load of the rector.To evaluate the effectiveness of these posts in bringing flexibility in managing the schools.To evaluate the improvemen t, if ever, in the relationship between teachers and rectors.To find out the continue of these posts on the teachers and their duties.To find out whether these posts are sources of motivation for teachers or not.To discriminate the application of these two posts in schools with different settings and measure their respective efficiency, effectiveness and relevancy.1.3 Research questionsAccording to the objectives of the study, the research questions have been formulated as follows(1) What is the impact of distributed leadership in secondary schools in general and in private secondary schools in particular?(2) How is distributed leadership being applied in private secondary schools?(3) Is distributed leadership the proper solution in solving issues facing these schools?(4) How is the creation of the post of section leader and HoD decreasing the workload of the rector in these schools?(5) Have these posts brought more flexibility in the school management?(6) Has there been any impro vement in teacher-rector relationship by the portal of section leader and HoD?(7) What is the impact of section leaders and Hods on the teachers and their responsibilities?(8) Is the creation of these posts a motivation for teachers?(9) What are the different responsibilities of section leaders and HoDs in different schools?1.4 Flow of dissertationChapter OneThis chapter is about the introduction of the dissertation. It comprises of the background, problem statement, aims, objectives and research questions. Distributed leadership is introduced and explained in brief terms from an global to a local perspective with precisions on the posts of HoD and Section leader.Chapter TwoIt is the belles-lettres review chapter where publicationss from the world of education were selected and written down. Both the international and local perspective were taken into account. It starts with definitions and explanations of key terms such as leadership, management and administration in the educat ion sector. Then the school structure and the major reforms in it were elucidated. Decentralization, School-based management and distributed leadership were explained together with their criticism. Teacher leadership was wedded also mentioned which included the HoD and other middle manager posts. Furthermore an overview of the Mauritian context with the application of distributed leadership in Mauritian schools was explained.Chapter ThreeIt is the methodology chapter. Two schools were selected namely the Aleemiah Forms I-VI Boys College and the girls department of the Cosmopolitan College. The mix method was espouse to collect information. Interviews were carried out with rectors, HoDs and Section leaders. Two observations were carried out in both schools. Survey questionnaires were distributed to educators in both schools.Chapter FourIt is the result and discussion chapter where the data were thoroughly analyzed. SPSS were used to make bar-charts, pie-charts and cross-tabulatio ns. The results obtained from observations and interviews were written and analyzed with relation to the literature review.Chapter FiveIt is the conclusion and recommendation chapter. All the research questions were answered. The aims and objectives of the dissertation were reached. any(prenominal) recommendations were made for a better distributed leadership in schools.